From October 7 to November 1 the exhibition “Betty Gold: Edge, Color, Movement” will be on view at Mary Baldwin University’s Hunt Gallery. Gold’s creative works include a diverse range of media. Organized by the Castellani Art Museum of Niagara University in New York, “Edge, Color, Movement” features a selection of her geometric serigraphs (silkscreen prints). These works are from three portfolios produced in California in the early 1970s “Arrows,” “Holistic Images,” and “Surprise Packages.” Gold’s artwork is defined by brilliant color and strong directional shapes. The serigraphs featured in this exhibition accentuate the bold, graphic style for which Gold is known, and they reflect her interest in form, motion, and space.
Gold’s large-scale steel sculptures grace public and private spaces all over the world and Mary Baldwin is proud to have three of them on its campus. The most recent one to become part of the college’s collection is a gracious gift from Gold to the school: a four-part Corten steel sculpture entitled “Chodo IX” that will be installed in mid-September near the entrance to Francis Auditorium.
Gold’s sculptures are angular and sharp without sacrificing a sense of movement and liveliness. With surfaces finished in rich mono-chromed color or left raw to rust to a velvety patina, the bold simplicity of her geometric work is beautifully suited for display in open public spaces. Gold’s sculptures are featured at sculpture parks, university campuses, and city centers such as Baylor University in Texas; City de Bratislava, Slovakia; City of Palo Alto, California; Duke University Medical Center in North Carolina; Fitzgerald’s Park, Ireland; Hartwood Acre Park in Pennsylvania; Northern Illinois University in Illinois; Purdue University in Indiana; The Ronald Reagan California State Building in California; Virginia Commonwealth Universityin Richmond; and the Walker Hill Art Center in Seoul, South Korea.
With her home and studio in Venice, California, Gold has traveled extensively, studying and lecturing around the world. Her work has been collected and widely exhibited at museums and galleries across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Gold was born in 1935 in Austin, Texas, and attended the University of Texas at Austin. After graduating with a major in elementary education and a minor in art history, she apprenticed with sculptor Octavio Medillan in Dallas. Medillan (1907–1999) was a renowned sculptor, educator, and founder of the Medellin School of Sculpture in Mendocino, California, where he taught students in a variety of sculptural media.
Gold was honored with a major retrospective exhibition in 2005 at the Casal Solleric Museum in Palma, Spain. “Betty Gold — 35 Years of Sculpture” filled 10 rooms of the historic castle. Other artists presented at the Casal Solleric Museum include Columbian artist Fernando Botero (b. 1932) and Mexican painter Frida Kahlo de Rivera (1907–1954). Recent international exhibitions were mounted at the United States Embassy Invitational in Merida, Mexico; the Biennale in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; and three exhibitions in California at the University of California Art Museum, Santa Barbara, The Buschlenmowatt Gallery, Palm Desert, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art.
Major museums housing her work include the Albuquerque Museum of Art, Art Museum of South Texas; Birmingham Museum of Art in Alabama; Civica Galleria d’ Arte Moderna, Gallarate, Italy; Georgia Museum of Art; Hawaii State Foundation of the Arts, Hawaii; Indianapolis Museum of Art; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina, Madrid, Spain; New Orleans Museum of Art; New York University; the Oakland Museum; and the Palm Springs Desert Museum.
A reception will be held for the artist from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on October 7 in Hunt Gallery. The public is invited to attend. Hunt Gallery is dedicated to the exhibition of contemporary work in all media by regionally and nationally recognized artists. The gallery is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday during the college’s academic year. Hunt Gallery’s schedule for the 2013–2014 academic year can be found online.
Betty Gold will also give a public talk about her life and work at 7:30 p.m. on October 8 in Francis Auditorium.