BETTY BRANCH BETTY BRANCH THROUGH THE CROW’S EYE, A RETROSPECTIVE

SEPTEMBER 17 TO NOVEMBER 21, 2009

CURATED BY AMY G. MOOREFIELD, MUSEUM DIRECTOR

THE ELEANOR D. WILSON MUSEUM

AT HOLLINS UNIVERSITY 4 King of the Crows by Betty Branch

CONTENTS 6 Betty Branch: Through the Crow’s Eye by Amy G. Moorefield

20 Heart of Stone, Wings of Bronze: The Paradoxical Work of Betty Branch by Deborah McLeod

34 Exhibition checklist

36 Artist biography Betty Branch: Through the “Through the Crow’s Eye” Photographers: This catalogue was printed four- Crow’s Eye, a Retrospective © 2009 Amy G. Moorefield Richard Boyd, Roanoke, VA color process with a dull aqueous was published on the occasion Amy Nance-Pearman, coating on 100# McCoy Matte Acknowledgments of the exhibition organized “Heart of Stone, Wings Roanoke, VA cover and text. 40 by the Eleanor D. Wilson of Bronze: The Paradoxical Work Richard Braaton, Roanoke, VA Museum at Hollins University of Betty Branch” © 2009 Polly Branch, Roanoke, VA All rights reserved. No part of this from September 17 to Deborah McLeod Kathryn Wetzel, Richmond, VA publication may be reproduced, November 21, 2009. Saba, Lucca, Italy stored in a retrieval system or “King of the Crows” Channel 15 Productions, transmitted in any form, or by Curated by Amy G. Moorefield, © 1988 Betty Branch Blue Ridge Public TV, any means electronic, mechanical, Director of the Eleanor D. Roanoke, VA photocopying, recording, or Wilson Museum at Hollins ISBN-10: 0-9823025-1-7 otherwise, without the prior University ISBN-13: 978-0-9823025-1-4 Printer: Worth Higgins and permission of the publisher and Associates, Richmond, VA copyright holder(s). Published by the Eleanor D. Publication Director: Wilson Museum at Hollins Amy G. Moorefield All works are courtesy of the The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum University, Roanoke, Virginia. Design: Anstey Hodge artist Betty Branch and Lenders at Hollins University © 2009 Eleanor D. Wilson noted in the checklist. Post Office Box 9679 Museum at Hollins University Biographical information on 8009 Fishburn Drive artist Betty Branch compiled by Front, back, inside front cover, Roanoke, Virginia 24020 Stephanie Vrobel, curatorial title and contents pages image: 540 362 6532 intern. Detail from Passage, 1994, www.hollins.edu/museum India ink on tracing paper. KING OF THE CROWS THIS MORNING, gloriously alone quiet, still, silver sun on patio THERE’S AN AWESOME DIN I lay down to peace and IN THE MEADOW… THE RAUCOUS SOUND OF CROWS THE CROWS ARE MOURNING NOT IN THE MEADOW, NOT IN THE FRONT YARD THEIR KING. BUT IN THE SANCTITY OF MY FENCED THEIR BULLET CRIES LODGE LOCKED SUNLIT TERRACE. IN MY HEAD. ENRAGED, I WENT FOR THE GUN I KNEW ALL ALONG THAT PREJUDICE WAS LICENSE TO KILL. THE SLAMMING DOOR DISLODGED I KNEW IT WHEN I EXPLAINED THE CROWS FROM BACK TO FRONT TO BILL & TOM AND I IN HOT PURSUIT. WHY I NEEDED A GUN Down the yard & out of range TO SHOOT CROWS. they flew I KNEW IT THE FIRST TIME I stopped. RAISED THE GUN FROM THE BLACK—UGLY—UNGAINLY ANTAGONISTS KITCHEN WINDOW AND BONNY ON THE FRONT SLOPE. WAS SITTING IN THE DINING ROOM Into the car, gun & I (THAT TIME—BECAUSE SHE WAS Down the drive for better THERE – I COULD NOT PULL aim & FIRE! THE TRIGGER.) THE BIG BLACK CROW BUT THE GUN WAS THERE FLEW UP THEN FALTERED AND A TARGET TOO WE HAD FELL BACK. SPORTED A BIT FROM THE I AIMED & FIRED AGAIN LONG BENCH ON THE FRONT PORCH AT DUSK- THE PELLETS HIT THE STIFF TO SEE WHO COULD HIT THE BULLSEYE. THE GUN BLACK FEATHERS – ABSORBED, OR WAS NOT THE GREATEST—NOR FELL AWAY. WE AS MARKSMEN—NO ONE THE CROW HALF HOPPED SCORED HIGH EXCEPT BY ACCIDENT HALF DRAGGED HIMSELF DOWN WE PRETTY MUCH AGREED. THE HILL… ME FIRING & HEARING Bill carried the gun THAT DULL DRY FEATHER THUD in his car a few times to the of pellet still the crow mailbox and back or out on would not fall. Sunday morning to 6:30 THERE WAS NO SOUND IN THE Bible Study, but he didn’t MEADOW AND NO WAY FOR ME kill any crow. TO FINISH WHAT I’D BEGUN

Betty Branch, 1988

4 5 Betty Branch: Through the Crow’s Eye by Amy G. Moorefield, Director Betty Branch claimed her artistic nature at the age of forty—by way of the mythical phoenix—a creature that casts off its old life to begin anew. She did not close the door completely but instead sloughed off the fetters of the ordinary and traded it for the extraordinary. In translation, her devotional approach to artistic pursuits is done with Above and opposite: Betty Branch in her studio July, 2009. a zealot-like tenacity. Branch’s force of will in carving out a unique place in the larger art world has served her well.

6 7

BETTY BRANCH: THROUGH THE CROW’S EYE BETTY BRANCH: THROUGH THE CROW’S EYE

This exhibition showcases over thirty years Branch has stayed resolute to lifelong Claudel and Gaston Lachaise, evident in the and death. Liminality—when one is on the of the celebrated artist’s work from sculptures tenets that define her work: the body, rites of swelling thighs of Branch’s variegated alabaster threshold between two existing planes—is a strong and drawings to performance documentation passage both traditional and unorthodox, Mountain Woman (1987) or the twisting torso of catalyst played out in her work Mothers (1984) and works influenced by the land. It is not a the intersection between land and form, and the black-hued Fire Dancer Nero (1988). and the performance Ritual Fire. In Mothers, nine conventional retrospective. It highlights decades’ the Crow. Her media is diverse; she sculpts earthy burlap straw-filled forms hover together worth of experimentation and perseverance with marble, clay, bronze, stone, porcelain, terra Her relationship to the Crow is paradoxical. forming a cluster that looms protectively by the artist and is the physical manifestation of cotta, earthenware, and straw. Each medium is Is it a spirit guide or metaphor? Branch describes over the viewer. When the temporal forms began the primordial ideal of life’s constant recreation a talismanic touchstone for her art; Branch her initial relationship with the Crow in her to decay, Branch set the Mothers aflame in a of itself. Displayed in a non-chronological ferrets out the essence of every one of these for poem “King of the Crows”: quarry inspired by the Hindu Sati tradition in format, the exhibition calls attention to Branch’s exploitation. Her first foray into the medium “This morning gloriously alone which widows would immolate themselves fluidity throughout her artistic career between of clay transpired in an introductory pottery quiet, silver sun on patio on their husbands’ funeral pyres. In turning naturalistic and abstract modes of expression. course. In a cathartic moment, Branch felt I lay down to peace and the patriarchal Sati tradition on its end, Branch She is constantly reinventing herself. its attraction and henceforth began her lifelong the raucous sound of crows found a fitting conclusion to her dying Mothers. love of the tactile medium. She states, “Once not in the meadow, not in the front yard In All Fall Down, porcelain cylinders are formed I touched the clay, a powerful force came over but in the sanctity of my fenced into prepubescent faceless figures made me …. I knew what I had to do, what I was locked sunlit terrace helpless sans hands and feet. Referencing an compelled to do.” 1 Enraged, I went for the gun.”2 act of brutality committed against a woman

Branch looks to impressive Cycladic Greek Originally perceived as an antagonist, the fertility goddesses and other sources of feminine Crow became through its death a metaphor genesis to form complex and substantial for Branch: a nagual. In its physical sacrifice, sculptural works that exude power and energy. the Crow became one with the artist. Haunting Paying homage to the multiple generations Branch, the Crow has revisited her through Journal sketch for Ritual Fire of sculptors before her focusing on that subject, the years as the subject in majestic work Throughout her career, Betty has culled visual Branch pulls on that rich history to form work such as Raven’s Gate (2005), Survivor (1995), and references from ancient matriarchal civilizations that is joyous and earthy as displayed by her the monumental Honor Guard (2004). When to current cultural events, from Greece to series Maternitas. In the marble work Maternita questioned about the symbiotic relationship, the foothills of the Blue Ridge. One looking in Rustica (1987), the pregnant torso swells and dips Branch also refers to the Crow as an archetypal her studio would be inundated with layers of to a vulvate epicenter. She takes advantage image for aging. In looking to find subject matter ephemera, references to abundant cultural of the marble form by carving into the block to in her work to mirror her own aging process, groups, and sketches of her own work in progress emphasize the veining over the swollen belly. Branch sought solace in the ideal of the Crow. interspersed with the tools of her trade. Her female forms’ proportions vacillate between Cumulatively it bears evidence to over thirty the lush and the lissome, channeling artists of Rites of passage have always interested Branch, Ritual Fire, 1986 Video documentation of performance years of intensive production. the Belle Époque Art Noveau era such as Camille particularly ceremonies addressing subjugation Collection of the artist

10 11 Survivor, 1995 Bronze, 13 x 13 x 5 inches Collection of J. David and Mary Ann Wine

13 BETTY BRANCH: THROUGH THE CROW’S EYE

in 1983, Branch translates the contemporary experimenting through the process of discovering horror into a poignant tableau of universal the discarded and abandoned treasures then victimization in which the figures are mutilated, creating pedestals (imagine Brancusi) that helpless, and yet aware of the act. complement them. One finds discarded banister spindles topped by tarnished spheres and Lucite In sculpting the land, Branch uses the native cubes with odd rusty weights to name a few. topography as a medium and its decaying residue for impetus. She creates work that interacts Through this exhibition, Branch illustrates her with a selected environment; however, the tenacity and strength via her spiritual animal— residual appearance of the effected landscape is the Crow. Honoring a lifetime of creativity left unscathed. This subtle nuance is at odds and reinvention, one admires Branch’s sense of with other relative land works by artists such determined purpose. In essence, it may be said as Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty (1970) or James that Branch perceives the best of life “through Turrell’s progressive work Roden Crater (1979- the crow’s eye.” present day) that leave a permanent eroding 1 Quote by artist during meeting, March 2009. residue on the land. Branch’s environmental 2 Excerpt from poem “King of the Crows” by Betty Branch sensitivity in leaving a site unblemished is crucial to understanding her artistic aesthetic. Translated to the exhibition, several of Branch’s works will be placed in sitú on Hollins University’s historic campus. In particular, Double Spiral (2009) a site-specific monumental land work created from straw emphasizes Branch’s inextricable relationship to the surrounding landscape.

In Branch’s capricious found works, she culls through the detritus and discovers inspiration. In Spring (2006) and her other readymade works, she delights in the found (think Marcel Duchamp) and in the act of creating whimsically humorous objects that showboat her brevity. In the works Weighty Matter, No Yoke, Bo Bo, Double Found Sculptures, 2000-09 (Weighty Matter, No Yoke, Bo Bo, Raven’s Gate, 2005 Bronze, granite, steel Axe, Mary Queen of Scots, Omphales, Burp, and Little Double Axe, Mary Queen of Scots, Omphales, Burp, Little One-Eye) Mixed media, various dimensions 112 inches and 84 inches One-Eye (2008-09), Branch finds merriment in Collection of the artist Collection of the artist

14 15 All Fall Down, 1983 Grouping of five Various sizes Low fired porcelain Collection of the artist

16 17 Fire Dancer Nero, 1988 Maternita Rustica, 1987 Black Belgian marble Portuguese Rose marble Collection of Sybil and 23 x 14 x 8 inches Bob Fishburn Courtesy of Larry and Sally Mann

18 19 Heart of Stone, Wings of Bronze: The Paradoxical Work of Betty Branch by Deborah McLeod It’s not surprising that Betty Branch would settle upon a crow as her motif for a lifetime’s outlay of vibrant, metamorphic, and keenly insightful work. With many seemingly conflicting attributes, the crow is one of the archetypal embodiments of creation mythology: the dark-winged daily messenger of illuminated awareness and shadowy interstice. He feeds on mortal transience and offers it flight.

Right: In preparation for this exhibition catalogue, Betty Branch inspects the lighting for a photograph of her work Raven’s Gate at her studio in July 2009. 20 HEART OF STONE, WINGS OF BRONZE: THE PARADOXICAL WORK OF BETTY BRANCH Small Goddess, 1994 Bronze, 15 x 12 x 10 inches Collection of the artist

That essentially describes the inherent nature originated many of Branch’s early creations of Branch’s work when it is considered in its in marble. Included in the exhibition, Gaia is an entirety. What the viewer will discover in this unconventional bas-relief Madonna work thoughtfully assembled retrospective collection of somewhat Byzantine flavor. It is the artist’s of sculpture—and a few implicated works first effort in the highly challenging medium. on paper—is a compassionate portrayal of the human condition translated through gesture, The works of this developmental period form, and skin, airborne through imagination would, during several residencies in Carrara, and intensification, theatre and theodicy. torque the spine of Branch’s particular fascination for a particular subject. The Madonna or the Betty Branch’s journey toward becoming a Goddess—sometimes portrayed as a fetish nationally renowned, internationally celebrated object, other times as an elegant sylph figure sculptor is an inspiring story for those sensing slipping through the wind, or a fecund odalisque, in themselves a long-sequestered voice. It was an or in the eloquent virtue of a still torso—all unanticipated, curved trajectory that conveyed continued to emerge from within the stone her to this extraordinary gathering of artwork as the artist improvised on a variety of art (thus perhaps not quite as the crow flies). historical styles through the figure. In seeking Betty was a young wife, a mother of eight, and a new forms of truth from the mysteries of faithful adherent to the beliefs of her upbringing, human and particularly feminine beauty, Branch who kept a journal to record her private poetry. instilled in her sculpture a silent glimpse into Within these matrices of social propriety, the omniscience that hides inside art; perhaps she found in herself an undeniable calling for a this is her own argument for the complex more substantive physical and emancipated evidence of temptation, labor, purpose, faith, psychic outlet. and design. It’s the drama that Branch adds to the argument that breathes such life So seeking her own renaissance, she entered and belief into it. Hollins College in 1974, at the age of forty, to pursue art. Hollins cleared the low-hanging From formal contemplations on late-19th- branches from her path and she was soon off to century French Art Nouveau aesthetic—except find and share her exceptional ability. in a feminist counterpoint—to the satiny volupte´ of Maillol related instead in the first-person A postgraduate apprenticeship at Miles and voice informed by eight pregnancies, to a more Generalis Sculpture Services in Philadelphia contemporary response to a violent incident and work in Nicoli Studios in Carrara, Italy, nudged into penetrating form via Pre-Columbian

22 Interlude, 1985 Samurai, 1988 Bronze, 24 x 13 x 7 inches Spanish Bardelio marble Collection of Walter and 31 x 13 x 6 inches Sally Rugaber Collection of the artist

24 25 HEART OF STONE, WINGS OF BRONZE: THE PARADOXICAL WORK OF BETTY BRANCH HEART OF STONE, WINGS OF BRONZE: THE PARADOXICAL WORK OF BETTY BRANCH

ceramics, such construals are observed throughout hold dominion over viewers, such as mentioned interpretation of this story is exquisitely crucifixion, however, implies an ascending Branch’s oeuvre as she plucks resoundingly above, or summon them through the marble’s sensitive and riveting. The vulva-like figures conclusion, rather than the parable’s well-known from these eras, exploiting their original terms cool film and into its glowing, burgeoning womb. have only innocence in their faces, and in descending one. It may not be a simple matter in real, autobiographical time. Lyrical marble forms like The Dancer (1988) fact seem more like victims of something they to find mirth in such a seemingly dire outcome, and Fire Dancers, which were cast in bronze from have no control over. One does not feel unless one sees it from the viewpoint of the Looking closely at some examples in the marble in 2007, express fluid movement to aggression in their collective countenance but omnivorous crow. retrospective, consider an important early the figure, inferring a release of consciousness, rather submission to some unjust form of sculpture, Mothers. A series of towering prehistoric- an opening of the mind, a revelation of the destiny. All Fall Down came into being as a result seeming effigy forms, methodically wrapped veining of the stone therein. Or the artist of an incident in the news—the 1983 rape in burlap, gather together as protectors imbues it in the quiet stateliness of a concave of a woman by a group of men in a pool hall. and power figures. They exude a warm pungent spine as in Maternita Rosa II (1987). The alien form given to this narrative scent in unison: a wordless aromatic chant. installation derives from the Pre-Columbian They also provide evidence of a physical Chinesco style of terracotta fertility figure, dichotomy that Branch regularly explores as she primarily depicted with seated spread legs switches between additive and reductive and swollen genitalia. Branch’s stylized sculpture. Mothers began construction through objectification of the grim, complicated story the artist’s ritual swathing process with the vivifies it. She disallows it any convenient raw fabric. Mothers existed intact for a period compartmentalization, but offers it of two years before all but two of them abstract empathy. underwent another ritual, the documented event of their immolation on a barge in a And The Crow. For many summers he nearby quarry. This new transformation bears taunted noisily from the trees near Betty Branch’s witness to a reductive progression. home. One day, she went out to put an end to his menace. But instead of cleanly dispatching Detail from Dragons Teeth, 1983 Branch’s ceramic work in general seems to Installation, various sizes him with a bullet that morning, she witnessed Terracotta, low fired porcelain, earthenware demonstrate her interest in message-making Collection of the artist as he suffered. In drawing The Crow she through an additive approach, while her found the cosmos’s mirth, its capacity for self- ongoing stone carving (and subsequent bronze Meanwhile, acerbic clay installations like critical humor. In sculpting him she ultimately castings) suggests a removal of the extraneous, Dragons Teeth (1983) and All Fall Down (1983) created Icarus with tender metaphorical a search for purity of intention and essence, advocate for and against the darker side of human comprehension for her subject’s greater collective Honor Guard, 2004 Bronze and steel, 9 x 4 x 4 feet of less accessible inner substance. passions and fates with foreboding. In Greek story. Many recountings of creative aspiration Collection of Ross and Beth Myers at legend, dragon teeth, extracted at the death and faith are affixed one by one as feathers that American Infrastructure, Worcester, PA The figural sculpture thus offers a wide range of the mythical beast, were planted in the ground compose all idealists’ outspread wings. of temperaments. Some Mother works might to sprout into fierce warriors. Branch’s potent The plight of Branch’s Icarus being almost a

26 27 Laughing Crow, 1994 India ink on onion skin paper 38 x 45 inches Collection of the artist Mountain Woman, 1987 Mother of God, 1990 Alabaster Verona Red marble 12 x 24.25 x 8.5 inches 26 x 12 x 6 inches Collection of Karen Waldron Collection of the artist and Shawn Ricci

30 31 Gift Bearer, 1987 Passage, 1994 Hydrocal on steel India ink on tracing paper 94 x 36 x 32 inches 48 x 60 inches Collection of the artist Collection of the artist

32 33 EXHIBITION CHECKLIST

All Fall Down, 1983 Fire Dancer Nero, 1988 Maternita Rustica, 1987 Road Show, 2006 Grouping of five Black Belgian marble Portuguese Rose marble Bronze, 28 x 12 x 18 inches Various sizes Collection of Sybil and 23 x 14 x 8 inches Collection of the artist Low fired porcelain Bob Fishburn Courtesy of Larry and Collection of the artist Sally Mann Samurai, 1988 Gaia, 1987 Spanish Bardelio marble Avatar, 1988 Carrara marble Mother of God, 1990 31 x 13 x 6 inches Black Belgian marble 12 x 43 x 15 inches Verona Red marble Collection of the artist 43 x 17 x 18 inches Collection of the artist 26 x 12 x 6 inches Collection of the artist Collection of the artist Small Goddess, 1994 Gift Bearer, 1987 Bronze, 15 x 12 x 10 inches Crows Hydrocal on steel Mothers, 1994 Collection of the artist (Laughing Crow, Passage, 94 x 36 x 32 inches Burlap and straw Guard Crow, Red Eyed Crow) Collection of the artist 12 x 4 x 2 feet Spring, 2006 1994 Collection of Virginia Found materials Suite of four drawings Honor Guard, 2004 Western Community 100 x 16 x 14 inches Various sizes Bronze and steel College Collection of the artist India ink on onion skin/ 9 x 4 x 4 feet tracing paper Collection of Ross and Mothers III, 1984 Survivor, 1995 Collection of the artist Beth Myers at Bronze, 14 x 6 x 6 inches Bronze, 13 x 13 x 5 inches American Infrastructure, Collection of the artist Collection of J. David and Dancer II, 2008 Worcester, PA Mary Ann Wine Study after The Dancer Mountain Woman, 1987 Bronze Icarus, 1995 Alabaster The Box, 1996 Collection of Installation of five 12 x 24.25 x 8.5 inches Bronze, 12 x 12 x 1 inches Janice R. Moore Bronze, 12 x 14 x 4 inches Collection of Karen Collection of the artist Collection of the artist Waldron and Shawn Ricci Dragons Teeth, 1983 Trophy Crow, 2006 Installation, various sizes Interlude, 1985 Nero Ombre, 1994 Bronze, 18 x 7 x 17 inches Terracotta, low fired Bronze, 24 x 13 x 7 inches Belgian Marble Collection of the artist porcelain, earthenware Collection of Walter and 28 x 18 x 8 inches Collection of the artist Sally Rugaber Collection of the Eleanor Studies, c. 1980s D. Wilson Museum (Ombre, Maternita, Small Family portraits Juggler I, 1996 at Hollins University Goddess, Striding Woman II, (Billy, Polly, Tom, Bonny) Bronze, 29 x 10 x 6 inches 2005.397 three studies for Fire Dancer) 1978-79 Private collection of Gift of the artist for Bronze, various dimensions Hydrocal (Billy and Tom) Dr. Richard Grayson Founder’s Day, 1994 Collection of the artist and clay (Polly and Bonny) Various sizes Little Mountain Woman I Out of the Box I, 2003 Found Sculptures Collection of the artist 2008 Bronze, 13 x 12 x 4 inches 2000-09 Bronze, 12 x 5 x 6 inches Collection of the artist (Weighty Matter, No Yoke, Fire Dancer II, 2007 Collection of the artist Bo Bo, Double Axe, Bronze, 31 x 15 x 12 inches Raven’s Gate, 2005 Mary Queen of Scots, Omphales, Collection of Charlotte Macedonia, 2003 Bronze, granite, steel Burp, Little One-Eye) Orth and Kenneth J. Bronze, 17 x 20 x 6 inches 112 inches and 84 inches Mixed media Reckford Collection of the artist Collection of the artist Various dimensions Collection of the artist Fire Dancer III, 2007 Maternita Rosa II, 1987 Ritual Fire, 1986 Bronze Portuguese Rose marble Video documentation of Double Spiral, 2009 33 x 19 x 15 inches 38 x 17 x 13 inches performance Hay, dimensions variable Collection of the artist Collection of the artist Collection of the artist Site-specific installation

34 ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

Education Solo Exhibitions Together: Works by Betty and Patrick Branch. Southern Bronze. The Art Gallery, Belk Art Young Gallery. Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts. Building. Western Carolina University. 1952 David Lipscomb College. Nashville, Tennessee. 1980 Figurative Sculpture. Cheek Gallery. Roanoke, Virginia. Cullowhee, North Carolina. 1973 Virginia Western Community College. Parthenon Museum. Nashville, Tennessee. Roanoke, Virginia. 1983 Group Exhibit. Center Art Gallery. Contemporary Modes of Expression: VA/DC Artists. 1977 Independent study with Denis Knight, Ambiance Fine Art Gallery. Nashville, Tennessee. Lahaina, Maui, Hawaii. Marsh Gallery. University of Richmond. College of the Bahamas Design and Fabrication. Richmond, Virginia. Clay and fiber from local materials. 1981 Betty Branch. Meredith Art Gallery. Tri-State Sculptors Guild. Green Hill Center for 1977 Studied with Gerogiana Mailloff, Vancouver, Virginia State University. Petersburg, Virginia. North Carolina Art. Greensboro, North Carolina. St. John’s Museum. Wilmington, North Carolina. British Columbia. Wood carving. Totem culture of Pacific Northwest. Betty Branch, Sculptor. Kent Gallery. 1984 Group Exhibit. Center Art Gallery. Maui, Hawaii. 1987 New Art Center. Washington, D.C. 1979 Hollins College. Roanoke, Virginia. Radford University. Radford, Virginia. Bachelor of Arts Degree in Studio Art Tri-State Sculptor’s Guild. Gaston County Museum Over the Blue Ridge II. (Summa cum laude). 1982 Betty Branch, Sculptor: An Exhibition of Portraits. of Art and History. Dallas, North Carolina. Invitational, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts. 1980 Apprenticeship at Miles and Generalis Bridgewater College. Kline Campus Center. Roanoke, Virginia. Sculptural Services. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Bridgewater, Virginia. Mint Museum. Queens College. 1987 Hollins College. Roanoke, Virginia. Charlotte, North Carolina. Tucker-Boatwright Exhibition. Master of Arts in Liberal Studies. 1984 Warm Springs Gallery. University of Richmond. Richmond, Virginia. In-depth study—Athens, Greece and Sitia, Warm Springs, Virginia. 1985 Art Expo (NY). Jacob Javitts Center. Crete. Monograph on the great goddess culture New York, New York. 1990 Women and Children: Difficult Truths. of Crete. (Academic Citation). 1985 Mothers. Painter’s Gallery. Southern Seminary College. South Carolina. Virginia Western Community College. 16th National Juried Exhibition. Greensboro Artists’ League. Greensboro, North Carolina. 1991 Hollins College Faculty Art Exhibit. 1986 Performance piece Ritual Fire. Hollins College. Roanoke, Virginia. Awards and Recognitions Old Willis Quarry. Roanoke, Virginia. Focus International: American Women in Art. United Nations World Conference on Women. 1993 The Box: Remembering the Gift. 1983 Best in Show Award for Dragons Teeth. 1987 Performance piece Woman Wheel. Nairobi, Kenya. Contributed a photo of Térma Company. Santa Fe, New Mexico. 25th Annual Sidewalk Art Show. Hollins College. Roanoke, Virginia. Dragons Teeth to an American Album collection Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts. of art works from more than 300 American 1994 Sculpture: Art in the Round. Stanley Library Galleries. Roanoke, Virginia. 1989 Works in Stone. Olin Hall. Roanoke College. women artists. The album was part of an exhibit Ferrum College Fine Arts Division. Salem, Virginia. at the United Nations Conference on Women. Ferrum, Virginia. 1985 Award for Dragons Teeth in traveling exhibit: Nairobi, Kenya. Virginia Women Artists: Female Experience in 1994 Sculpture by Betty Branch. duPont Gallery. 1995 Sally Grace Branch and Betty Branch. Art. Armory Gallery, Virginia Tech. Washington and Lee University. Contemporary Sculpture by Virginia Artists. Studios on the Square Gallery. Roanoke, Virginia. Blacksburg, Virginia. Lexington, Virginia. Portsmouth Museums. Fine Arts Gallery, Courthouse. Portsmouth, Virginia. 1996 Women in the Visual Arts. Hollins College Art Gallery. 1998 Allied Artist Award. Board of Directors of 1998 Betty Branch. Nelson Street Gallery. Hollins College. Roanoke, Virginia. AIA Blue Ridge. Lexington, Virginia. 1985- Virginia Women Artists: Female Experience in Art. 1986 Traveling Exhibit. Armory Gallery, Virginia Tech. 1997 Contemporary American Art. 2002 C. Percival Dietsch Prize for Small Goddess. Blacksburg, Virginia. Portsmouth Community Art Museum of Western Virginia. Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina. Arts Center Gallery; Piedmont Art Association; Roanoke, Virginia. Selected Group Exhibitions University of Richmond; Randolph-Macon 2006 Bedi-Makky Foundry Prize for Macedonia. College; Bluefield State University; Longwood 1998 Garden Poem: Off the Wall. Betty Branch and National Sculpture Society. 1980 Kindred Works. Another Gallery. College; Danville Museum; Reston Art Center; Mimi Babe Harris. E. Taylor Greer Art Gallery/ Roanoke, Virginia. Shenandoah College and Conservatory. Stanley Library. Ferrum College. Ferrum, Virginia. 2007 YWCA Woman of Achievement in the Arts. 1981 The Real and the Surreal. Durham Arts Council 1986 Gilpin House Gallery. Silent Victims. Women Made Gallery. 2008 Sally Fishburn Crockett Award. Building. Durham, North Carolina. Alexandria, Virginia. Illinois State Capitol. Springfield, Illinois. Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. 1982 Tri-State Sculptor’s Guild Annual Members Exhibition. ArtExpo. New York. Flight: Works by Leigh Ann Beavers, Betty Branch, 2009 The Roanoker: Best of 2009: Gold. Gray Art Gallery. East Carolina University Jacob K. Javits Convention Center. and Liza Ryan. Hollins Art Gallery. “Betty Branch: Artist Whose Work Takes Museum of Art. Greenville, North Carolina. Hollins University. Roanoke, Virginia. Your Breath Away.” Asheville Art Museum. Asheville, North Carolina.

36 37 ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

2000 Artemis 2000. Living Gallery. Selected Collections and Commissions “Betty Branch.” Virginia Women Artists: Female Experience “Once Upon a Time.” The Roanoke Times 5 Dec. 1997. North Cross School. Roanoke, Virginia. in Art 1985. Taubman Museum of Art. Roanoke, Virginia. Parsons, Laura. “Lyricism in Stone: Sculptor 2002 69th Annual Awards Exhibition. Roanoke Public Library. Roanoke, Virginia. Costanza, Nina. “Simplicity of Form: A Conversation Betty Branch Shapes the Universal Frame.” National Sculpture Society. Juried Exhibition. City of Roanoke, Virginia. Between Sculptor and Material.” Sculpture Review 2005 Virginia Living (2007): 31 New York, New York. Jefferson Center. Roanoke, Virginia. North Cross School. Roanoke, Virginia. Cridlin, Jay. “Memorial.” The Roanoke Times “Pursuing Realism.” International Sculpture Crossing the Line. Philadelphia Sculptors and Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge. Roanoke, Virginia. March/April 1986. Tri-State Sculptors Guild. Moore College of Art Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University. Cubby, James. “Sculptor Betty Branch.” and Design. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Roanoke, Virginia. Artists Interviews:16+ “Radford Bust.” The News Journal 18 July 1986. Radford University Art Museum. Radford, Virginia. 102YEAR. No.142. 2003 Sculpture Visions 2003. City of Radford, Virginia. DeBell, Jeff. “Art Goes up in Flames.” Chapel Hill Public Arts Commission. David Lipscomb College. Nashville, Tennessee. Roanoke Times & World-News 29 Oct. 1986. Salmon, Robin. Brookgreen Garden Sculpture II (1993) Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Brookgreen Gardens. Pawley’s Island, North Carolina. Pfeiffer College. Meisenheimer, South Carolina. DeBell, Jeff. “Sculptor Finds Isolation in Downtown Sculpture Review: A Publication of the National Sculpture Society 2004 Three Virginia Artists. Chapel Hill Public Library. Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Roanoke.” Roanoke Times & World-News LIV.3 (2005): 34-35 E.Taylor Greer Gallery. Ferrum College. SunTrust Bank. Roanoke, Virginia. Ferrum, Virginia. American Infrastructure. Worcester, Pennsylvania. “DLC Alum ‘Captures’ Collins.” Shenandoah: The Washington and Lee University Review 51.4. American Red Cross, Roanoke Headquarters. The Tennessean 28 Sept. 1980. (2001) Stallions, Ponies, and Unicorns. Roanoke, Virginia. National Sculpture Society. New York, New York. C&P Central Offices. Arlington, Virginia. Godfrey, Robert. “Display is a Retrospective of “Weekender Guide.” New York Times 4 April. 1986. Alabama Institute of the Deaf and the Blind. Southern Bronze Sculpture.” Asheville Citizen -Times 2005 The Sea. National Sculpture Society. Talladega, Alabama. 7 Sept. 1986. sec, L. Weinstein, Ann. “One About Women, One by Women.” Park Avenue Atrium. New York, New York. Roanoke Times & World-News 19 May 1985. Hieronymus, Clara. “Sculptor’s Work to be Dedicated.” 2006 The 33rd Annual Juried Competition. The Tennessean 10 Oct. 1985. Weinstein, Ann. “Over the Blue Ridge II Masur Museum of Art. Monroe, Louisiana. Selected Bibliography Is a Varied Tribute to Artists of Western Virginia.” Kennedy, Joe. “A Memorial that Speaks to Us All.” Roanoke Times & World-News 26 July 1987. National Sculpture Society, Juried Exhibition, “25th Annual Sidewalk Art Show.” The Roanoke Times 2001. Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. In Focus: The Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts Sept. 1983. Weinstein, Ann. “Symbols Abound in Burlap Mothers.” Kennedy, Joe. “With 10 You Get Diversity.” Roanoke Times & World-News 27 Jan. 1985. 60th Annual Sculpture Exhibition. Adkins, Sharon. “Sculpture Dedicated in Memory Roanoke Times & World-News Wednesday Extra. Pen and Brush Inc. New York, New York. of Long-Time Radford Supporter.” 23 March. 1983. Williams, Arthur. Sculpture: Technique, Form, Content (1994) Campus Currents 4 Nov. 1991. 2007 Tri-State Sculptors. Kittredge, Kevin. “Getting Their Due.” “Women in the News” Women Artists News 11.1 (1986): 42. Washington Square. Washington, D.C. Angell, Janis. “Forms Fascinate Roanoke Sculptor.” The Roanoke Times 18 May. 2000. The News Journal 1 Nov. 1981. Woman of Power Magazine: A Magazine of Feminism, Allied Artists of America: 94th Annual Exhibition. Kittredge, Kevin. “Taubman Museum of Art and Spirituality, and Politics 6 (1987) National Arts Club. New York, New York. “Art Guild Exhibits Works.” Downtown Roanoke.” Roanoke Times Insert. The Chapel Hill Newspaper 10 Mar. 1981. 30 Oct. 2008: 13+ National Sculpture Society, Juried Exhibition, New York, New York. “Art: Light, Space, and Freedom.” Lugar, Norma. “The Good, the Bright, and the Beautiful.” The Roanoker Nov. 1980. The Roanoker XXIX.3/4 March/April. 2002. 2008 75th Annual Exhibition: National Sculpture Society. Juried Exhibition. National Sculpture Society. “Betty Branch.” Brookgreen Journal XV.3 (1985). Macy, Beth. “Sex, Death, and Whimsy in the Garden.” New York, New York. The Roanoke Times 24 July. 1997. “Betty Branch: Sculptor.” Friends and Family. Eleanor D. Wilson Museum. Center Art Gallery Magazine: Art Consultants to the World 1984. Martin, Kimberly. “Work of Art.” 17 Nov. 1994. Hollins University. Roanoke, Virginia. “Betty Branch Sculpture Studio and Gallery.” Merritt, Robert. “The Two Worlds of Women’s Art: 2009 Five Branches: A Virginia Family of Artists. The Roanoke Times 1 Dec. 2005. Making Art or Making a Statement.” Olin and Smoyer Galleries. Roanoke College. Richmond Times-Dispatch 13 Oct. 1985. Salem, Virginia.

38 39 Acknowledgments

The artist Betty Branch and museum director Amy G. Moorefield profoundly thank the following individuals and organizations for All along the way there have their assistance in the exhibition and its publication: Lenders: been good and stalwart friends Ross and Beth Myers at American Infrastructure, Worcester, PA Sibyl and Bob Fishburn The private collection of Dr. Richard Grayson in many lands who have given Larry and Sally Mann Janice R. Moore Charlotte Orth and Kenneth J. Reckford Walter and Sally Rugaber me their hearts and hands, Virginia Western Community College Shawn Ricci and Karen Waldron assisting and encouraging J. David and Mary Ann Wine Foundries: New Arts Foundry, Baltimore, MD and teaching me what Bronze Craft Foundry, Waynesboro, VA

Photographers: they knew and I did not. Richard Boyd, Roanoke, VA Amy Nance-Pearman, Roanoke, VA Richard Braaton, Roanoke, VA I am forever grateful. Polly Branch, Roanoke, VA Kathryn Wetzel, Richmond, VA Saba, Lucca, Italy I thank my beautiful big family, Channel 15 Productions, Blue Ridge Public TV, Roanoke, VA Deborah McLeod, Guest Essayist patient and loving, cheering John Anstey, David Hodge, and Sarah Henty of Anstey Hodge Beth Deel, upUpperiscope, myScoper, and a useful paper Rob Humphreys and Mark Kary me on and in many instances Michael Williams and MW Construction Company, Troutville, VA Elizabeth Bolka, Worth Higgins and Associates, Richmond, VA Caviness Welding, Roanoke, VA participating in the making of Roanoke County Board of Supervisors, Roanoke, VA Hollins University: Nancy Oliver Gray, President the art. I am grateful for good Jeanine Stewart, Vice President for Academic Affairs Jean Holzinger, Executive Director of Marketing Brook Dickson, President’s Office health and high energy and Celeste Hampton Alumna in Residence Fund Ed Dolinger, Art lecturer for the acres of woodland and John Forsman, Theatre Technical Director Eleanor D. Wilson Museum at Hollins University’s Staff and Interns: Janet Carty, Preparator and Collections Coordinator green that keep me sane. Laura Jane Ramsburg, Exhibition and Program Coordinator Karyn McAden, Museum Coordinator BETTY BRANCH Zachary Zuro, Visitor Services and Operations Coordinator Stephanie Vrobel, Curatorial Intern Tiffany Robinette, Curatorial Intern

40 THE ELEANOR D. WILSON MUSEUM