Up Close & Personal
Nationally recognized fiber artist Bets Ramsey, of Nashville, will piece together the collage of her own colorful career during the free educational program of the Arts Council of Williamson County (ACWC), “Art: Up Close & Personal,” Monday, March 8, 2010, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Williamson County Public Library.
Ramsey emphasizes, “My love for fabric, needle and thread began at an early age. First, I sewed for my dolls, then for myself, planning and making my own clothes in elementary school. As an 18-year-old, I began a successful design and dressmaking business with a friend that ended only when we left for college.”
She continues, “With an art degree, marriage and children, I explored several forms of art, arriving at fabric collage in 1960. That was it! I discovered that the same search to express truth and beauty and meaning in life could be applied to cloth as a medium as well as it could to paint, and the sensual quality of cloth’s fibers and textures added an evocative element to my compositions. Thus I became a fiber artist. Along the way, I have tried to share my enthusiasm and encourage others by teaching, writing and preparing numerous exhibitions, and to honor the needleworkers and fabric-makers of the past.”
Scott B. Hodes, director of visual arts for the Arts Council of Williamson County, points out, “The lecturers have been asked to share the experiences that have culminated in that artisan being able to fulfill the role of professional working artist in the community, such as background, history, choices and decisions, education and technique, work experience, and artistic and life influences.”
The Williamson County Public Library and O’More College of Design are co-sponsors for this series developed to educate students in the arts as well as those in the community who have an interest in the arts. The lecture series is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be served.
The main branch of the Williamson County Public Library is located at 1314 Columbia Avenue in Franklin. For more information about the event or the Arts Council, visit www.artscouncilwc.org or call (615) 428-3845.
Ramsey earned her bachelor of arts degree in art, with honors, from the University of Chattanooga, and an master of science degree in crafts and design from the University of Tennessee. She is a founding member of the American Quilt Study Group (AQSG) and the Tennessee Association of Craft Artists, and is a member of the American Crafts Council, the South Highland Craft Guild and other related professional organizations.
Ramsey entered the world of quilt making and its history in 1971. She has taught, lectured and written about quilts ever since. In 1984, she and Merikay Waldvogel began a survey of Tennessee quilts. They published their findings in a book called The Quilts of Tennessee and presented a touring exhibition of the quilts in 1986.
For 17 years, Ramsey’s Southern Quilt Symposium at the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, Tenn., attracted participants from coast to coast. She also wrote a weekly quilt column for the Chattanooga Times for 17 years.
Ramsey is an award-winning exhibiting artist and was included in the exhibition at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, “The Art of Tennessee.” A 42-year retrospective of her fiber works was shown at the Carroll Reece Museum of East Tennessee State University and the Leu Art Gallery of Belmont University in 2003.
Ramsey was inducted into the Quilters Hall of Fame in 2005. The Alliance for American Quilts produced a biographical video for its website in 2008. The following year, she received the Tennessee Governor’s Award in the Arts for her work as an artist, author, curator and teacher.
The Arts Council of Williamson County (ACWC) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) service organization that exists to enrich the lives of the citizens of Williamson County, Tenn., by bringing the arts and people together. The Arts Council envisions a dynamic, lively and diverse arts community, which is accessible to all and which is a major cultural destination.
