Portrait of the Artist, Betsy DeFusco

ARTIST'S STATEMENT I make paintings that are abstract reflections of what I experience visually and/or emotionally. My paintings have broad expanses of color because I believe color is healing to the human spirit. I strive for works that are soothing, lyrical, open to interpretation, and beautiful. EDUCATION M.F.A., The Ohio State University, 1994 B.S., Art Education, The University of Dayton, Ohio, 1969 Awards Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award for 2007

Recent Review: Jacqueline Hall, "TWIST OFF THE OLD BLOCK: Columbus professionals move in new directions with refreshing results," The Columbus Dispatch, June 19, 2005 "DeFusco's recent works on paper continue with the colorful gridlike images that brought the artist attention from critics and collectors in past years. In her recent works, the diffused light, so peculiar to the plaidlike images, is more intensely concentrated, making the works seem to glow from within. The thin layering of pigments is handled so adroitly that a sensation of space is created between the layers. This is especially noticeable with In April; a sheer curtain appears to be hanging on the surface of the image. In the past, the sensation of space in DeFusco's paintings seemed to emanate from behind the colorful, gridlike compositions. Now it appears to exist between the colorful layers of the grids as well. The second group of DeFusco works, the paintings on canvas, seem to have spatial infinity. The images have lost the austere formalism of the grid. A vague suggestion of huge skies and far horizons subtly implies a subject that DeFusco gave up almost a decade ago: nature. These luminous, airy and colorful images are delightfully animated with forms that bring to mind flocks of birds in flight and delicate, ghostly images of bugs and bees. Mexican Morning, with its rich and sensuous palette and faint surrealism, is particularly cheerful."

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS (last five years) One- and Two-Person Exhibitions Recent Work by Betsy DeFusco, Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, 2005 More Crossings: New Works by Betsy DeFusco, The Ohio State University Faculty Club, Columbus, Ohio, 2003 Betsy DeFusco and Eric Barth, Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio 2003 Light Crossings, Dayton Visual Arts Center, Dayton, Ohio, Fall 2001 Color: Abstraction to Realism, Art Access Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, July 2000 Recent Paintings, Columbus Cultural Art Center, Columbus, Ohio, August 2000 Group Exhibitions Ohio Art League Fall Juried Exhibition, Rhodes Office Tower, Columbus, Ohio, Melissa Meyer, Juror, 2006 Ohio Art League Spring Juried Exhibition, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, 2006 Art for Life, Live Auction, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, 2006 Art and Artifice, Richard M. Ross Art Museum, Delaware, Ohio, Annegreth Nill, curator, 2006 Celebrating 25 Years of Contemporary Art, Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, 2005 Made in Ohio/Diverse Sources, Annegreth Nill, curator, Riffe Gallery, Columbus, Ohio, 2005 Dots and Spots, Art Works Gallery, Newark, Ohio, 2005 Summer Salon, Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, 2004 Art for Life, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, Ohio, 2004 Dayton Visual Arts Center Art Auction, Dayton, Ohio, 2004 Dayton Visual Arts Center Ninth Annual Art Auction, Kettering Tower, Dayton, Ohio, 2002 Holiday Invitational, Ceres Gallery, New York, New York, 2002 Art for Life, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, 2002 Contemporary Artists, Group Exhibition, Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio, 2002 Artstravaganza, Hunter Museum of American Art, Chattanooga TN, Michael Lash juror, 2001 Primarily Painting, Muse Gallery and Foundation, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Susan Rosenberg juror, 2001 Ceres Fourth National Juried Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York City, New York, Beth Handler juror, 2000 12x12x12x2000, San Jacinto College South, Houston, Texas, Marisol Nieves juror, 2000 Art For Life Juried Exhibition and Auction, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio, Dan Cameron juror, 2000 National Small Works Exhibition, Schoharie County Arts Council, Cobleskill, New York, Frances Barth, juror, 1999 Alexandria Museum of Art, 17th Annual September Exhibition, Alexandria, Louisiana, Beth Handler, juror, 1999

GALLERY AND DEALER REPRESENTATION Keny Galleries, Columbus, Ohio The Art Exchange, Ltd., Columbus, Ohio Kathryn Markel Fine Arts, New York, New York SELECTED PERMANENT COLLECTIONS State Teachers Retirement System, Columbus, Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Columbus, Ohio The Blackwell Inn, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio Buckeye Printing and Mailing Service, Columbus, Ohio Rhodes Office Tower, Columbus, Ohio Mount Carmel Health Center, Columbus, Ohio Huntington National Bank, Columbus, Ohio Bruce Dooley and Conpany Realtors, Columbus, Ohio Huntington National Bank, Cleveland, Ohio J.R. Ranft and Associates, Inc., Columbus, Ohio Reynoldsburg Historical Society, Reynoldsburg, Ohio Glen Weber and Associates, Washington, D.C. Microcom Corporation, Columbus, Ohio BIBLIOGRPAHY Made in Ohio/Diverse Sources, catalog published by Ohio Arts Council, 727 E Main St, Columbus OH 43205, 2005 The Art of Collecting, catalog published by Keny Galleries, 300 E Beck St Columbus OH 43206, 2005 Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Jacqueline Hall, April 20, 2003 New American Paintings, September 2001 Issue, No. 35, p. 49 Article, Dayton Daily News, September 9, 2001, p. 1C. Review, Dayton Impact Weekly, Oct 4-10, 2001, p. 15. Dialogue, November-December, 2001, p. 63. Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Jeanne Fryer-Kohles, August 6, 2000, p. F8, color reproductions included. Feature Article, 'Life is Good", Dialogue, March /April, 1999. Feature Article, Bexley This Week, July 22, 1998. Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Kay Koeninger, March 15, 1998, color reproductions included. Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Kay Koeninger, December 29, 1996. Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Kay Koeninger, November 17, 1996, color reproductions included. Review, The Columbus Dispatch, Jacqueline Hall, November 6, 1994. Review, Columbus Art, Issue 1, November, 1991. Review, The Fabulous Short North, Elizabeth James, 1991. Review, Columbus Dispatch, Jacqueline Hall, November 17, 1991. Review, Columbus Dispatch, Jacqueline Hall, November 18, 1990. Feature Article, Bexley This Week, October 22, 1990.

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