LORI BETZ
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Lori Betz has 25 years of art experience as a professional artist, as well as a portfolio of varied accomplishments including public art commissions, solo exhibitions, and academic achievements. She studied studio art and design at the University of Texas, Austin and was then awarded an artist’s residency at the Shigaraki Cultural Institute, in Shigaraki, Japan. After completing her residency she sought out instructors to study with and this led her to apprentice with artist Alan Bain in Procopia, Greece and then on to study sculpture with artist Alex Deya in Cortona, Italy, and portraiture with renown portrait artist, Philippe Faraut in New York.
Betz returned to the U.S. after studying abroad and opened up her own studio and art gallery downtown Houston, Texas. In 2010 Betz created two life sized figures that stand in front of Houston’s City Hall. In 2012 Lori Betz and her partner, Frank Clegg, opened up Betz Art foundry, which is a boutique art foundry specializing in casting fine art sculpture. She also teaches portraiture and figurative sculpture at the Glade Arts Foundation and at Mother Dog Studios in Houston, Texas. I have always been an artist. As a child I was always sketching, painting or making sculptures out of mud. I loved my art classes and had a natural ability to catch the likeness of any subject. When I was in college pursuing an art degree the student was required to study all the technical processes required to create art. While this gave me the tools I needed, I didn’t feel that it satisfied my need for true expression and meaning. Although most people see me as a figurative sculptor, I prefer being thought of as a narrative artist. Edgar Degas said that “Art is not what you see but what you make others see “and I wanted to be able to speak to people through my art. That is why I spent so many years in my youth traveling to apprentice with different masters. I wanted to learn how to make my sculptures speak.W hen I create a sculpture my purpose is for my sculptures to tell a story that will inspire the viewer. Every year I create several sculptures that are featured in exhibitions and galleries around the world. For my inspiration I collaborate often with renowned dancers and performers to pose for me. I use dancers as my models for their lyricism and movement and because dance also tells a story. I have had the privilege of working with some renown dancers and performers. I created the sculpture “ Dance, The Language of the Soul” with the collaboration of Stan Walsh, the artistic director of the Houston Ballet. He choreographed two of his soloists live for me so that I could capture a moment, a feeling, in bronze. www.betzartfoundry.com Genre: Commissions |
