Bettie Ward
American, b. 1947
Soul Mark #4
Mixed media on paper, signed lower right
Abstract with sgraffito against a metallic gold ground, mounted behind glass, framed and inscribed to verso.

Bettie Ward is a Santa Fe-based textile and multimedia artist, sculptor, jazz singer, co-founder of the Artists Foundation of San Antonio, and the mother of Pendleton Ward, animator and creator of the monumental and Emmy-award winning animated series Adventure Time (for which Bettie has voice acted, commentated, and designed the cover for issue #4 of the comic series). In her own words: "I am the cowgirl daughter of an old world rancher who taught me to get back up on my horse as soon as I hit the ground. During my childhood, I galloped over hundreds of rattlesnakes being careful not to let my horse get bit. I was seated next to John Wayne at the Rodeo while he was making “the Alamo” and I spent my summers in La Jolla, California where I played shuffleboard with Vincent Price. But as an adult, life became more about survival and being a painter was my route to raising three boys alone. Lucky to be the type of person who can see beauty all around me, I learned about color from the blooms of desert flowers that I found on the Texas and New Mexico prairies.

"My art tells stories about listening, growth, change, romances, fragmentation, transformation, natural phenomenon, sensations, sex, the earth as home, cycles, relationships, and nature as it relates to man. My paintings are proof that I exist; they are the evidence of my personal energy. Art teaches me about the fragility of life and the benevolence and generosity of mankind. I make art in relentless pursuit of my life creating objects based upon my belief in Human possibilities."
Sheet: 30 x 22 in. (76.2 x 55.9 cm.), frame: 44 x 36 in. (111.8 x 91.4 cm.)

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