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Betty Blayton

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Betty Blayton-Taylor (July 10, 1937 – October 2, 2016) was an American activist, advocate, artist,[1] arts administrator/educator, lecturer and social entrepreneur.

As an artist, Blanton-Taylor was an illustrator, painter, printmaker, and sculptor. She is best known for her works often described as 'spiritual abstractions'[2]. Blayton-Taylor was a co-founder and the board secretary of the Studio Museum in Harlem, co-founder and executive director of Harlem Children's Art Carnival (CAC), and a co-founder of Harlem Textile Works. She was also an advisor, consultant and board member to a variety of other arts and community-based service organizations and programs.

Family and early life

Betty Blayton was born in Newport News, Virginia at Whittaker Hospital, the second of the four children of Alleyne Houser-Blayton and Dr. James Blaine "Jim" Blayton. Whittaker Hospital was the closest hospital for African Americans, thirty-five miles from the Blayton's home in James City County, where, at the time, Dr. Blayton was the community's only black physician. His personal and professional experiences in these times of segregation influenced him to establish a 14-bed hospital with an emergency room and maternity ward for African Americans and later in 1961 was a principal participant in establishing the first fully integrated medical facility in Williamsburg Williamsburg Community Hospital. Alleyne Houser-Blayton was also a founding member of the Williamsburg Chapter of the National Black Child Developmental Institute and the Williamsburg Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

From as early as Blayton could remember she declared herself an artist and demonstrated this fact at the age of four by repeatedly crayoning murals up the steps in her home to the point that her mother declared to her father that she was convinced that they must have brought the wrong baby home from the Hospital. Before she was school age her mother would often do substitute teaching for first grade. There was an art and play activity area next to the regular classroom. She would park Betty there with paint and easel and know that she did not have to worry about her for hours.

Her three siblings are Barbara Blayton Richardson, who has a Ph.D. in Education; James the 2nd (Jimmy), who has won many awards for his work in metal sculpture and restoration of classic Corvettes; and Oscar, a civil rights lawyer.

Education

In 1943 Blayton was enrolled in the segregated Bruton Heights Public School, which she attended through the 7th grade. In 1950 she entered Palmer Memorial Institute in the 8th grade, a boarding school for African American students in Sedalia, North Carolina.

Blayton received BFA from Syracuse University and continued her education at the Art Students League and the Brooklyn Museum School.[3] There was never a question as to what her college major would be; and while she was not accepted at the Pratt Institute, which was her first choice, she was admitted to Syracuse University, which she also believed to be one of the best art schools in the nation. In 1955 when Betty set off for college, Virginia did not allow African Americans to attend any of its segregated all-white universities due to its Jim Crow laws and no public black college in the state offered an accredited degree her chosen major, so Virginia had to pay her full tuition throughout the four years of her college career in order to comply with the federally mandated "separate but equal" requirements for education. [4] This allowed her to attend the school of her choice tuition free. Blayton chose a double major in Painting and Illustration. Illustration put her mother's mind somewhat at ease as to the potential of her daughter's future ability to be self-sufficient. While at Syracuse she studied painting and drawing with Van der Sluse in her first year, an excellent drawing instructor. She was not allowed to take painting until Second year and had three different teachers who all wanted her to paint like them. She decided to ignore them all and create her own expression. Van der Sluse ended up giving her a C and said that he could not understand how she could draw so well and paint so badly. She graduated in 1959 with a BFA degree with honors.[5]

Studion Museum In Harlem

Blayton was a founding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem and served on its board from 1965 to 1977. Betty (2nd from right) with other Founding Members of the Studio Museum


Exhibitions

"Magnetic Fields" Museum of Fine Art, Saint Petersburg, FL (May 5 – August 5, 2018) [6]

"Surface Work" Victoria Miro - Mayfair, London (11 April - 16 June 2018) [7]

"Magnetic Fields" National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC (October 13, 2017 – January 21, 2018) [8]

"Magnetic Fields" Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MI (June 8 - September 17, 2017) [9]

The Wild Art Show, The Museum of Modern Art, New York (January 17 – March 14, 1982) [10]

"TWO" - Tonnie Jones and Betty Blayton - The Studio Museum In Harlem (March 31 May 12, 1974)

"Counterpoints 23" (March 16 - 30 1969)

"8x8", Riverside Museum, New York City (1968)

"Six Painters", MARC, New York City (1968)

One-man show [sic], Capricorn Gallery, New York' City (1968)

"30 Contemporary Black Artists," Minneapolis, Minnesota. Organized by Ruder and Finn. (1968)

"Fifteen New Voices", American Greeting Card Gallery, New York City. Organized by Ruder and Finn. (1968)

Lever House, New York City (1967)

One-man show, Capricorn Gallery, New York City (1966)

One-man show [sic], Adair Gallery, Atlanta, Georgia (1963)

One-man show [sic], St. Thomas Gallery, Virgin Islands (1960)

Collectors Corner Gallery, Washington, D.C. (1959)

References

  1. ^ "Art Carnival is Creative" Aiken Standard (December 22, 1972): 29. via Newspapers.com Open access icon
  2. ^ "betty-blayton-site". betty-blayton-site. Retrieved May 23, 2018.
  3. ^ Farrington, Lisa E (January 1, 2011). Creating their own image: the history of African-American women artists. ISBN 9780199767601.
  4. ^ "Dovell-Act-site". Alice-Jackson-Segregation-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  5. ^ "Remembrances of Betty Blayton-Taylor, Studio Museum Co-Founder and Harlem Arts Activist". Hyperallergic. January 23, 2017. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  6. ^ "Magnetic-Fields-St-Pete-site". Magnetic-Fields-St-Pete-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  7. ^ "Surface-Work-Victoria-Miro-site". Surface-Work-Victoria-Miro-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  8. ^ "Magnetic-Fields-NMWA-site" (PDF). Magnetic-Fields-NMWA-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  9. ^ "Magnetic-Fields-Kemper-site". Magnetic-Fields-Kemper-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
  10. ^ "Wild-Show-MOMA-site". Wild-Show-MOMA-site. Retrieved November 16, 2018.
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