Betsy Timmer - Spring 2009 IFC Grant Recipient

Fiber Artist Grant Recipient, Spring 2009
Betsy Timmer

Biography

Originally from Michigan, Betsy Timmer currently lives and works in Lawrence, Kansas. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the University of Kansas in 2008 and a Bachelor of Fine Arts from Western Michigan University in 2003.

Betsy spends as much time as she can in her studio, drawing and making mixed media works. She also is employed as an art instructor and graphic designer. When not creating art or working, Betsy enjoys spending time with her family, cooking, walking, and combing flea markets and garage sales for treasures.

Gallery of Artwork

Betsy’s Resume - View here

Betsy - Notes on Inspiration, Practice, Etc.

I am inspired by everyday, domestic objects from both the present and the past. My studio is full of collections accumulated from garage sales, flea markets, and antique stores. I am especially attracted to things that contain a record of use or show signs of wear—threadbare clothing, stained towels, cracked dishes, worn wooden spoons. These objects inspire my use of form, texture, and color. Often they are incorporated directly into my work.

Time-consuming, repetitive processes are almost like meditation for me. Hours spent needle-felting or hand-stitching often go by in a blink of an eye—sometimes my mind is spinning with thoughts while my hands work; other times it is still and at rest.

2010 Update from Betsy

Dear Jennifer and IFC,

I would like to send you a huge thank you for the grant I received last spring. I am truly grateful for the grant you gave me.

Last summer, I was in dire need of a sturdy yet light weight armature to support "Rag Rug", a giant rug and dress I constructed out of braided sheets, tablecloths, and other found fabrics. I happened upon massive amounts of Styrofoam insulation being discarded by the University of Kansas. Thanks to the grant, I had money to immediately purchase hot-wire foam carving tools. Not only did these tools allow me to resolved my armature issue, they also have changed my thoughts entirely on how to support my work. I have so many possibilities for light-weight forms. Even without a full sculpture studio at my disposal, I feel like I can make anything! It is awesome.

This grant has been a great boost to my personal confidence. As all artists know, rejection is just part of the game. Getting a positive response from IFC is always in the back of my mind as I send out for other opportunities.

It’s simply refreshing to remain on the IFC mailing list and be informed about all the events and the ever expanding community. I find it very inspiring to see people working together to make huge projects happen. IFC is a young organization but already it is accomplishing many things. After a hectic academic ear, I am looking forward to trying to get involved with an IFC project.

Again, I just want to say thank you so much for this award. You are really making a difference in in the lives of artists... I know this for sure. Thank you!

Sincerely,
Betsy

2010 Update from Betsy

Artist’s Statement

Art often functions as a powerful lens, examining and scrutinizing the culture that creates it. It can magnify difficult situations and bring problems into crisp focus. Art can call for attention, ask questions, clamor for change, or provide an escape from reality. Artists are fueled by the culture in which they live and each make individual contributions based on their personal experiences and unique points of view.

The realization of my connection to my culture and my role in recording it is empowering. My works is rooted in the non-stop, bigger, better, faster culture of excess in which I find myself daily. It is about stress, hurry, and busyness. I am concerned with pressure—more specifically the pressures facing women. I see women all around me struggling to fill several demanding roles simultaneously. Women are expected to be beautiful objects, caring mothers, supportive wives, diligent homemakers, and productive workers. Is choosing one role over another simply settling for less or accepting failure? Is striving to fulfill all expectations realistic? I am inspired by endless to-do lists, piles of emails, constantly ringing cell phones, seventy-hour workweeks, multitasking nightmares, endless dieting, and the looming feeling that there is not enough time. I think about heart failure, anxiety attacks, eating disorders and other physical manifestations of our frenzied pace. I see crumbling relationships, dysfunctional families, and self destruction. My work is about feeling tired, weighted down, torn, overstuffed, frustrated, dissatisfied, and out of breath.

For me, these concerns take the form of mixed media sculptures. I use fabric, felt, and found objects to create characters with which the viewer can both sympathize and empathize. Often the pieces are worn and pathetic, victims of over use. Others divulge their constant struggle and frustration. Some are vulnerable and uncomfortably exposed. Personalities are revealed through puckers, rips, patches, stains, and other imperfections. Each piece I create relies on nagging familiarity and subtle humor to call attention to and criticize the demanding culture in which we live.

2010 Update - View Betsy’s two new projects since receiving the IFC grant Artwork

Mouseover images to see larger

top

[Home] [Gas Station] [Tree Project] [Artist Grant] [Contact Us] [News] [Store]

	Sitemap Translate this site

International Fiber Collaborative, Inc. (W.R.A.P) Phone: 1.614.561.9057 Blueangle1412@yahoo.com

		Ink2Art web site design