Published: March 14, 2007 06:48 pm
Thursday Feature: Local artist, Betty Bowen, featured at Tulsa Artists Coalition
MOLLY PAYNE
Managing Editor
The paintings of local artist and Cushing Middle School art teacher Betty Bowen are currently being
featured in a one-person show at the TAC (Tulsa Artists Coalition) in Tulsa. The show titled, “Colors in the
Dark” opened March 2 but will continue through the end of the month.
Bowen, a Cushing native, studied art at Oklahoma City University with Brunel Faris, (who was closely
involved in the arts in Oklahoma for over 40 years and a participant in numerous exhibitions and
competitions throughout the United States and abroad). Upon graduation she moved to North Carolina
where she studied painting and printmaking at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. It was there a
fellow painter suggested she go to graduate school in Wisconsin. She took his advice and in 1990 she
received a master’s degree in fine arts in printmaking from the University of Wisconsin.
In 2000, after her father’s death, Bowen returned to Cushing to care for her mother. It was then that her life
took another turn. “Thanks to Alternative Certification and the support of the Cushing Public Schools
administration,” Bowen said, “I began teaching middle school art at that time – in the same classroom
where I had my own first art classes in the early 1970s.”
What goes around comes around.
Bowen continues her pursuits as an artist, participating in art shows throughout Oklahoma. In September,
Bowen - along with local artists Kent Hancock, M.J. Henderson-Smith and Rob Smith - will be displaying
artwork inspired by a recent trip to Italy. “Arts Italia” opens Sept. 9 at Lachenmeyer Arts Center located at
7th and Little Ave.
“I have always been an artist, and will always be an artist,” Bowen said, “At this point, it is simply who I am.”
Tulsa Artists Coalition is located at 9 E. Brady in Tulsa. Hours are Tuesday – Friday 11 a.m. – 2 p.m. and
Thursday – Saturday 6 – 9 p.m.
To view more of Bowen’s art go to www.bettybowenart.com
Cushing Daily Citizen
