Bio:
Betsy Youngquist was born in Rockford, IL in 1965. She received her Bachelors Degree in art from North Park University in Chicago in 1987, and her Masters Degree in art education from UW-Madison in 1992. During the past several years Betsy has shown her work in galleries, juried exhibitions, and art fairs throughout the United States.

Statement:
As fourth graders at Welsh Elementary School in Rockford, IL my classmate Kristin Henard and I co-authored and illustrated a book entitled The Two Friends. Xeroxed and stapled, this book tells the story of an eagle and a horse who meet in the wild and become friends. Two of the book’s illustrations, both simple line drawings, picture the eagle, Bushy-Tail, riding on the back of the horse, Cherokee. It was a start. While a fledgling adult artist in 1998, the Illinois Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts selected a beaded painting of mine called Flight of the Zebra for an exhibition. With a red bird perched on a zebra the images of Bushy-Tail and Cherokee were back. Still great friends, they had morphed into an explosion of texture and color, and both now sported human feet. Anthropomorphism had taken root.

Eight years later I returned to DC as a professional artist exhibiting my work at the Smithsonian Craft Show. My animal forms had become three-dimensional, and all had human glass eyes.

Always in such a hurry to create enough work to fill my booth for the next show, I seldom take time to stop, breathe, and reflect. As I sit here at the computer, with beads accidentally glued to my pants, I’m further reminded that my life as an artist, and my story as a person are intertwined with the significance of the animals that cross my path. Animals are as invested in our experience as we are in theirs. Sometimes I think we want to see ourselves in these creatures in order to hear the messages they bring. I know I do.

Lately I’ve come full circle as the human heads of my earlier paintings have found their way into my sculptures as antique doll parts. That’s always fun, when an unintentional connection becomes obvious.

Pulications:
Bead International 2008; The Dairy Barn Arts Center, Ohio University Press, cover, 2008.
500 Handmade Dolls, Lark Books, 2007.
"Expressive Treatments of Nature", Bead Dreams- Bead and Button Magazine special edition, Spring 2005.
American Style Magazine, cover, April 2005.
500 Beaded Objects, Lark Books, 2004.
"Dreaming Beaded Creatures" by Pam O'Connor; Bead and Button Magazine, Issue #55, June, 2003.
The Best in Contemporary Beadwork; Bead International 2002, produced by The Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center, Interweave Press, 2002.
Beading Bravura, Sara Schwartz, St. Louis Homes and Lifestyles Magazine, October, 2001.
Women’s Work, edited by Kathleen Baxter, American Artist, February, 2000.
The Best in Contemporary Beadwork; Bead International 2000, The Dairy Barn Cultural Arts Center coproduced by Beadwork Magazine, Interweave Press, 2000.
Illinois Women Artists: The New Millennium, Clare Henry, Women in the Arts, produced by The National Museum of Women in the Arts, Fall, 1999.
Illinois Women Artists: The New Millennium, The Illinois Committee for the National Museum of Women in the Arts, The University of Illinois Press, 1999.
 
Selected Juried Exhibitions:
Bead International, traveling, The Dairy Barn-Southeastern Ohio Cultural Arts Center, Athens, Ohio, 2000, 2002, 2008.
Illinois Woman Artists: The New Millennium, traveling, The National Museum for Women in the Arts, Washington, DC, 1999.
Annual Quad-State Juried Exhibition, Quincy Arts Center, Quincy, IL, 1999.
Passionate Obsessions, The Phipps Center for the Arts, Hudson, WI, 1998.
State Line and Vicinity Show, The Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, 1994.
 
Selected Invitational Exhibitions:
Light of the Moon, solo exhibition, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, 2008.
All About Beads, Pismo Gallery, Denver, CO, 2006, 2007-2008.
Enchantment, ARTspace of the John Kohler Arts Center, Kohler, WI, 2006.
Two Person Show with sculptor Ritch Branstrom, Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, WI, 2004.
One Person Show, Galesburg Civic Art Center, Galesburg, IL, 2004.
Solo Exhibition, Rock Valley College, Rockford, IL, 2002.
Three Person Show, Blue Gallery, Kansas City, MO, 2001.
Images In Hope, The Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL, 2001.
The Annual Fine Crafts Show, Art Resources Gallery, Minneapolis, MN, 2000, 2001.
The Animal Show, Handsel Gallery, Santa Fe, NM, 2000.
Two Person Show, North Park University, Chicago, IL, 1999.
Invocation, traveling, Governor’s State University, Park Forest South, IL, 1994.
National Liberty Museum Invitational Exhibition, Philadelphia, PA, 2006.
 
Selected Juried Art Festivals:
American Craft Council Show, Baltimore, MD, 2005-2008. Award of Excellence 2007.
Smithsonian Craft Show, Washington D.C., 2005.
Washington Craft Show, Washington, DC, 2005, 2006.
St. Louis Art Fair, Saint Louis, MO, 2005, 2006. First Place 2005. Best of Show 2006.
Lakefront Festival of the Arts, Milwaukee, WI, Artist Award 2005-2008. Artist Award 2008.
New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans, LA, 2003-2008. Best of Show 2003. Artist Award 2008.
Cherry Creek Arts Festival, Denver, CO, 2000, 2001, 2006, 2007. Merit Award 2000.
Coconut Grove Arts Festival, Coconut Grove, FL, 2001-2003.
The Plaza Art Fair, Kansas City, MO, 1999-2004, 2006, 2007. Second Place 1999, 2000. Invitational Award 2006.
Port Clinton Art Festival, Highland Park, IL, 1999-2004. Second Place 1999.
Old Town Art Fair, Chicago, IL, 2000, 2007, 2008.
Sausalito Art Festival, Sausalito, CA, 2006-2008.
Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show, Philadelphia, PA, 2006, 2007.

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