
Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, Betty spent her early childhood riding horses and cultivating a love of nature in and around the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, North Carolina. At a young age she developed an affinity for nature as well as an intuitive understanding of the seasons and cycles of life. Later in her formative years, her family moved to a large urban city and this transition to the city compelled Betty to search for diverse forms of creative expression in an attempt to reconnect with the natural environment of her youth.
Betty focused on the arts at Florida State University where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, during which she chose metal sculpting as one of her primary art forms. She also excelled in abstract painting, displaying a remarkably colorful, spontaneous, and totally unique style that reflected her natural impulses. Moving to Atlanta, GA in 1995 after graduating from Florida State University, she steadfastly grew into her successful career as an independent artist. She found her passion and peers in the historic art studios , The B Complex and The Goat Farm Arts Center , which became the home of her studios throughout the years.
In 2019, Betty and her husband found land and began building their self sustainable farm in North Georgia in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains. Building a home and creating an artistic space for visual arts and music. In 2020 they moved from The Goat Farm Arts Center in Atlanta , GA and “Talking Tree Farm” was established as their homestead. Her self-described “Aha moment” was when her artwork transformed from two dimensional abstract to contemporary fabric collage. “My art studio sits above the barn overlooking the farm. Initially the only water source came from a rain barrel. I would watch the paint pigment seep into the earth, which lead me to experimenting with different ways of absorbing the paint pigmented water. The “aha moment “ was when I used fabric, and the contemporary fabric collection was born. I realized that my passion for the environment was the beginning of my new collection.” Today, one can see her organic paintings mimicking natures forms and colors using dyed fabrics and paper. The multilayering technique has hybrid characteristics of sculptural paintings within monochromatic earth tones that covey an emotion or sense of place.