BETTY BISHOP HANGS HERE My Paintings & My Blog

BETTY BISHOP HANGS HERE

My Paintings & My Blog

FAMILY PAINTINGS

Hi,
I am a 75 year old woman living in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Welcome in my little corner of the World Wide Web. What a great new place this is!

I was born in Kirkland Lake on a cold Canadian morning in 1934. My father was a gold miner. During the war he tested engines for Canada's Corvette fleet of ships. We also had a summer resort called Kirkland Kabins at Wasaga Beach. We moved to Stayner, Ontario after the war.

One of my first memories is of taking big red apples from my parent's basement barrel, transferring them to a basket and going door to door trying to sell them to our neighbours. I think I was born an entrepreneur.

After many years in the wilderness I eventually bought Walter Cole's Catering. An entrepreneur’s dream! Cole's was the grand old dame of Toronto Catering Companies. She had been around since 1847. When the Queen of England came to Toronto they called Coles to make fancy little sandwiches. I worked very hard and Coles was very good to me.

In 1985 I sold the Company. After selling one of the things I did was take a sculpting course at a nearby high school. I fell in love with Art and gradually rebuilt myself into some form of an artist/painter. The winter of 1992/93 I went to New York to study at the Art Student's League. I lived at the Chelsea Hotel and studied under Knox Martin. He told me to "stay away from school, you are a primitive painter, you have what it takes, go home, paint every day all day". It seems to me only men can paint all day every day - women always have dishes to do. Maybe I am dating myself when I say that? When I owned Coles customers would call and ask to speak to the president - when they got me they would ask to speak to my husband. I doubt that would happen today. In any case I painted as much as I could and for the most part stayed away from school.

I exhibited my work at the Art Students League’s December show in 1993 and had a painting hanging in the lobby of the Chelsea Hotel for a few months. In 1995 I exhibited at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition and at The Performing Arts Lodge in Toronto. Every August I put paintings in the AWOL Square Foot Show [http://www.awolgallery.com] and got some nice press in Eye Magazine a few years ago. I have been invited to exhibit my work in the Florence Biennale but so far have declined the offer.

In 2003 I rented a store on the Danforth. It had great windows and good vibes. I named it A Place to Paint and hoped to emulate something like a mini Art Student's League - but it was not to be. I am no longer associated with A Place to Paint. I am looking for another space with the same qualities and hope to find a dozen or so artists or wanna-be-artists to form a collective sometime in 2009. If you are interested in sharing space e-mail me please. bettybishop@me.com

During the school year I have weekly art classes in my home for some great kids. You may see their wonderful work at http://thekidshanghere.blogspot.

Thanks for stopping by. Click on the links above or below to view my work and/or my words. I look forward to hearing from you.

FAMILY PAINTINGS