Contemporary artist, wood sculptor, woodturner, and woodcut printmaker
Internationally recognized as one of the masters of her genre
“Artists create glorious objects when they incorporate their life experiences into a personal vocabulary, expressive of their own particular, splendid being. What I make is a mirror of who I am, so when I speak for myself, the message rings true and sincere.”
Betty Scarpino’s contemporary wood sculptures combine fluid motion with intricate detail. Her creative energy draws people to her, and numerous awards have come her way. Scarpino was born in 1949 in Wenatchee, Washington. Her career began in the seventies, when she began making furniture and producing purely functional pieces.
She has a degree in industrial arts from the University of Missouri where she also studied woodcarving and wood sculpture. While these early years did not develop artistic innovation, Scarpino mastered the techniques that now allow her to create wood sculpture, decorative art woodturnings, and woodcut prints.
Her abstract wood sculptures and decorative art woodturnings are in the permanent collection of many major museums, including the Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution.
Grants/Awards
Collectors of Wood Art, Lifetime Achievement Award 2015
Arts Council of Indpls. Creative Renewal Arts Fellow, 1999 and 2007
Arts Development Scholarship, Arts Alliance of Indiana, 2003
Indiana Arts Commission Grant 2002
Teaching/Workshops
Betty occasionally teaches week-long workshops at craft schools including:
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee
Gallery Representation
Kirsten Muenster Projects
Museum Permanent Collections
In addition to being represented in many major private collections of craft and wood art, Betty Scarpino’s wood art and sculptures are in the permanent collection of two dozen museums.
Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock
Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe
Asheville Art Museum, Asheville, NC
Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
Cincinnati Art Museum
The Columbus Museum, Georgia
Detroit Institute of Arts
Evansville Museum of Arts and Science, Indiana
Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
Fuller Craft Museum, Brockton, MA
Gregg Museum of Art & Design, North Carolina State University
Honolulu Museum of Art
Indiana State Museum
Los Angeles County Art Museum
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
Mint Museum of Art, Craft + Design, Charlotte, North Carolina
Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile Alabama
Museum of Arts and Design, New York
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts
Racine Art Museum, Wisconsin
Renwick Gallery of the National Museum of American Art, Smithsonian Institution
The Center for Art in Wood, Philadelphia
Yale University Art Museum
Featured Event
Indiana Artists 89th Annual Juried Exhibition (2019)
Betty had one of her pieces featured in a show which ran from April 5 – June 1, 2019 at the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.
The opening reception was April 7 at 3:00 pm in the DeBeost Lecture Hall.
Click here for a printable flyer.
