Betsy ByersFaculty

Professor and Johnson Endowed Chair in Art and Art History and Environmental Studies

Betsy Ruth Byers holds a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Studies with an emphasis in painting from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. Byers is currently an Associate Professor of Art and Art History at Gustavus Adolphus College. She has exhibited at the National Gallery of Scotland, Minnesota Museum of American Art, De Vos Art Museum, Hillstrom Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Intermedia Arts, Guilford Art Center, The Soap Factory, Burnet Gallery in the Le Méridien Chambers Hotel, Augsburg College, and University of Minnesota Morris.  Byers was awarded a 2018 Mcknight Professional Mid-Career Artist Grant, as well as a 2015 and 2009 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. She was featured in the film Painting the Place Between, produced in 2013 by Carbon Mouse Studios and is represented by the Kolman & Pryor Gallery and Rosalux Gallery in Minneapolis.

Byers’ studio practice explores the engagement of the body’s senses with the surrounding environment through abstract painting. She employs painting to raise questions about how we inhabit the world. Her most recent projects, addresses climate change inspired by the rapidly melting glaciers in both the artic and tropical regions.

When Betsy is not teaching or in the studio she enjoys spending time with her husband, Matt, son, Augustus and daughter, Gretel, hiking, camping, and road tripping.

Education

M.F.A in Visual Studies, Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Masters in Education Initial Licensure Program, St. Catherine University, B.A. St. Olaf College, Studio Art Major with an Environmental Studies Concentration



Courses Taught

ART-272 (Painting I), ART-291 (IS: Water Color), ART-378 (Advanced Printmaking), and ART-391 (IS:Neurographic Art)

Past
Synonym Title Times Taught Terms Taught
ART-238 Carving/Screenprint 9 2023/FA, 2022/FA, 2021/FA, 2021/SP, 2020/SP, 2015/FA, 2013/FA, 2012/FA, and 2012/SP
ART-233 Mixed Media Painting 8 2019/SP, 2017/SP, 2016/SP, 2015/SP, 2014/SP, 2013/SP, and 2011/FA
ART-272 Painting I 7 2023/SP, 2023/JN, 2022/SP, 2021/FA, 2021/SP, 2020/SP, and 2019/FA
ART-391 IS: Water Media Explore 6 2024/JN, 2023/FA, and 2023/SP
FTS-100 FTS:Good Art, Bad Art 6 2023/FA, 2022/FA, 2020/FA, 2019/FA, 2015/FA, and 2013/FA
ART-372 Advanced Painting 6 2022/SP, 2021/FA, 2019/SP, 2017/SP, 2015/SP, and 2013/SP
ART-246 Water Based Media 6 2018/FA, 2015/FA, 2014/SP, 2013/FA, 2012/FA, and 2011/FA
ART-099 Senior Show 5 2022/SP, 2021/FA, 2021/SP, 2019/SP, and 2014/FA
ART-232 Oil Painting 5 2018/FA, 2016/SP, 2012/FA, and 2012/SP
ART-237 Print: Relief & Litho. 3 2016/SP, 2015/SP, and 2013/SP
ART-274 Art and Climate Change 2 2023/SP and 2022/SP
ART-378 Advanced Printmaking 2 2016/SP and 2014/SP
ART-399 Senior Seminar 1 2020/FA
ART-244 ST:Art & Climate Change 1 2020/SP
ART-113 Ren Art & Arch-Italy 1 2020/JN
ART-164 Art/Arch of Ren Italy 1 2013/JN