Betsey Garand
The image is a figure embedded in a target, one arm up, crying, yelling, a hole in their heart, a wound in their spirit. The hole is symbolic of physical, emotional and psychological trauma. The figure represents every person who has felt ostracized or targeted for being who they are or what they believe. The concentric circles of the target are symbolic of the power of resonating presence: power that can emanate outward as well as inward, power that can heal oneself and touch others, power that can create change.
The seed to Garand’s imagery was planted in New Hampshire having been raised on a small, self-sufficient farm in a family of makers. A twin and one of seven children, Garand's childhood included sewing, gardening, carpentry, winter camping, riding horses and spinning and dying wool. She received a BFA in Printmaking from the University of New Hampshire and an MFA in Printmaking from Tyler School of Art and Architecture at Temple University.
Garand’s work is included in many private and public collections including Grunwald Center for the Graphic Arts, Hammer Museum and Santa Barbara Museum of Art, CA; Proyecto ‘ace Print Collection Buenos Aires, Argentina; Sado Woodcut Print Village Museum, Japan and Art Museum of Estonia Special Collections. She is the recipient of a Pollock Krasner Foundation Grant and residencies at the MacDowell Colony and Dorland Mountain Arts Colony. Garand is presently Senior Resident Artist at Amherst College.
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