Betty is a multimedia installation artist, painter, educator and author. She has worked, taught and exhibited internationally for over 20 years and spoken at conferences and galleries in Canada, Europe, the US, and Mexico. She has a background in Theatre, Animation, Performance Art and Video Art.

Spackman’s work has often centered on cultural objects and the stories connected to them. Her recent focus is on issues of animal/human relations and the connections between faith and science. Her current project, ‘A Creature Chronicle. Considering Creation: Faith and Fable. Fact and Fiction.’ addresses questions of posthumanism and the use of creation narratives in faith, science and art.

She has written and illustrated art related books including, ‘A Profound Weakness: Christians and Kitsch’, a 500p illustrated book published in 2005 by Piquant Editions, UK which is about images of faith in popular culture.

Spackman has taught studio art at several Universities in Canada and the US as well as in various community arts programs and developed ‘The Open Studio Program’, an alternative community education model for emerging artists. She is co-founder of the Fort Gallery in Fort Langley. Spackman currently lives and works in Langley, British Columbia, Canada.

The story of Jonah is quirky and complex. Reading it again in the context of Covid fears and frustrations it seemed somehow familiar and I couldn’t resist making some comparisons using ‘the news’ which has become central to our corporate confusions and attempts to sort out disparate points of view. Also, my work has dealt for a long time with human relations to nature and so I enjoyed the inclusion of the nonhuman characters in the story and had fun ‘listening’ to them.

Our human stories are interwoven – from an Old Testament text to a 21st century play. It is such a privilege when we can share them, even create them, together. Especially now in this time of physical isolation it has been such a joy to share this ‘potluck’ meal of creativity. I was so impressed with the outpouring of honest, vulnerable beauty everyone was bringing to the table, I returned to the Newspaper format as a way to ‘headline’ each of the contributions. And it left me feeling full and wanting others to, “taste and see that the Lord is good” Psalm 34:8.

I can, as most of us, relate to Jonah when he says, “The waters surrounded me, even to my soul; The deep closed around me; Weeds were wrapped around my head.” (Jonah 2:5)
As I studied the book of Jonah again, I became so aware that it was a profound love story about God’s grace and mercy. We would expect God to love the repentant ones of Ninevah - but this story is about Him loving Jonah - the one who runs away from Him, overwhelmed and confused and wanting to die. The poem is a fragmented reflection on my own times of being somewhere between love and fear.