Betty Spackman

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.

Panel 1

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Panel 2

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Panel 3

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She hung her laundry
her filthy rag righteousness
and the diaspora of diapers
scattered on the Rock.
The babe was sucking at her breast
and the sheep were bleating 
in the Garden.
 
Over her shoulder 
billows of factory smoke 
blocked the sun
and soot blocked the nostrils 
of the animals and of the human child
feeding on her love and her frustration
with dirt and darkness.
 
But there was a breeze
a Wind was starting to blow,
clouds were forming and she mused, 
‘that cloud looks like someone’s coming’
but the visage was hidden
by another billow of soot
that smeared her imagination.
 
And she returned to her concerns…
Could the sun really bleach the stains?
Was all her work futile?
Why? and Where? and Who? and When?
 
Then the Child cried out 
And a piercing caw from a lone raven
penetrated the morning sky in response
and she looked up.
What?!?
The white linen was ready to put on
- glorious and clean
and she sang… a song