Artist Detail

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Katy Betz

Visual Artist - Writer

About the artist: Artist Biography
Katy Betz

As a “lefty”, Katy’s artistic tendencies were evident at and early age. She has pursued art ever since childhood and chose to make illustration her career path upon enrolling at Riverside Community College. After receiving her Associates degree, she obtained a Bachelor’s of Fine Art degree - Summa Cum Laude, at Laguna College of Art and Design in Laguna Beach, CA. She is currently attending California State University, Fullerton, for a Masters of Fine Art degree in Illustration with an emphasis on children’s picture books.

A strong affinity for nature, history, and painting has led Katy around the world to study the arts. In Florence, Italy she studied the Italian Renaissance, in Holland and Belgium the Northern Renaissance, in Vienna and Prague the Secessionist and Art Nouveau movements, and in Paris the Impressionists. Firsthand exposure to Western European Art has tremendously influenced her aesthetic. Masters like Botticelli, Mucha, Vermeer, and van Eyck, as well as contemporaries like Scott Gustafson, Michael Parks, and Peter de Seve, have served as touchstones in developing her unique style.

Katy has exhibited her work in numerous group shows in Riverside, including “50 @ the 9”, Artscape, Off the Wall, and RCAA member shows and has an upcoming solo show at Division 9 Gallery in September entitled “WhimsiCool”. Her work has been exhibited at Sarah Bain gallery in Anaheim, The City of Laguna Beach Juried Exhibition at Laguna’s City Hall, and the Society of Illustrator’s of Los Angeles “Illustration West 46” exhibition at the JUNC gallery on Sunset Blvd, in which she received an honorable mention. Other awards include the 3x3 Magazine International Student show merit award, Applied Arts Magazine Student Stand-Alone Issue winner, “Best of Illustration” award at Laguna College of Art and Design’s Annual Student Juried exhibition, and “Woman of Distinction in the Arts” award at Riverside Community College. Publications include Stretching Canvas Magazine, Living Well Magazine, Orange Coast Magazine, and several newspapers including the Orange County Register, Laguna Coastline Pilot, and the Laguna Beach Independent.

Katy’s professional experience includes a commission to design an interactive three dimensional mural for the Nix Nature Center in Laguna Beach, Instructor of Record at Cal State Fullerton teaching 2-D design, a teacher for the Riverside Arts Council “Arts and Minds” program, semi-annual magazine cover illustrations for the Concrete Network company, a stained-glass mural assistant for artist and designer Mia Tavonatti, numerous private mural and faux finishing jobs, as well as install the recent “Nostra Historia” exhibition at the Metropolitan museum in Riverside. She has been a guest speaker for Dana Hills High School Symposium and for Laguna College of Art and Design’s Collector’s Choice fundraiser event in which she donated original artwork for auction.

Katy is a member of the Riverside Art Museum, the Riverside Community Arts Association, and the Society of Children’s Books Writers and Illustrators. She currently lives and works in Riverside, CA.