Betsy Wolfston

As a schoolkid in Pittsburgh, Betsy Wolfston was chosen by her teachers to take art classes at the Carnegie Museum. "I've always messed around with art," she says. "But my parents didn't approve." As a result, she studied business in Arizona, Colorado, and finally at the UO. "I took art classes to get my GPA up," she notes. Wolfston worked in business and studied ceramics on the side until 1991, when she left Burley bikes to serve a year-long residency at Contemporary Crafts Gallery in Portland. Since then she has worked full-time at ceramic art, exhibiting in galleries (examples at buttersgallery.com) and landing commissions for local public art, including the Four Seasons sculptures on the Broadway Plaza (a collaboration with David Thompson) and installations in eight Eugene city parks. A proponent of the bumper-sticker slogan, "art incites community," Wolfston is on the board at BRING recycling. "I'm running the 'ministry of taste' committee," she says. "The idea is to make BRING's new Glenwood site as beautiful as possible, so that everyone will want to come and visit."

happening people photograph and story by Paul Neevel Eugene Weekly / 24 August 2006