Betty Gatewood
"I want to paint like the bird sings..." Claude Monet
Midway through her college career, Betty Gatewood changed her interest from laboratory science to the “outdoor” sciences of ecology and natural history; she’s been outdoors ever since, teaching, learning, observing, painting.
Instead of presenting the perfect specimen, Betty paints it as it is – the tulip whose petals are falling open to reveal the delicate inner structure of the flower, the witch-hazel with bug-eaten leaves. Her perfection is the perfection of the survivor.
Betty provided the cover art for Virginia’s Mountain Treasures, published by the Wilderness Society, and for the Virginia Native Plant Society’s Wildflower of the Year 2009 brochure. She has co-conducted local art and journaling workshops for teachers.
Betty is the teacher-in residence at Mary Baldwin College in Staunton, teaching teachers and students about watershed conservation and place-based education. Getting students outside to observe, analyze and document the natural world through art and journaling is her passion. Frequently on her outdoor ramblings, she is accompanied by her husband Mark, and avid outdoorsman, who often suggests particular subjects to document with her art.
Another family connection and area of creativity is the book that she and her father-in-law, Vernon L. Gatewood wrote and published. Kriegie 7956 – A World War II Bombardier’s Pursuit of Freedom, chronicles Vernon’s POW experiences in World War II. The book is told through Vernon’s words, documents and remembrances as he recounts his experiences to his granddaughter, Betsy, Betty’s daughter. Betty, and teaching colleague Linda Petzke, wrote a curriculum guide for use of the book in middle school social studies and language arts classes. Classroom sets of Kriegie 7956 are used in several Virginia middle schools during World War II studies.