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Betty Feves

born La Crosse, Washington, 1918; died Pendleton, Oregon, 1985

BiographyBetty Feves earned a degree in art from Washington State College (now Washington State University) followed by studies with the sculptor Alexander Archipenko at the University of Washington and at his studio in New York. She worked at a design studio in New York City during World War II while attending classes at the Art Students League. She relocated to Pendleton, Oregon in 1945 where she remained the rest of her life.

Feves was an innovator in ceramic sculpture creating modernist and abstract works that moved dramatically away from traditional vessel forms. Her works grew from her love of the eastern Oregon landscape which was also reflected in her preference for finding her own materials and making her own glazes. She began exhibiting her work in 1952 at the Oregon Ceramic Studio and then nationally. Her work is included in numerous public and private Northwest collections as well as the Smithsonian and other national museums. In 2012, the Museum of Contemporary Craft (Portland) in partnership with the Pacific Northwest College of Art held a posthumous retrospective exhibition of her work.

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