Gallery Eleven’s Guest Artist for August is award-winning photographer/author Betty Rivard. Betty is also well known in the Charleston art community for her years of leadership in the visual art fairs for Charleston’s annual FestivAll celebration.

After retiring as a social worker and planner for the State of West Virginia in 2000, Betty became a professional fine art landscape photographer. She has been awarded a number of grants and a WV Fellowship in Photography through the former WV Division of Culture and History and the WV Commission on the Arts. Her photographs have been included in solo and group exhibitions throughout the region.

Walk along the Kanawha River in Charleston, West Virginia.

In 2012, Betty researched and compiled a collection of 150+ photographs taken by professional photographers who had visited the state for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) Project. Her book, New Deal Photographs of West Virginia, 1934-1943, was published by the West Virginia University Press. The book includes photographs taken by Ben Shahn and Marion Post Wolcott in the southern coalfields. It is available in local bookstores and online.

White Picket Fence in Reyes, California.

Currently, Betty is working on a portfolio of her photographs with each accompanied by a brief narrative text sharing thoughts about what they have meant to her.

Betty’s photographs and writings have appeared in Wonderful West Virginia, Goldenseal, and WV South magazines and the Charleston Gazette-Mail. Her Gallery Eleven exhibit this month includes framed and unframed photographs in various sizes as well as note cards.

Friends, New York, New York.

Please join us for the public reception on August 8, 3-7 PM at Gallery Eleven, 205 West Washington St, Charleston WV. Betty will be available to chat more about her work while you enjoy wine, refreshments, and music. The gallery’s annual small art works competition, Crazy 8s, will also be on display. Browse among the gallery’s current collection of paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, wood, and glass art for sale.

Importer of Finger Puppets, New York, New York.