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Biography

Betty Blayton Taylor (AKA) Betty Blayton – (born July 10, 1937), an American Activist/Advocate, Artist, Arts Administrator/Educator, Lecturer and Social Entrepreneur. Betty Blayton the Artist (illustrator, painter, printmaker, sculptor) is best known for her works often described as Spiritual Abstractions. Betty Blayton-Taylor (Activist/Advocate, Arts Educator and Social Entrepreneur) is Co-founder and Founding Board Secretary of the Studio Museum in Harlem, Co-founder and Executive Director of Harlem Children's Art Carnival (CAC) and Co-founder of Harlem Textile Works. She has been an advisor, consultant and board member to a variety arts and community based service organizations and programs. Her artworks are displayed in a variety private art collections and museums. Since her retirement from CAC in 2004 she continues to talk, lecture and present on the arts and arts education and spends time creating and exhibiting new works.

Family & Early Life

Born in Newport News, Va. at Whittaker Hospital, the second of the four children of and Alleyne Houser-Blayton and Dr. James Blaine "Jim" Blayton. Whittaker Hospital was the closest hospital for African Americans, 35 miles from the Blayton's home in James City County where Dr. Blayton was the community's leading Black Physician. His personal and professional experiences in these times of segregation influenced him to establish the first 14-bed Emergency and Maternity facility for African Americans and later on in 1961 opening of the first fully-integrated medical facility Williamsburg Community Hospital. Alleyne Houser-Blayton, Civil Rights - Community Activist/Advocate, Craftsperson, Educator and Entrepreneur was also a founding member of the National Black Child Development Institute in Williamsburg and the Williamsburg Chapter of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority.

From as early as Blayton can remember she has declared herself an artist and demonstrated this fact at the age of 4 by repeatedly crayoning murals up the steps in her home to the point that her mother declared to her father that she was convinced that they must have brought the wrong baby home from the Hospital. Before she was school age her mother would often do substitute teaching for first grade. There was an art and play activity area next to the regular classroom. She would park Betty there with paint and easel and know that she did not have to worry about her for hours. Her three siblings are sister Barbara ('Barbara Blayton Richardson) a PHD in Education, the oldest, brother James the 2nd (Jimmy) also an artist in Metal sculpture and restores Classic Corvettes for which he has won many awards. Oscar the youngest is a Lawyer.

Education

In 1943 she was enrolled in the 1st grade at Bruton Heights Public School and stayed there until the 7th grade. John D. Rockefeller Jr., built this school for African-American children while developing 371 acres of the former Middle Plantation as part of the Colonial Williamsburg's archaelogical and restoration project. In 1950 she entered Palmer Memorial Institute in the 8th grade, a boarding school in Sedalia N.C., founded by Dr. Charlotte Hawkins Brown in 1902. Advertised as “A little piece of New England in the South", the promise to parents by Dr. Brown was that ”This school will insure your child's ability to be accepted in any school he/she wishes to attend”. In Blayton's instance, this promise was kept.

There was never a question as to what she would major in when she finally reached college. Pratt Institute was considered one of the leading Art schools in the US and was Blayton's first choice, but she was not accepted. Her second choice was Syracuse University because it had one of the best Art schools in the nation and they accepted her application. In 1955 when she entered Syracuse, the State of Virginia was still segregated with its “Jim Crow” laws intact. The State of Virginia had to pay her full tuition throughout her four years of college as there were no Black colleges in Virginia that had an accredited Arts program. Therefore, she was able to attend the school of her choice for free. Blayton chose a double major in Painting and Illustration. Illustration put her mother’s mind somewhat at ease as to the potential of her daughter’s future ability to be self-sufficient. While at Syracuse she studied painting and drawing with Van der Sluse in her freshman year, an excellent drawing instructor. She was not allowed to take painting until Sophomore year and had three different teachers who all wanted her to paint like them. She decided to ignore them all and create her own expression. Van der Sluse ended up giving her a C and said that he could not understand how she could draw so well and paint so bad. She graduated in 1959 with a BFA degree with honors.