Betty Gold

Betty Gold’s monumental geometric sculptures are the stunning focal points of numerous public spaces around the world.  Her bold use of colour and shape are signatures of the work that has earned her a place among the world’s most reputable sculptors.  Gold is a strident believer in the geometric concept and says, “It never becomes tiresome, and I continue to find new ways in which to express its truth and universality.  Every new project is like the first: challenging, fulfilling, and exciting.” 

Gold’s large outdoor statues are on permanent display in Spain, Eastern and Western Europe, Japan, Ireland, South Korea, Mexico, and the United States.  Her work has shown at the Oakland Museum, the Bowers Museum; Santa Ana, the Gold Coast Museum of Art; Florida,  the Museo Extremeño e Iberomericano de Arte Contemporáneo in Spain, and at the 2005 Sculpture Biennale in Vancouver, Canada. 

Born in Austin Texas, Gold attended the University of Texas and majored in elementary education and minored in art history.  She went on to apprentice with the sculptor Octavio Medillan in Dallas, Texas.  Gold has traveled extensively and draws on the many diverse cultures and environments she has explored.  She has experimented with a wide variety of mediums including painting, drawing, silk screening, tapestry, and jewelry design, but sculpture is what has consistently captured her imagination.  Her large steel pieces are angular and sharp without sacrificing a sense of movement and liveliness, and the bold simplicity of her geometric work is beautifully suited for display in open public spaces. 

Of her work, Gold says, “I’ve been asked many times to explain my art, but I don’t think that there is an explanation, as such.  I can say, however, that I began with the human figure and ended up with geometry, which I love.  It’s not an easily understood transition, or even one that I fully comprehend.  Suffice to say that I don’t think it will shed more light going beyond Picasso’s simple but profound reflection that ‘It’s the leap of the imagination.’”