I have just completed hanging the exhibition that will be on view this fall in the main room of Mathias Fine Art (MFA). Its title, Archetypes, was bestowed upon it by Brenda Bettinson, the distinguished artist who created these 12 compelling mixed media works, most of them larger-than-life “portrait” type heads.   

I use the adjective “compelling” because of the scale of the work and the subjects the artist has chosen to depict; subjects which seem to be particularly apt in today’s conflicted climate. For example: Inside Trader, Banished Queen, Witnesses, Paranoiac, Embattled King … Each painting succeeds in making a forceful statement about its subject that is achieved by the artist’s masterly combination of realism with contemporary painterly idiom.

It is a happy coincidence that MFA had scheduled this show for the fall season because it now will also serve to celebrate the honor conferred on Brenda last month by the board of Marquis Who’s Who. She is among the first Marquis Biographees to receive the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award, a new honor reserved for those who have achieved career longevity and demonstrated unwavering excellence in their chosen fields.

Since 1989, after retiring from her position of professor of art at Pace University, New York, New York, Brenda Bettinson has been a year-round resident of Barters Island, where she still continues daily to work in her studio.

Brenda’s paintings have been exhibited widely in the U.S and Europe. In Maine, she has had one-person exhibitions of her work at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art, Unity College, Bates College and the Center for Maine Contemporary Art. Her work may be found in private and public collections in the U.S.A., Canada, Europe and Israel.

Mathias Fine Art Gallery is located at 10 Mathias Drive, Trevett, Barters Island. Gallery hours: Wednesday – Sunday noon to 5 p.m. and by appointment

 For more information you may call 633-7404 or visit www.mathiasfineart.com