Current Exhibition: Making Thoughts Become – A Love Letter to Betty
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Children's Art CarnivalExhibition Dates: February 28 – March 30th
Gallery Hours: Saturdays and Sundays, Noon to 5 pm. (or by appointment)
Opening Reception: Friday, February 28, 6-8 pm
Co-Curators: J. Jwahir Hawkins, Dionis Ortiz, José Ortiz
Join us for Making Thoughts Become A Love Letter to Betty, honoring the legacy of Betty Blayton-Taylor and her visionary work at the Children’s ArtCarnival. Featuring early student artwork alongside Betty’s own words, this exhibition celebrates her enduring impact on generations of young artists.
Behind the Red Door: A Place to Dream
by Radhiyah Ayobami, CAC Writer in Residence
For only through the act of creativity can we begin to truly know and become ourselves – Betty Blayton-Taylor. The Children’s Art Carnival is a place where children learn to dream. It is a place where they have the chance to express the communication that happens on multiple levels through all forms of art. There are so many conversations happening at the same time- between children and their peers, their families, their schools and the world. Often these children are from cultures and economic classes whose voices have been historically silenced and dismissed. Betty Blayton created the Children’s Art Carnival because she believed that ‘everybody has experienced something; everybody has something to say.”
As a young black woman artist in 1955, Betty Blayton-Taylor was denied the right to attend the all white colleges in her home state of Virginia. Her dream to develop professionally as an artist led her to New York, where she earned aBachelor in Fine Arts from Syracuse University. Inspired by her experience of being denied an arts education, she helped create the Studio Museum and theChildren’s Art Carnival, both located in her chosen community of Harlem. She believed that ‘spirit is more important than technique’ in art, and she encouraged her students to make art from found objects and everyday things, often as simple as paper towel rolls and plastic utensils. Students had the opportunity to build self-esteem and pride in addition to refining their artistic practice and self-expression. There was no need to go outside themselves for precious things.
The Children’s Art Carnival sparked a new idea in Harlem- children as artists in their communities. Betty Blayton-Taylor used her connections to help students access well-known institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, but her core belief was that art inspires children to discover what is ‘best in themselves.’ Betty Blayton-Taylor’s life and work have shown her commitment to her beliefs. Even now, the Children’s Art Carnival remains a creative hub on a quiet block inHarlem, as people of all ages come through the red door for art workshops, rites of passage programs and community gatherings. The communal nature of this place- where resident artists share studio space, and instructors lead classes by donation- continues to uphold the vision that art will always be essential for our survival, our wellbeing and our joy.
Betty Blayton-Taylor
Betty Jean Blayton was born to Alleyne Houser Blayton and Dr. James Blaine Blayton on July 10, 1937, in Newport News, Virginia. She was born thirty miles from the family’s home in Williamsburg, Virginia because there were no local hospitals that would admit Black patients at the time.
At four years of age, Betty began drawing on the walls at home. Before she entered the first grade, Betty knew that she wanted to be an artist and by the time she was in the sixth grade, she produced her first oil paintings. While her parents were not troubled by Betty’s interest in art as a young child, as her interest continued through her teen years, they became concerned that she was not choosing a “safe profession” that would guarantee her financial stability. They appreciated art yet could not see their daughter as a “struggling artist.” Despite not having an extensive portfolio, Betty was accepted to Syracuse University and began her studies in 1955 with a double major in painting and illustration. Betty graduated in 1959 with a BA in Fine Art.
Working as an art teacher in Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Betty had lined up another teaching job in England, yet before leaving a friend suggested she visit New York City to “check out” the art scene. And, as Betty put it: “I got there and never left.” Betty moved to Greenwich Village and enrolled in the Art Students League, where she took classes in painting from Charles Alston and Sculpture from Arnold Prince. Frequenting Village jazz clubs, she met other artists, musicians, and poets, including Frank O’Hara, who was also a curator at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). These friendships wound up playing an important part in her life later.
In 1962, Betty met Julian Euell, a bass player who was also an educator working with Dr. Kenneth Clark on a youth anti-poverty program known as HARYOU (Harlem Youth Opportunities Unlimited). When Betty told Julian about her thoughts on art education, which were inspired by Victor D’Amico, MoMA’s head of Art Education, he recruited her to create the graphics and plastics programs for HARYOU. By 1964, HARYOU was operational and one of the projects Betty helped develop was called “Pocket Parks,” a vacant lot beautification program. However, Betty was fired when she reported organizational mismanagement to City Hall.
Around this time, the leadership at MoMA began to discuss what to do with the Children’s Art Carnival, which had been conducted during the summer months at MoMA since the 1940s. When it was suggested that the Children’s Art Carnival be relocated to Harlem, Betty was approached to run it. Although Betty was also organizing exhibitions of Black artists, including the historic Art of American Negro, held where the new Studio Museum in Harlem is now located, she accepted the challenge.
A nationally recognized artist, over the years Betty exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions and has been featured in many newspaper and magazine articles, as well as books. In 2005, along with Yoko Ono and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women’s Caucus for Art. Betty also served as a consultant, and on the boards of many non-profit organizations and state and city entities, including the Robert Blackburn Printmakers Workshop, which today partners with the Children’s Art Carnival. The Children’s Art Carnival is still going strong.
During her entire life, Betty continued to create art through painting, printing, sculpting, and when she passed on October 2, 2016, there was a canvas on the easel in her studio.
Making Thoughts Become A Love To Betty is made possible with funding from West Harlem Development Corporation, New York Council on the Arts, Harlem Development Corporation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Ruth Foundation for The Arts and donations from New York Film Academy and Hamilton Heights community and beyond.
