Lichens as Muse
Lichens, a symbiotic relationship between fungi and algae or cyanobacteria, manifest species worldwide ranging somewhere in the tens of thousands with remarkable tenacity and resilience on trees, rocks, ground, man-made structures, and anyplace they might take a liking. You can find them adorning these surfaces while also being important contributors to our eco-system, scientific research, medicinal uses, dyes, nesting material for birds, bio-indicators, and so much more.
But for Gloria Betlem, since 2018 they’ve also become a fascinating exploration of their forms for her art, often comprising abstract-like images,. She enlarges the photos she takes while on her walks and hikes in nature, and looks for segments which inspire her compositions, then begins the dialogue between lichen and artist as something new gives birth on the paper surface with pastel or watercolor mediums.
She works out of the beautiful Mennonite-built “Betlem-Divers Studio” in Livonia, NY, which she shares with her husband, photographer, Kent Divers. Her pastel paintings demonstrate the wide variety of colors with depth and luminescence inherent within this multidimensional medium in which she has specialized since 1980, while her small watercolors present with a more intimate look at lichen realism.
Her work with lichens has been discovered by lichen-lovers and lichenologists alike, and has been on the cover of and featured in an article in the lichen journal, “Evansia” and on the cover of “Hard Work in Low Places” by Stephen Lewandowski. Her lichen work has also been exhibited in solo shows at Rochester Museum of Science’s Cumming Nature Center, Genesee Valley Council On The Arts, and the Williams Gallery in Rochester, NY.
Betlem hopes her work encourages humans to take a closer look at the awesomeness of all the little things which life on planet earth generously gives us.
