Bette Yozell grew up on the north shore of Boston. She attended the Tyler School of Art in Rome, Italy, the Boston Museum School and has a BS in art education from Tufts University. While in Boston in the early 1970’s, Ms. Yozell taught figure drawing at the Boston Center for Adult Education and schools in the area, while maintaining a stained glass, painting and printmaking studio. In 1976, she moved to Copenhagen, Denmark where she established a similar studio and taught in the Danish Adult Education system. She exhibited extensively in Europe during her seven years there. Her move back to the US was to Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1983. She taught first at the College of Santa Fe and then at Santa Fe Prep School, where she was Chair of the Art Department and taught for 27 years. Retired from teaching in 2011, Ms. Yozell is now full time in her studio. While Bette’s work has always derived inspiration from the human form, the transition from glass work to painting, printmaking, and most recently to papercuts, provided a certain linear context, exemplified by clean vibrant shapes. Artist Statement: “‘Santa Fe Dreamers Project provides free legal services to immigrants to promote economic empowerment, community development, family unity, and liberation from detention. Supporting immigrants makes our whole community stronger.’ I was inspired for this piece by the above mission statement and by the headlines about the deplorable mistreatment of people seeking asylum in this country. My image is of a bouquet of struggling humans and vibrant flowers, tied together by barbed wire. The flowers are reminiscent of the colorful embroidery typical of the regions from which many are fleeing. The figures are energized with the will to break free from the constraints of the barbed wire. Their spirit is both desperate and almost joyful in the context of strength and unity. Borders are relevant to this theme and my piece is bordered by geographic references to come of the troubled areas. Since the beginning of the Covid crises, I have been making papercut compositions. I find that clean, precisely cut shapes provide a sense of control and calm in such a chaotic time.” – Bette Yozell