Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Betty Beeby, 92, Michigan artist/illustrator ("The Silver Trumpet" by Owen Barfield, ed. 1968)

111 views
Skip to first unread message

leno...@yahoo.com

unread,
Aug 17, 2015, 3:33:31 PM8/17/15
to
She lived in Eastport, Michigan.

BTW, Barfield's "The Silver Trumpet" was praised by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.

http://www.record-eagle.com/obituaries/betty-p-beeby-died-aug/article_b74f6c9a-bfad-542a-9fa4-d19de4747661.html
(short death notice)

http://www.mortensenfuneralhomes.com/fh/obituaries/tributes.cfm?o_id=3273019&fh_id=10956
(two pages of condolences)


https://www.crookedtree.org/betty-beeby-russell-bolt-masters-of-the-brush/
(2014 article - click on her photo to enlarge it)

Excerpts:

...Beeby of Eastport said she began an art career after encouragement from her art teacher at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. The teacher pushed Beeby to receive the Booth Scholarship to study art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Since then she's had many art related opportunities. She was an illustrator for Time Life magazine and creator for CBS television's Captain Kangaroo.

She has also illustrated books including, "Whistle Up the Bay by Nancy." Beeby now lives in a "nice old home" on Torch Lake which provides much of her current inspiration.

"I've been painting a lot of winter scenes," she said. "Those scenes aren't overdone quite yet."

Beeby continues to paint, although she said it's nothing like she used to do. What Beeby loves most about the creative process is using her strengths as an observer.

"I'm a very observant person," she said. "Other people don't see what I do, which is wonderful. It keeps me excited."...

http://www.jordanriverarts.com/news-104.html
(not sure when this is from)

...Beeby, of Eastport grew up in Detroit. As a child she liked to draw and with never enough paper she often drew on scraps. An art teacher at Cass Technical High School inspired Betty and arranged for her to receive the Booth Scholarship to study art at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY. She has lived a lifetime of artistic endeavor first as a Staff Artist for Time Life Magazine and creator for CBS television's Captain Kangaroo. People were always her favorite subject. She has illustrated numerous books, created over 30 book jackets of famous authors and has authored and illustrated many children's books. She has received the Chicago Book Clinic Award for best in bookmaking art for Illustrating Potawatomi Indian Summer by William Oldenburg and Whistle Up the Bay by Nancy Stone, and for writing and illustrating Just Josie, She edited and illustrated Breath Escaping Envelopes which has been has been on the best seller list. Beeby was commissioned in 1974 to paint the 50 feet mural of the Mackinac Bridge which can be seen at Fort Michilimackinac Orientation Center and produced a series of lithographs of the Peterboro Letters. In 2008 Beeby received the State History Award from the Historical Society of MI for Distinguished Volunteer Service...


To my knowledge, she began illustrating books in 1960. Not sure when she stopped.

https://torchlakeviews.wordpress.com/2008/11/09/betty-beeby-honored-for-contributions-to-michigan-history/
(From 2008: "Betty Beeby honored for contributions to Michigan history")


http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20090701/OPINION03/907010338
(from 2009: "Artist Beeby finds inspiration in regional history")

First paragraphs:

I am sitting inside artist Betty Beeby's historic farmhouse, built on several dozen idyllic acres in Eastport, a small town between two of the most beautiful bodies of fresh water on Earth: Lake Michigan and Torch Lake.

Beeby's art is everywhere. Illustrations, drawings and paintings line every visible space from floor to ceiling. There are several canvases on the front porch, sketches on the kitchen cupboards, framed art hanging on pantry doors. Upstairs, her studio is filled with works in progress: One is Beeby's as-yet unpublished illustrated catalog of smiles. The placemats at the small dining table where we sit depict hand-painted letters of the alphabet shaped in willowy goldenrod. Even the seat cushions are made of Beeby's hand-painted fabric.

At age 86, Beeby is still prolific; her wonder and inspiration know no bounds. As she visits with a former student of hers, Robin Rich, who also happens to be my sister-in-law, I get to be a fly on the wall and listen to a language that is all their own.

"You always said you wished the water would stand still," Rich says, looking at a Beeby watercolor of skaters on Torch Lake.

"Well, yes, I've always been fascinated by motion," Beeby answers. "Of course, Galileo said, 'To be ignorant of motion is to be ignorant of nature.' I find corn pretty elegant too. You see pictures of cornfields that are so dull. They don't get IT! There's movement. Corn stalks are elegant like dancers."

"Yes they are," says Rich, evidently seeing the dance in her mind's eye.

Back in 1975, Rich was a mural assistant helping Beeby paint the 11-by-50-foot mural of the Mackinac Bridge and the Straits of Mackinac (now on display at the orientation center at Fort Michilimackinac). Then a 19-year-old art student, she lived with Beeby in a small apartment in Mackinaw City, within walking distance of the bridge. She says it was one of the most cherished summers of her life...

(snip)

http://mirappraisal.com/betty-beeby-watercolorist-muralist-preservationist/
(from 2009: includes two of her paintings)

http://bel.stparchive.com/Archive/BEL/BEL06302009p010.php
(long article from 2009. Quote: "Betty Beeby says that hate is the absence of imagination.")

https://torchlakeviews.wordpress.com/2009/06/30/betty-beebys-shady-adventures-and-a-nod-to-log-cabin-day/
(from 2009 - several photos)

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1987-12-28/features/8704060552_1_love-letters-trunks-mother-and-son
(1987 article "Unfolding The Sad, Mysterious Tale Of A Mother And Her Lost Son In Another Time" about the sad story of "The Peterboro Letters" (1981) - as in Peterboro, Ontario)


https://www.google.com/search?q=betty+beeby+artist&biw=1920&bih=934&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI0qTBxOWwxwIVipMeCh2DuQKJ&dpr=1#tbm=isch&q=betty+beeby+books
(photos, book covers)

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22betty+beeby%22+%22silver+trumpet%22&biw=1920&bih=907&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAmoVChMIhtP2g-uwxwIVQqseCh2y-gV_&dpr=1#imgrc=_
(some of the 105 illustrations for "The Silver Trumpet" - this also shows a few of the 1925 illustrations by Gilbert James and the 1986 illustrations by Josephine Spence)

https://www.google.com/search?q=betty+beeby+artist&biw=1920&bih=934&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMI0qTBxOWwxwIVipMeCh2DuQKJ&dpr=1#tbm=isch&q=%22betty+beeby%22+artist
(a bit more artwork)

https://torchlakeviews.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/betty-beebys-sturdy-stable-artists-fables/
(from 2008: many more details of how she approached art and life)

About one-third:


...Some of the books written and illustrated by Betty Beeby:

*Breath escaping envelopes: Letters and photographs from the Grand Traverse bay region 1875-1905
*Great Granny's Sturdy Stable Picnic Tables
*An Octopus called Mrs. Squid, a Story in her Own Ink, 2004
*Just Josie
*Grace Hooper's Pioneer Notes, edited by Betty Beeby


Some of the books written by other people and illustrated by Betty Beeby:

*The Legend of the Bleeding Heart, by Mary Frey
*The Silver Trumpet - A Fairy Tale, by Owen Barfield
*Whistle Up the Bay, by Nancy Stone
*The Wooden River, by Nancy Stone
*Potawatomi Indian Summer, by E. William Oldenburg
*Michigan's Timber Battleground, by Forrest Meek
*Blood Against the Moon: The Adventures of a Civil War Surgeon, by William S. McCune, M.D.
*The Child's Story Bible, by Catherine F. Vos
*The Mystery of Edison Brown, by Elizabeth Rider Montgomery
*Stubborn Binnder, by Carol Dornfield Stevenson
*The Philology of Taste: The Wayward Language of Food, by Harry Randall
*Daisy: the Story of a Horse, by Louise Jean Walker
*A doctor is born, by William S. McCune, M.D.
*First and Vital Candle, by Rudy Wiebe [Ed.: Betty says she has no memory of doing any artwork for this book, although she's listed as the cover illustrator by rare book dealers who have it in stock. Someday I'll get my paws on a copy, and we'll know for sure!]
*Minor Masterpieces: An Anthology of Juvenilia by Twelve Giants of English Literature, edited by Harry Randall
*The Outline of Sanity: A Life of G.K. Chesterton, by Alzina Stone Dale

[Ed.: Betty sent me a very nice note with some additions to the list.]

*She illustrated Pasajes - a series of four Spanish textbooks for Random House - and Born Tying Knots, narrative poems by Howard Norman
*She created the Peterboro Suite, a series of nine lithographs, based on a true story, that in turn inspired a choral composition
*She received three Chicago Book Clinic Awards (for Whistle Up the Bay, Just Josie, and Potawatomi Indian Summer)...

(snip)

About "An Octopus called Mrs. Squid, a Story in her Own Ink":

"This chronicle tells about how I was snared in net and hauled aboard the S.S. Pearl for eight long days writing stories to save my life. Mrs. Squid (with pen & ink at your service)."

http://www.amazon.com/OCTOPUS-CALLED-MRS-SQUID-STORY/dp/0967452538
(nice cover)

https://www.google.com/search?q=%22betty+beeby%22+artist&biw=1920&bih=934&tbm=vid&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0CAkQ_AUoBGoVChMItYKKs-ewxwIVhHQ-Ch0UmgIj&dpr=1#tbm=vid&q=%22betty+beeby%22
(two very short videos - yes, they work, and she talks in one of them)


Lenona.

Sarah Ehrett's Lesbian Love Interest

unread,
Aug 17, 2015, 4:14:55 PM8/17/15
to
On Monday, August 17, 2015 at 12:33:31 PM UTC-7, leno...@yahoo.com wrote:
> She lived in Eastport, Michigan.
>
> BTW, Barfield's "The Silver Trumpet" was praised by C.S. Lewis and Tolkien.
>
Many have praise "The Rusty Trombone". ...Just saying.

Sarah Ehrett

unread,
Aug 17, 2015, 8:05:50 PM8/17/15
to
On Mon, 17 Aug 2015 13:14:52 -0700 (PDT), " Rusty Trombone"
<wilm...@gmail.com> wrote:


> Many have praise "The Rusty Trombone". ...Just saying.

And doing. You revel in *dancing* the Rusty Trombone, Wilma.
0 new messages