Catastrophic Fire destroys Betsy’s entire Studio in Naples, FL
in February 2017. Along with personal paintings and
irreplaceable memorabilia, all Originals are lost. She
is rebuilding and will continue painting.
Betsy Ross is an Ohio native, who has spent nearly half her life abroad,
mostly in Switzerland.
Her youth was spent accompanying her father on his
travels throughout Morgan County where he was known as "Doc" the local
veterinarian.
The impressions of her childhood of not only people and
animals but the land and its ever changing scenery are what she draws upon
in her paintings and children's stories.
Following her move to Europe in her early 20's, she experienced similar impressions of the rugged and colorful Swiss countryside and life in the quaint Alpine villages near Bern and Appenzell.
Her desire to capture the beauty of the
outdoors and the antics of village children and animals drew her to take
lessons in the much practiced form of rural Swiss art, namely Naive or
18th century style painting.
Her art is known for being colorful,
light hearted and appealing in its joyful projection of life in a rural
setting.
She has become well known for her work in
Switzerland during her stay there and continues to enjoy this recognition
after her return to America in the mid 1990's.
Following her return to the USA, she has had much success in painting scenes from a bygone era of Rural County Fairs, brightly painted Barns, Fall Hayrides and of course the many Fields and Pastures of the Midwest.
Now that she makes her home in Florida, she also paints images of a different scene, namely the beach, ocean and city of Naples where she has her main studio.
What's New: The new Studio for Betsy is now under construction with a projected
opening date toward the end of 2018. She is looking forward to again
painting at such time.
Betsy's paintings of the
"Morgan County Fair" and "Love in Bloom" serve as the cover for Peg Cochran's Mystery Novel
titled
"Sowed to Death" & "Bought the Farm" respectively.
Betsy Ross Koller is a contemporary American artist. She paints in
the Naive , Primitive or Folk Art style, also known as 18th Century
painting or emulating the 'Grandma Moses' style of painting. Her
paintings are mostly about American Midwestern rural as well as
Swiss Alpine scenes that portray a whimsical and joyful outlook on
life. Nevertheless, she
also paints contemporary Beach scenes from her present home in
Naples Florida, where she also has her main studio.
She is well known in Switzerland for her Alpine scene
paintings having lived there many years. She has permanent displays
with art galleries in Gstaad (ADLER) in
Switzerland.
Betsy is also well known for her many UNICEF greeting cards over
the past years and was the cover piece for UNICEF's 50th Anniversary
catalog.
She has also appeared on Nestle's Cailler chocolate Holiday
wrappings.
Other commercial companies that she has painted for include the
Sauder Living Village Museum and the Longaberger company both
located in Ohio, her home state.
She has generously donated her art in support of Scholarship
programs at Culver Academy; the University of Virginia at Wise; and
Ohio University for their Appalachia Scholarship program. She
continues to work with these institutions on their Fund raising
endeavors.
She has also written and illustrated a trilogy of Children's
Books featuring Dr. Ross and Betsy and the story of her blind horse
'Black Beauty'.
Her work is available for view on line atbetsyrosskoller.com.
She has a wide offering of Limited Edition Lithos; Greeting cards,
Books and Original Art.
She is a member of Colonial Dames, Daughter's of the American
Revolution (DAR), and a Dame of The War of 1812.