OPEN LETTER TO CELIA BETSY by Shirley Woodson

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 Woodson earned a BFA in 1958 and a MA in 1965 from Wayne State University.   She has been painting for over 60 years and her portraits and figurative paintings depict her life, environment, and African American History.    Her epic painted stories are represented in private and public collections throughout America, such as The Detroit Institute of Arts, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, Madison Madison, Studio Museum in Harlem, Toledo Art Commission (Ohio), The White House and The Walter O. Evans Collection of African American Art. 

Since her debut in 1960, in a show of Michigan artists at The Detroit Institute of Arts, her exhibition record has been meteoric. Woodson has participated in an exhibition at the Academy of Arts and Letters in New York, the Oakland Museum in California, and other venues as diverse as Dakar, Senegal, and Lagos, Nigeria. Woodson has been featured in over 30 Solo Exhibitions.  She is the recipient of MacDowell Residency, Creative Artists Grant, Detroit Council or the Arts and the New Initiatives for the Arts Exhibition Grant, NCA Award for Artistic Excellence, 1977, The DIA Alain Locke Award, 1998, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Lillian Benbow Award and numerous other awards and honors. Honored in 2021 Kresge Eminent Artist Award Recipient!  She has an Extraordinary Solo Exhibition: 2021 Shirley Woodson: Shield of the Nile Reflections  https://www.dia.org/woodson