Artist’s Statement
Sally Becker
Sally Becker is a dual art educator and artist. Her experiences with art began as a child and were supported by her family and an unforgettable art teacher, William D Davis. After obtaining her BFA in art education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Sally taught briefly in North Carolina and Pennsylvania before tending to her family and family farm. She returned to teaching in 1990 as an elementary art teacher and also as the high school art teacher. Sally worked diligently to build and maintain a quality art program while earning a Masters in Education degree from Penn State University. She was recognized as the state Outstanding Elementary Art Educator of the Year in 2001 from the PA Art Education Association. Her bio for the award concluded by stating: “Instilling the love of art is a mission with Mrs. Becker!”
From the viewpoint of an art educator, designing and creating art lessons can take just as much time and effort as it does to make a work of art.
When she began teaching at the high school level, Sally was able to put more focus on her own art. As a high school art teacher, you need to be able to become competent with a variety of media. Sally taught drawing, painting, printmaking, four levels of ceramics and pottery, digital photography, and black and white photography. Working with different media has given her the freedom to experiment. She does not hesitate to combine media and processes in one piece. Her work with clay shows attention to surface detail. It sometimes is a vehicle for her drawn images. Her photography shows digital images of drawings combined with digital work. Her drawings combine paint media with pen and ink or graphite and pencil.
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Although she has traveled to other places, the family farm that has been home for many years always pulls her back. The cherished landscapes, the wildlife, the feathered or four-legged friends, and the farm buildings that date back to the early 1800’s are embedded in her images and ceramic work. As time passes, she feels a more urgent need to find ways to use her art to help remember what she has seen, heard, and touched while spending time on this beautiful spot. The reason why she makes art is to create a tangible remembrance of life on the farm.
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My goal is to communicate to the viewer the thoughts and feelings that I have for this place. I do this by using my knowledge of composition based on what the brain likes to see; by solving complex design problems; and by experimenting with media combinations. Although I am rooted to my family farm, I travel on a long journey of discovering ways to make my art meaningful and enjoyable to the world.
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Recent Exhibitions
Solo Exhibits -
January-February 2017 Gettysburg Universalist Unitarian Church
August 2014 Ragged Edge Coffee House, Gettysburg, PA
Group Exhibits -
January-March 2020 “Fired!” Chambersburg Council for the Arts
June-September 2019 Art of the State, State Museum, Harrisburg PA
June-September 2017 Art of the State, State Museum, Harrisburg PA
June 2015, 2017 Adams County Historic Barn Art Exhibit 2nd prize photography 2017
August 2016 YorkFest Juried Show 2015, 2016 Award of Distinction
August 2016 Hanover Area Arts Guild Open Show First Place Encaustic
2012-2019 Adams County Arts Council Members Show
2014-2016 Adams County Arts Council Teachers Show
Spring 2014 and 2015 Delta Kappa Gamma International Online Juried Fine Arts Show
2014 Adams County TV show You Gotta Have Art January edition
2005, 2006, 2012, 2013 Adams County Arts Council Juried Show, 2006 third Best in Show
2013 Blick Award
2011, 2014 Doshi Gallery Members Juried Show at the State Museum
2012, 2013 York Art Institute, Those Who Teach Can Do
2007-2009 History Meets the Arts, Historic Gettysburg Train Station
2006, 2008 Shippensburg University Summer Institute Exhibition
2003, 2006 Adams County Art Teachers Show Gallery 30, Gettysburg
2000 Teacher as Artist Baum School of Art, Allentown, PA
1999, 2002 Teacher as Artist Penn State University
1993 Teacher as Artist Wilson College