Betty Branch catalog (6-21-23)) - Flipbook - Page 23
“Certain works in the exhibit delve more consciously into feminist imagery. They reaffirm the age-old perception of the female
as a source of mystery and life, and reassert a sense of specifically female power. Such power is self-generated and potentially
abundant; not the rare commodity for which we compete in society today. Archetypal images of ancient matriarchies in which
divinity was embodied in the female are referred to in Betty Branch’s ritualistic female figures, Dragon’s Teeth. These powerful
unerotically sexual dieties cannot be mistaken for simple ‘fertility images,’ assigned to a minor role in a patriarchial religious
ritual, as those fecund statuettes from the prehistoric worlds have been, such as Venus (so-called) of Willendorf. Branch’s ‘teeth
of the dragon’ reflect the authority and divinity of the mythic female so well known in the prehistoric world. The Mother Goddess
was originally considered the source of power, mystery and life. The spiritual presence of Branch’s sculptures revives feelings
associated with the original, widespread, and highly sophisticated goddess cult.”
Pat Mathews, Ph.D., Oberlin College, Ohio
Virginia Women Artists and the Female Experience in Art
(Blacksburgh, VA: Virginia Tech, 1985), page 18
Dragon’s Teeth, 1983, low-fired porcelain, terracotta, earthenware, dimensions variable, Collection of the artist
Opposite: Small Goddess, 1990, bronze, 15” x 12” x 10”, Collection of the Strauss Family
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