Bettye J. Stull (June 13, 1931 in

Wheeling, West Virginia Wheeling is a city in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Located almost entirely in Ohio County, of which it is the county seat, it lies along the Ohio River in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains and also contains a tiny portion extending ...

) is a curator, arts educator, and collector and is a pivotal figure in the

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

Black arts community, known for her mentorship of young Black women, including artist

April Sunami April Sunami is a mixed-media artist based in Columbus, Ohio. Her work has been exhibited in museums, galleries and private collections across the United States, and in both Ghana and Cuba, and is represented in the permanent collections of the ...

and activist Jessica Byrd. In her work as staff curator at the

King Arts Complex The Martin Luther King Jr. Performing and Cultural Arts Complex is a historic building in the King-Lincoln Bronzeville neighborhood of Columbus, Ohio. It was built in 1925 as the Pythian Temple and James Pythian Theater, and was added to the Natio ...

, she was the founding director of the Elijah Pierce Gallery. Her other African and African-American art shows have appeared at the Ohio Craft Museum, the McCoy Community Arts Center, the

Cultural Arts Center The Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center is a combination art gallery and teaching space, primarily for visual artists and crafters, in downtown Columbus, Ohio. It is a 38,500 square-foot space at 139 West Main Street, and is part of the c ...

and several other area venues. She served as an art advisor for the Long Street Bridge “Culture Wall,” a collaboration between the

City of Columbus The passenger steamer ''City of Columbus'' ran aground on Devil’s Bridge off the Gay Head Cliffs in Aquinnah, Massachusetts, in the early hours of January 18, 1884. She was owned by Boston & Savannah Steamship Company and was built in 1878 by D ...

, the

Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission The Mid-Ohio Regional Planning Commission (MORPC) is the metropolitan planning organization for Central Ohio, including the state capitol, Columbus. MORPC covers Franklin, Fairfield, Perry, Hocking, Logan, Union, Delaware, Morrow, and Kno ...

, and the

Ohio Department of Transportation The Ohio Department of Transportation (ODOT; ) is the administrative department of the Ohio state government responsible for developing and maintaining all state and U.S. roadways outside of municipalities and all Interstates except the Ohio T ...

, which created an innovative arts-based solution to the long-standing problem of urban neighborhoods divided by freeways.

Personal life

Stull was married to ceramicist Robert J. Stull, a professor of art at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

, from 1971 until his death in 1994. He was Dean of the Fine Arts department from 1979 to 1984.

Awards and honors

Greater Columbus Arts Council The Greater Columbus Arts Council (GCAC) is an arts organization in Columbus, Ohio. The council funds artists and organizations in Central Ohio, and hosts the annual Columbus Arts Festival. Building The Greater Columbus Arts Council office is the ...

Award, 2011 * Award for Outstanding Achievement, the Ohio Craft Museum, 2012 * Lincoln Theatre Walk of Fame Inductee, 2019

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stull, Bettye 1931 births Living people People from Columbus, Ohio American women curators American curators African-American artists