Betty Pilley: January’s 2026 Featured Artist

Betty Pilley remembers doing art as a child. Her family couldn’t afford paper, so she cut up grocery bags and drew on the backs of them. “I always loved art,” she says. “I wasn’t a great student in school, but I remember sixth grade. We got to do art every Friday,” she explained. “That day I shone!”

Betty says she’s self-taught. “I was gifted a ton of art books about 20 years ago and learned through them. I also took classes from artists like Robert Wills, Janis Cipriani-Willis, and Jerry (Geraldine) Regur.

“For me, the important thing was learning as much what not to do as anything. I learned where to put lights and darks, that most traditional paintings are no good without a focus area, and that the center of a canvas isn’t often the best place to put the main subject or center of interest.”

When Jerry passed away, Betty took over her classes. She has been teaching pretty much ever since, starting in the hobby room at The Village. Audry Winkler, who was one of her students and then gallery director when HVAA was located at Florida and Yale, invited her to teach there. Today she teaches Advanced Watercolor weekly in the art center.

Betty is a long-time member of HVAA and has been Artist of the Year nine times, including 2025. The award is given to the artist who has the highest cumulative score in our member-only monthly contests.