Biography 2024 pdf

Kieran Betz is a multidisciplinary craftsman born in Woodbury, Vermont and working in Detroit, Michigan. He will graduate with a BFA in Craft and Material Studies from the College for Creative Studies in May, 2025. Predominantly using natural materials including woods, metals, fibers, minerals, ceramics and glasses, Kieran explores ideas of timeless elegance and opulence and how they can fit in with a functional piece. His work has been shown in the National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Newlab x Michigan Central: The Art of Innovation, Newlab, Detroit, MI; Good Things: Intercollegiate Small Works, UW-Madison Glass Lab, Madison, WI; Simultaneously Being, U-245 Gallery, Detroit, MI; Patchwork: An Eclectic Experience, Design Studio 6, Detroit, MI; Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit. MI. Betz curated Juxtaposition, HUB Gallery, Detroit, MI. He has also hosted tours of the T.W. Wood Gallery in Montpelier, Vermont.

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Curriculum Vitae 2024 pdf

Kieran Betz 

2002 born in Woodbury, Vermont 

2025 College for Creative Studies in Detroit, Michigan

GROUP EXHIBITIONS: 

2024

National Gallery of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe

Spring Salon, Detroit Contemporary, Detroit, Michigan

Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit. Michigan

2023

Newlab x Michigan Central: The Art of Innovation, Newlab, Detroit, Michigan

Good Things: Intercollegiate Small Works, UW-Madison Glass Lab, Madison, Wisconsin 

Simultaneously Being, U-245 Gallery, Detroit, Michigan 

Patchwork: An Eclectic Experience, Design Studio 6, Detroit, Michigan 

Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit. Michigan

2022

Juxtaposition, HUB Gallery, Detroit, Michigan 

Student Exhibition, College for Creative Studies, Detroit. Michigan

 

CURATION:

2022

Juxtaposition, HUB Gallery, Detroit, Michigan

 

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Artisan Statement 2024 pdf

I was raised on a three acre vegetable farm off a dirt road where we have neighbors but can’t see their houses. My parents taught me to be self-sufficient which has deeply influenced my practice and helped me articulate my ultimate goal: to be able to make everything for my family and friends, guaranteeing quality and love with each project. Besides my phone and my van, I know how to make every object I use in a day. I think of my pieces as timeless artifacts that make the viewer question what era they might have originated from: past present or even future. I make objects that seem like they simply appear.

I bridge my love for both sterile brutalism and natural form through my use of materials and process. I'm inspired by pieces of antiquity from past civilizations including jewelry, tools, architecture and daily objects such as cups, furniture and clothes. My practice is varied stylistically using glass, ceramic, metal, wood, textiles and stone. I almost exclusively use found objects and scraps from the shops I work in. The reuse of materials is part of my ethos of making, as well as financial and environmental concerns.