Venture into the spellbinding realm of Betsy Youngquist, where beads become skin and found objects awaken in a fantastical world.

Patina Gallery presents.

Youngquist’s art fuses spirit & matter, weaving new dimensions where myth & reality intertwine.

Born in Illinois, Youngquist channels mystery and imagination with relentless force. A magna cum laude graduate of North Park University in Chicago, she quickly sensed that the traditional frameworks of fine art couldn’t fully contain her evolving vision. Even as a student she was layering foil into her watercolors to satisfy an instinct for depth and sparkle. She turned to beads—then dismissed as mere craft-store fare—to sculpt pieces that transcended their humble origins.

Each sculpture is a vessel for layered narratives, drawing the viewer into a dance between the familiar and the fantastical, the human and the surreal.

“Creating art is a means to return to the looking glass and reenter the garden where flowers whisper and birds can talk. As my beaded characters emerge, they carry with them tales from the other side of the mirror. I am grateful for the joy and astonishment experienced through this journey.”
Betsy Youngquist

Fantastical World leads us on a wondrous journey through the whimsical and the avant-garde, where fairy tales and myths are not mere fictions but windows into hidden truths, whispered through the fabric of dreams. They speak of beasts and beings, of worlds we are taught to dismiss—yet perhaps these places are not imagined at all, but real, layered over our own, threaded through the unseen seams of existence.

Youngquist’s creations drift through a dreamscape of the strange & sublime, unsettling & mesmerizing in equal measure.

A caribou goddess wears the delicate face of a doll; a dragon unfurls with human eyes; a rat gleams under layers of antique beaded purse fragments. Each sculpture is a crossroads of myth and memory, stitching together fragments of story that deepen both the work and the viewer’s journey through it.

“Children with their vast capacity for wonderment weave tales of gossamer, create magic kingdoms, and pass through invisible portals to lands of untold enchantment. As we follow the Yellow Brick Road in quest of Emerald Cities, those portals become hidden to us, removing our access to the wonderland within ”
Betsy Youngquist

Join us as Youngquist leads us through a realm of fantasy and magic, revealing brief glimpses of worlds our waking minds have been taught to forget.

Throughout our 25-year story of extraordinary jewels, groundbreaking ingenuity surfaces in the evolving friendship and collaboration from years gone by and in those to come.

For more information on the work.
Please contact Allison or Angela on 505 986 3432
Email: allison@patina-gallery.com or angela@patina-gallery.com
Virtual appointments are available.

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MAIN IMAGE: Detail: 'Dragoness', by Betsy Youngquist.