The sounds of voices chattering in the auditorium quickly quieted when the artist came on stage. Betzi Lievens, MCCC alum and local artist, hosted a presentation on Oct. 22 from 6:30-8:30 p.m. to show her work and talk a little bit about her life.
The next day, she hosted a workshop from 3-4:30 p.m. where she led a step-by-step process of replicating one of her watercolor paintings.
There were about 25 people in attendance.
Lievens attended MCCC for two years and then transferred to the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. She has a bachelor’s in fine arts and painting.
Lievens said she takes inspiration from artists like Van Gogh and Goya.
“I’m really inspired by everything, from conversations to art history and it just depends on the day as to what inspires me,” she said.
Lievens uses many different mediums, like oil pastels, watercolor, charcoal and acrylic paint.
Lievens has several pieces of artwork located in local areas.
“I have artwork displayed at Dacapo Coffee in Temperance, some places in downtown Monroe and I have a piece in a gallery near Greektown in Toledo,” she said.
Although she is not actively teaching classes to the public, Lievens would like to change that soon.
“I’m thinking of offering some individual private lessons in the next coming months,” she said.
While there was a lot of advice given to Lievens during her career, one piece of advice stuck out to her.
“The best advice I’ve received is to just show up, even if no one comes to your show and just be there because you never know when there could be an opportunity for you,” Lievens said.
Lievens said art is tremendously important, especially in a smaller community.
“We need to make art more acceptable because a lot of people take it seriously and it’s important to get people exposed to art especially when they are young and to learn the value of it,” she said.
