Violin Title: The Tree Above the Fiddler’s Village

Inspiration Statement: “This violin has acquired a new life, transformed into a new form of harmony by using ordinary pieces of ceramic shards which are made whole, gaining new meaning and value.”

BIO: Bette Ann Libby has worked in clay since 1972 and has been inspired by her sojourn in Samoa, South Asia, India and the Mid-east. She is fascinated with the healing aspects of ceramic shard mosaics in which broken pieces are made whole and forgotten objects acquire new life, meaning and value. Bette Ann has received numerous awards including a 1997 award from the Cambridge Art Association, and was a prize winner in 1995 winter juried exhibition at the Duxbury Art Complex Museum. In 2004, she received first prize in the Massachusetts State of Clay Exhibition for her mosaic sculpture "Gargoyle with Butterfly Wings." Her work has been shown in museums across the country including the Fuller Craft Museum touring exhibition of “Trashformations” from 2005-2007. In 2007, Bette Ann collaborated with Artists for Humanity to create the mosaic “Wall of Hope” for Project Place Homeless Shelter in Boston and has had numerous mosaic commissions for Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, working with patients, staff and parents. Libby was also the artistic lead for the creation of “The Brookline Town-wide Mosaic Columns” for which she received a Massachusetts Cultural Council grant in 2008. Her work is represented by L’Attitude Gallery, Boston, MA.

www.betteannlibby.com.