We are honored to welcome the vibrant and powerful work of legendary artist Betty LaDuke to the Chehalem Cultural Center for our Summer 2025 programming. With a career spanning over 70 years, Betty LaDuke has traveled the globe, inspired generations through art education, and exhibited her work in renowned museums across the country. In recent years her work has been locally showcased at the Portland Art Museum and you can view a permanent installation at the Rogue Valley International Airport in Medford, OR, honoring the stories of local farms and farmworkers.

Turtle Wisdom is one of LaDuke’s latest series—infused with color, character, and the deep reflections of a life richly lived. Drawing from her global experiences, this body of work invites us to explore how we connect—personally, politically, and playfully with each other. In her own words:

“Slowly, as we emerged from our Covid isolation, my doorway opened and 20 turtles gradually appeared in my Ashland, Oregon studio. While some turtles have been waiting for me in sketchbooks created decades ago in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, new ones now evolved. Turtles became my symbolic storytellers, commenting on the events currently reshaping our lives.

My imagination awakened as with a skill-saw I shaped wood boards into a variety of turtle forms. The stories they each told began with a rough painted outline before sharp gouges defined their interior forms into various depths and textures. Finally, their wood-thirsty surfaces received many layers of acrylic paint. Completed colorful turtles now standing on my paint splattered studio floor almost seemed like huggable companions-depending on their storytelling expression.”

VIDEOS: About This Exhibit | About Her Career As An Artist

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Betty LaDuke (American, born 1933) resides in Ashland, Oregon where she is professor of art emeritus at Southern Oregon University, having taught there from 1964-1996. Born to immigrant parents in the Bronx, New York, at age sixteen she enrolled in the High School of Music and Art in New York City. Upon graduation, she continued her education at the University of Denver, the Cleveland Institute of Art, and the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. While in Mexico she met muralists Rufino Tamayo, Diego Rivera, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, whose dedication to an art representing the working people continues to influence LaDuke’s content. In 1963, she graduated from California State University in Los Angeles with a special secondary art teaching credential and a master’s degree in printmaking. 

LaDuke has exhibited widely around the United States including at the Schneider Museum of Art, Ashland, Oregon; Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso University, Indiana; University Museum, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces; Dallas Museum of Art, Texas; The Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago; Chattanooga African American Museum, Tennessee; Indianapolis Art Center, Indiana; and the Albany Museum of Art, Georgia. Her work is represented in public collections including the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Eugene, Oregon; Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, Indiana; Rensselaer Newman Foundation and Cultural Center, Troy, New York; Heifer International, Little Rock, Arkansas; Portland Art Museum, Oregon; and the Rhode Island School of Design, Museum of Art, Providence. LaDuke has received numerous awards such as the Oregon Governor’s Award in the Arts (1993) and the National Art Education Association’s Ziegfeld Award for distinguished international leadership (1996).

Written by Portland Art Museum, APEX series featured in 2015