Elizabeth Risinger Blackwelder

Retrospective Exhibition

Dixie Center for the Arts, 212 N. Vienna

Elizabeth Blackwelder was a beloved Ruston artist who worked primarily in watercolor and sometimes in oils, acrylics, and printmaking. Born in Ruston on January 19, 1935, to Clarence and Lorraine Risinger, she was blessed with many artistic talents, including visual art and music. She received a BA rom Louisiana Tech and an MA from LSU. She worked as a classroom teacher for 10 years teaching kindergarten and first grade. She married Oran Drexel Blackwelder, and they had two children. NCLAC is grateful to her son, Philip Blackwelder, and her daughter, Teresa Grace Blackwelder for donating a portion of her art estate to NCLAC after her death.

“Betty” or Nettie, as she was sometimes called, was a member of First Baptist Church, where she played the organ for 30 years. She also played organ and piano at many other churches, including Emmanuel Baptist. In addition, she taught painting and drawing lessons privately as well as piano. After developing health problems, she moved to Princeton Place, where she continued to paint and display her paintings in the foyer and entertain residents with her beautiful piano music in her Nettie’s Notes sessions.

Her artwork was among the best selling in NCLAC’s early Piney Hills Gallery, which was located in the Harris Hotel where The Fashion is today. Her statement when asked why she liked to create art was “When God gives the gift, He gives joy in doing it.” She loved participating in NCLAC’s Studio Tours and Holiday Arts Tour and looked forward to welcoming the public to her home studio on Gordon Street.

NETTIE ELIZABETH RISINGER BLACKWELDER
(January 19, 1935 - March 19, 2020)

Her subjects reflect her love of nature, especially flowers and animals, and the cat was an obvious favorite. Her traditional subjects, including still lifes, landscapes, and portraits demonstrate her great sense of color and design; she was also very creative and inventive, making up more abstract variations. Her strong sense of design in her realist work carries over into her compelling abstract paintings. Watercolor, her most used medium, has a contemporary, modernist feeling.

Blackwelder uses atmosphere to tell a story and highlight the subject matter. The values and fading of color in her watercolors are incredible. Her masterful drawings in pen or pencil and her printmaking skills make for a compelling exhibition. Her modest pricing was always affordable, so we have priced her works accordingly to find good homes for them and to carry on her creative spirit as a thank you to Ruston.

The NCLAC Curatorial Team:
Taylor Bailes, BFA, NCLAC Intern
Nina Cazenave, NCLAC Board
Peter Jones, La. Tech Art Professor, Emeritus
Catherine McVea, MFA, Interior Designer
Susan Roach, La. Tech Professor of English, Emerita