{"id":17909,"date":"2025-08-06T11:44:12","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:44:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/?p=17909"},"modified":"2025-08-12T08:46:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T12:46:50","slug":"betzy-cordon-25-featured-in-waterfire-art-gallery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/news\/betzy-cordon-25-featured-in-waterfire-art-gallery\/","title":{"rendered":"Betzy Cordon \u201925 featured in WaterFire art gallery"},"content":{"rendered":"

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 August 6 \u2013 <\/span>Recent Arts and Sciences graduate,<\/span> Betzy Cordon<\/span><\/a>, embarks on her professional career as an artist with her first public show in Providence known as the “Growing the Networks” gallery.<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibit features artists brought together through peer nominations and artistic connections, recommended by participants of the original NetWorks Rhode Island project. With more than 160 artists highlighted across two summers (2024 & 2025), this growing network reflects the collaborative and generative spirit that fuels Rhode Island’s vibrant visual arts scene. Cordon received her nomination from<\/span> Art Department<\/span><\/a> faculty member<\/span> Annu Matthew<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Betzy Cordon, my student for the past three years, immediately came to mind. Not just for her dedication and bubbly enthusiasm, but particularly for her work from my photography classes,” said Matthew. “In those classes, the skillfully blended photography and illustration, achieving a level of professionalism like that found in children’s books and posters. Her illustrations from an independent study further demonstrated this maturity. In the exhibition, her work stands confidently alongside that of seasoned artists with decades of experience. I am very proud of her.”
\n\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

Cordon grew up in a Guatemalan household in Providence and Cranston and has always identified as an artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I’ve loved art for as long as I can remember,” Cordon says with a big smile. “I have vivid memories of holding a pencil and drawing at four years old. It’s always been a part of me and something I wanted to work toward. I got serious about my art around middle school.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Her academic journey began at CCRI, where she completed her general education courses. With the necessities for her degree squared away, she transferred to URI to immerse herself fully in her art. The transition to a rigorous program presented its challenges. Still, Cordon’s passion and agility made the peaks and valleys of her experience all worthwhile.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cordon’s flexibility as an artist is also present in her preferred mediums; she dabbles in photography, digital art, oil painting, graphite, charcoal, and illustration. With a plethora of skills under her belt, her artistic vision can afford to shapeshift. With a penchant for <\/span>Alice in Wonderland<\/span><\/i>, Magic Girl anime, and Lolita fashion (a subculture from Japan that is highly influenced by Victorian clothing and styles from the Rococo period), much of her work categorically falls under the feeling of whimsy.<\/span><\/p>\n

“I love being a whimsical woman! It’s playful and makes me happy, which I hope comes through in my work,” Cordon said.
\n\"\"<\/span>Two of her digital paintings were selected from her submitted portfolio for the art show: <\/span>A Purfect Afternoon, <\/span><\/i>which shows a close-up photo of her childhood doll house combined with illustrations of ‘small critters’ performing mundane tasks.<\/span><\/p>\n


\n\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

The second, Rainy Day<\/i>, is a take on one of her favorite childhood books, Chrysanthemum<\/i> by Kevin Henkes, which tells her version of the story set in New England with a rabbit as the main character. <\/span><\/p>\n

The future feels bright, and Cordon is eager to lean into her versatility. She hopes to continue building her portfolio through collaborative projects, volunteering, and showing at more exhibitions. Eventually, she may find her way back to the classroom and teach art to children.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Not one boring moment of being an artist,” said Cordon.<\/span><\/p>\n

View Cordon’s work at the Main Hall + Gallery at the WaterFire Arts Center at 475 Valley St, Providence, RI. Cordon will also participate in a panel discussion on August 14 at 6:00 pm. Admission is free, and donations are encouraged. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cGrowing the Network\u201d will show local artists\u2019 work until August 31st. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5153,"featured_media":17910,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[359,361,7],"tags":[220],"class_list":["post-17909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-class-of-2025","category-news","tag-art"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5153"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17909"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17921,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17909\/revisions\/17921"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17910"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.uri.edu\/artsci\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}