Betsy Jacks

Betsy Jacks is a visual artist, writer, and former museum director. Her paintings have been exhibited in New York City and in the Hudson Valley, and her written work has been published by both academic and commercial presses.

Jacks’ artistic career began with her degree in both art history and studio art at Duke University. After moving back to New York, she studied and exhibited at the Art Students’ League and was included in the Whitney Museum staff exhibition in 2000, 2001 and 2002. She established a practice in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where she held open studio events, exhibited in local venues, and sold work to private collectors. Since moving to the Hudson Valley, she has exhibited at the Arkell Museum, Boscobel House & Gardens, Brik Gallery, Lyndhurst Mansion, Joust, Spencertown Academy, CREATE, LABspace, Woodstock Artists Association, Sugar Maples Center for the Arts, and elsewhere, and her work is in the collection of the Albany Institute of History & Art.

From 2003 through 2024 she was the Executive Director of the Thomas Cole National Historic Site — an art museum and historic home of a 19th-century artist in New York’s Hudson Valley that she transformed from an unknown house museum with no professional staff ...

1995-97 J. L. KELLOGG GRADUATE SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, Evanston, IL, Master of Management degree (MBA), major in marketing, Dean's Honor List, Dean's Service Award for outstanding contribution to the school

1992-95 ART STUDENTS LEAGUE, New York, NY, Drawing from Life, Painting, Group Critique with Rudolf Baranik

1989 SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY IN FLORENCE, Florence, Italy, Fine Art and Art History Program

1987-91 DUKE UNIVERSITY, Durham, NC, Bachelor of Arts degree, Cum Laude, majors in art history and studio art

2025

Sanctuary, Juried Exhibition, Woodstock Artists Association & Museum, Woodstock, NY

Verbatim, Solo Show, Sugar Maples Center For Creative Arts, Maplecrest, NY

Art as Memoir, Juried Exhibition, Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY

Scenic Vistas: Landscape as Culture in Early New York, Boscobel House & Gardens, Garrison NY

10th Annual Member Show, The Spencertown Academy, Spencertown, NY

Embodiment, Solo Show, The Gallery at Café Joust, Catskill, NY

2025 Art of New York, Juried Exhibition, The Arkell Museum, Canajoharie, NY

The Flower Show, Lyndhurst Mansion, Tarrytown, NY

Perfectly Imperfect: The Flawed Beauty of the Human Form, WomensWorkArt, Poughkeepsie, NY

What We Hold, CREATE Gallery, Catskill, NY



2024

Small Works, LABspace, Hillsdale, NY

One Foot Square, Athens Cultural Center, Athens, NY

Seen Scenes, CREATE Gallery, Catskill, NY