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COLBERT -- Elizabeth "Betty" Colbert, nee Chapman, Renowned New Mexican potter, died September 12, 2009. Born in Columbus, Ohio to Harold Patterson Chapman and Marion Moore Chapman in 1925, the artist came to the state to pursue a studio arts degree at the University of New Mexico. In 1948, Ms. Colbert was a student resident at the Harwood Foundation, studying with all the great artists then living in Taos. Married later the same year, she and her husband Al (deceased 1966) built a house in Corrales. After many years in Corrales, the artist moved first to Algodones and then Albuquerque before retiring to Regina. It was thanks to her last husband, Charles Groffman (deceased 2008) that she discovered the peace and beauty of Regina. Betty Colbert started potting in graduate school at U.N.M. and completed her studies at the Instituto Allende in San Miguel, Mexico. In the '60's, Ms. Colbert worked with Fortino-Guerrero, a master wheel potter in Hidalgo and Gonzalo Garcia at Artisono Tallaveria in Guanajuato. She went on to study with many other famous American potters. A studio potter and muralist, Ms. Colbert also taught at the University of Albuquerque for nearly two decades, as well as leading many seminars and workshops at Ghost Ranch. She operated her own gallery both at the Sheraton Mercado and in Algodones. She juried numerous shows, and set standards as an influential voice and founding member of the State of New Mexico Arts Commission, the New Mexico Potters Association, the New Mexico Arts and Crafts Fair, and as a frequent judge at the New Mexico State Fair. She worked with the Santa Fe Opera on a benefit series of fashion shows. Her work consistently won prizes and was much sought after by collectors. Ms. Colbert's pots are part of permanent collections at the Albuquerque, Arizona State University and Brooklyn art museums and she was commissioned for installations at the Albuquerque Federal Courthouse, Boys Academy and Christian Reform church. Her work was recognized in many publications ranging from local and regional newspapers, magazines such as New Mexico, New Mexico Architect, Craft Horizons and Ceramics Monthly, textbooks and the Who's Who of American Women. In 1964, she was selected by the state chapter of the American Interior Designers to do all of the pottery for the New Mexican Room at the "Pavilion of American Interiors" of the Worlds Fair in New York. This was in conjunction with her successful business creating hanging stoneware lights. Subsequent to an interview Ms. Colbert conducted with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, he asked her to create some lamps for a house he was designing in Oklahoma. Ms. Colbert worked as a radio journalist and on-air interviewer for such famous visitors to Albuquerque as Wright, Adlai Stevenson and Eleanor Roosevelt. She also co-chaired the Sandoval County Democratic Party from 1960 to 1967, served on the State Central Committee of the Democratic Party from 1962 to 1967 and remained involved in politics all of her life. She is survived by her two daughters, Annette Colbert and Cecily Colbert. No flowers please, instead donations may be sent to the Animal Humane Society, 615 Virginia St. SE, Albuquerque, 87108, the Checkerboard Food Pantry, P.O. Box 880, Cuba NM 87013, or the New Mexico State Library Bookmobile West, NM Community Foundation, 343 East Alameda, Santa Fe, 87501. Those who wish to express condolences may do so at www.danielsfuneral.com Betty's care has been entrusted to: Daniels Family Funeral Services 7601 Wyoming Blvd, NE Albuquerque, NM 87109 (505) 821-0010
        Published on: Sun September 20, 2009