Betty Sapp Ragan is a native of Alabama. She worked primarily on the East Coast as an art photographer before she moved to the state of Washington in 1989. Betty completed her BA degree, cum laude, in art studio at Birmingham-Southern College. After a period of time when she almost stopped making art, she decided to complete an MFA degree. By that time her focus had changed from painting to photography and photo printmaking. She received her MFA degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1985.  She taught photography and printmaking at the University of Puget Sound for 15 years and now teaches private lessons.

Betty Ragan’s photographic work has been presented in numerous solo exhibitions and also in regional, national, and international exhibitions. Some awards from those exhibitions were: the Camera Club of New York National in 2002 where her work was selected by Andres Serrano as one of six finalists to be featured in an exhibition there; The Schultz Award for excellence in black-and-white Photography at the 25th National Photo Exhibition at Larson Gallery in Washington state; a first place award in the South Sounds Exhibition at Commencement Gallery in Tacoma, Washington.

2011                       Solo Exhibition, Hanforth Gallery, Tacoma, Washington, January 2011
2008                      Solo Exhibition, Sandpiper Gallery, Tacoma, Washington October 16 – November 15
2008                      Solo Exhibition, Pacific Lutheran University Gallery, October 8 – October 29 
2006                      Folk Tales, Kittredge Gallery, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington,
                                October 9 – November 15
2002                      Betty Sapp Ragan: The German and Austrian Work, Kittredge Gallery,
                                University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, Washington, March 27 – April 21
2001                      ARTIST/POET: Betty Ragan – photography, Hans Ostrom - poetry,
                                University Gallery, Pacific Lutheran University, Tacoma, Washington,
                                April 3 – April 30
1999                      Buttoned Down Series, Suyama Gallery, solo exhibition for Pacific Northwest
                                Regional Society of Architectural Historians, Seattle Washington, October 1 – October 8
1996                      Solo Exhibition, Helen Smith Gallery, Green River Community College, Auburn,
                                Washington, January 2 – 26
1995                      Solo Exhibition, Maude Kerns Gallery, Eugene, Oregon, June 2 – July 16
1994                      Solo Exhibition, Commencement Art Gallery, Tacoma, Washington, November 17 –
                                December 19
1993                      Betty Ragan – The Buttoned Down Series, The Blue Heron Art Center, Vashon Island,
                                Washington, November 5 – 27
1993                      Betty Ragan:Photographs, solo exhibition, Pierce College Fine Arts Gallery, Tacoma,
                                Washington, January 5 - 29
1992                       Buttoned Down - (Northwest work), solo exhibition, Kittredge Gallery, April 1 - 29

Selected Group Exhibitions

2005                      2005/48th Annual International, San Diego Art Institute Museum, May 1 – June 12  

2002                      Camera Club of New York National, Honorable Mention, one of six
                                finalists invited to exhibit, Alfred Lowenherz Gallery, New York, March 9 – April 6,
                                Andres Serrano - juror
2001                      Feminism a Global Power, national juried exhibition, Artemesia Gallery,
                                Chicago, Illinois, February 28 – March 25
2000                      Northwest International Art Competition, Whatcom Museum of History and Art,
                                Bellingham, Washington, July 7 – August 26
2000                      Allied Arts Association Annual Juried Regional Exhibition, Allied Arts Gallery,
                                Richland, Washington, May 7 – June 2
1999                      Photographic Currents, invitational exhibition, University Gallery, Pacific Lutheran
                                University, Tacoma, Washington, October 26 –November 24

1999                      40th Three Rivers Arts Festival, Juried Fine Arts Exhibition Bell Atlantic
                                Building, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, June 4 – 20