Bethea Scott Owen

OWEN BETHEA SCOTT OWEN Bethea Scott Owen died January 11, 2010, in Fairfax County. Born May 2, 1922, in Lynchburg, Be is predeceased by her parents, Minnie Muirhead Owen and Robert Alexander Owen, and sister, Helen Owen Calvert. She received a BFA in 1943 from Syracuse University and later studied at such schools as the Instituto Allende in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, the Studio School of the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the Art Students League of New York''s Summer School in Woodstock, NY. Be enjoyed a 60-year career as an artist. Following college, she was employed primarily in the Washington area as a civil servant illustrator and began her freelance "life of creating" in various media. In 1973 she was among the original artists to open a studio at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria, maintaining hers until several years ago. She is best known for drawings and paintings of landscapes, buildings, figures and street scenes. Much of her work is inspired by photography and sketches made during a lifetime of travel to more than 30 countries. Among numerous awards and exhibitions, including the 1959 Annual Area Show at the Corcoran, she won First Place in the 1990 Barboursville Vineyard''s wine label competi- tion. That same year she participated in an International Peace Walk in the Ukraine Last year she won First Place for a painting entered in the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts'' statewide competition for senior artists. Her affiliations have included The Art League, Washington Water Color Association, Potomac Valley Watercolorists, The Virginia Watercolor Society, The Artists Equity Association, The National League of American Pen Women, and Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington. She is survived by a niece, Doniphan Calvert Guggenheimer of Lynchburg; three nephews, George Edward Calvert, Jr. of Richmond, Matthew James Calvert of Atlanta and Robert Alexander Owen Calvert of Sag Harbor, NY; six great nephews and nieces, and four great-great nephews and nieces. A memorial service followed by a reception will be held Saturday, January 30, at 2 p.m. at Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington. Memorial contributions may be made to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, 154 San Angelo Dr., Amherst, VA 24521 or Unitarian Universalist Church of Arlington, 4444 Arlington Boulevard, Arlington, VA 22204.