As an award-winning artist, educator, and social activist, Betsy Casañas has dedicated her practice to empowering neighborhoods through murals that fuse the historical and contemporary imagery of their communities. With over 27 years of experience, she has created more than 50 murals and mosaics across the world. In addition to her creative practice, she is the director of A Seed on Diamond Gallery, as well as the founder of Semilla Arts Initiative.
Betsy Casañas is a studio artist and a public mural artist, a community activist and educator who was born and raised in the heart of “The Badlands” of North Philadelphia’s barrio. She studied art at Moore College of Art and Design where she received her Bachelors in Fine Arts and has worked in the Latino community since 1994. Casañas has exhibited her work in various solo and group exhibits and has designed over 50 public murals and mosaics nationally and internationally.
In 2007, Casañas co-founded The Semilla Arts, a grassroots initiative that uses collaborative art as a means of empowering individuals and communities in underserved areas. In 2010, Casanas opened “A Seed on Diamond Gallery” a community space where artists of different cultural backgrounds gather to tell their stories through spoken word, music and visual arts.
In 2018, Casanas was featured in the Robb Report as one of “5 Women Changing the Face of Street Art Around the Globe.” Her work is known for its use of pattern and color and for the way she represents dignity and humanity in marginalized communities. Creating safe spaces has been a vital part of her work. As a Latina artist who has been working in communities of color around the world she understands the importance of the people living in these communities to see themselves reflected in the artwork and in the leaders of the places they inhabit. She believes that artists have an obligation to reflect the times we are living in and to highlight the people’s story and change the narrative that has been created for us. By normalizing and humanizing our collective stories, we create communities that are more tolerant.
The first two-year college in the Commonwealth, HCC is widely recognized as a leader in high-quality, affordable pathways to transfer or immediate entry into the workforce. A designated Hispanic Serving […]
