Bethany Laranda Wood (she/they) was born and raised in West Texas. She earned her BFA in Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing from Texas Tech University and her MFA from the University of Iowa. She is now a working artist in Cedar Rapids, IA. Her work has been featured in National and International exhibitions and is in private and public collections throughout the US including the Nevada Museum of Art Center for Art + Environment.
Wood draws from an enduring fascination with informal, gestural lines of sketches as a symbolic link to the chaos of internal life. Wood’s work explores how selectively descriptive styles of mark-making can be translated from drawing to metalwork, as from experience to memory. This translation interprets the speedy mark of pen on paper, slowed to the meditative pace of jeweler’s saw on metal, where stories are told through the replication of converging lines, alone or alongside found objects. Through this process she highlights experiences with mental health, relationships, and land use.