At 90, Ms. Bettie Jones Stays Connected with Art

BY NJEMILE Z. ALI

Ms. Bettie Jones is a vivacious 90-year-old, whose love for the arts has been in full swing since she was five years old. Currently a regular at Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts Senior Center, Ms. Bettie sculpts delicate roses, elephants, seahorses, birds and other intricate shapes.

At five years old, little Bettie discovered clay, joint compound and Play-Doh. She even worked with cooled tar that fell to the ground when roofers worked in her neighborhood, sculpting her first roses from the malleable black substance. Her at-home discoveries supplemented her kindergarten arts and crafts time at Martha Washington Elementary School (where her niece now works).

Sitting on the step outside her home in West Philadelphia early on summer mornings, Bettie became fascinated with the shape of roses. She remembers exclaiming, “Ohhhhhh,” while studying the petals to see how they grew. She began gently pulling them apart, then reproducing the shape in various mediums.

Her art reached into furniture and clothing design, when little Bettie Ruth Suder built her own doll furniture out of construction paper and cardboard. Sometimes she and her three younger sisters would buy paper dolls. More often, however, Bettie would draw, color and cut paper into the beautiful dolls and outfits that she and her sisters enjoyed.

Ms. Bettie’s clearest ancestral connection to art was Papa, her maternal grandfather. She remembers a family visit to Papa’s home in North Carolina, when he carved keepsakes for all the children. The boys received airplanes, cars and boats, and Little Bettie received a basket carved from a peach pit. She kept the basket for many years, frequently filling it will tiny flowers.

She learned to sculpt bowls and cups at Philadelphia’s Fleisher Art Memorial, and spent time at The Clay Studio, with a desire to learn how to make very large pieces. As a petite woman, she ultimately decided to stick with pieces that are easier to handle.

The only time in her life that Ms. Bettie took a hiatus from her art was during her early childrearing years. She met her husband, Seymour, in 8th grade and they became friends. Later, he went off to the service. When Seymour returned from the service, then 19-year-old Bettie was sitting on the steps in neighborhood. “That’s when the romance started,” and they married when she was 20 years old.

A mother of six, she reports that her first four children were born “at the same time,” meaning that they were born less than a year apart from each other. The artistic gene has also fallen into her four girls and two boys. Wanda, the oldest girl, has a degree in art, and Elaine, next in line, draws beautiful shoes. Karen crochets beautiful baby dresses, while Alfred, the baby of the family, has the talent for sculpting, but not the interest. Bridgette chose a career in nursing and Seymour selected computer science.

“I never tried to force anything on them. I let them be who they are. I just enjoy them. My husband and I enjoyed taking the children to various places on Saturdays and Sundays. He passed in 1980. Now my oldest lives in California, and the rest are in Philadelphia. We talk on the phone every day.”

The daughter of a very quiet mom and a “terror” of a dad, Ms. Bettie is pleasant and a joy to be around. She has a host of girlfriends, many of whom she gets to spend time with at the Senior Center two days a week. Like Bettie, her mom had six children, also two boys and four girls. She and her brothers miss their two sisters who have passed. “It’s hard now,” she says, “because, at my age, so many people have gone.”

Ms. Bettie describes herself as quiet, but she’s no pushover. “I have never run away. Sometimes people think they can push me around, but they soon learn—that’s not it. I tell them, ‘You grew up, and I did too.’ I just whisper to them, and most of the time they just leave me alone.” At 15 years old, she had to use her quiet power to show her dad that she was not to be mistreated.

“I sometimes wonder about reality shows with Black ladies,” she revealed. “I wonder how they just scream at each other. I don’t know how they can do it.”

At the Center, Ms. Bettie has had to assert her right to be there. No one would ever guess that she’s 90 years old—she does not use a cane or walker, she’s full of youthful energy and her mind and outfits are always sharp as a tack. On occasion, some of the attendees have tried to prevent her from sitting at the reserved table, thinking she was too young to be there. “You’re not as old as I am,” she had to tell them. “The older men said, ‘Nobody here can sit and cross their legs like she does.’ I told them, ‘I can. My dad died smoking, with his legs crossed.’”

What’s next for Ms. Bettie Jones? She’s looking forward to a trip to Iceland with her daughter. She’d love to stay at the hotel there that’s built like an igloo, and try her hand at sculpting ice. Cold climates are not a turn-off for Ms. Bettie. While living in Alaska, she enjoyed the natural art created by the snow coming down against the night sky, and seeing huge eagles and moose, right near the mall.

Artistically, Ms. Bettie is thinking about producing framed night skylines, complete with the buildings coming out of the frame. Although she’s open to romance, it’s not a preoccupation. “It would be nice to have a man to talk to,” she shares.