Betty Price, who built a legacy on enhancing artistic landscape of Oklahoma, dies at 92

Boasting about 500 paintings, sculptures and other works of art, the Oklahoma Capitol is more than just the state's hall of government.

"It's one of the most significant free art museums in the world," said Robert Henry, a former state lawmaker, attorney general and federal appeals court judge.

"I don't think there's a capitol building in the country that compares with ours, as far as being a museum of art ... and that's almost exclusively Betty Price's influence."

The former longtime executive director of the Oklahoma Arts Council, Price died Oct. 23 in Oklahoma City. She was 92.

“During her tenure leading our agency, Betty laid a foundation for passionate public service in the arts, and this foundation can still be seen in her imprint at our agency today,” said current Oklahoma Arts Council Executive Director Amber Sharples in a statement.

Price spent 33 years at the Oklahoma Arts Council, including serving as executive director for 24 years, until her retirement in 2007. Her tenure with the state's arts agency spanned the administrations of seven different governors.

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“In all my years in public office, Betty Price is one of the most classic examples of public service in Oklahoma,” said George Nigh, who served as governor from 1979 to 1987, in a statement.

Longtime Oklahoma Arts Council director was a painter, musician and arts educator

When Lisa Price thinks of her mother, two famous quotations come to mind: The opening of John Keats' poem "Endymion" — "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: Its loveliness increases; it will never / Pass into nothingness; but still will keep" — and the New International Version (NIV) translation of the Scripture Philippians 4:8 — "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy — think about such things."

"All of her years were spent dedicated to beautiful, lovely things that would inspire and bridge and enhance: beauty and arts and music," Lisa Price told The Oklahoman.

An accomplished musician, painter and teaching artist, Betty Price was born Feb. 27, 1931, in Booneville, Arkansas, to Wilson and Elizabeth Durham. She grew up in Muskogee, where she started painting and taking dance and piano lessons at a young age.

An alumnus of Tahlequah's Northeastern State University, Price taught as an arts educator in Norman before embarking on her public service career as a state Senate staffer. She was later hired by Nigh during his tenure as lieutenant governor.

Longtime executive director joined the Oklahoma Arts Council in 1974

In 1974, Price joined the staff of the Oklahoma Arts Council, working as the agency’s public information director until 1983, when she was promoted to executive director, the position she held until retiring in 2007.

"She was just a real beacon for the arts in Oklahoma for many, many years," said Paula Stover, who retired as Lyric Theatre's longtime executive director in 2017.

Although she provided invaluable support when Lyric moved in 2002 from its previous home at Oklahoma City University to the Civic Center Music Hall, Stover said Price advocated for the arts all across the state.

"She had this vision that the arts were so important to every community in Oklahoma," Stover said. "It would be so easy just to think more of Oklahoma City and Tulsa and Lawton — the bigger cities — but whether it was a small museum or a small theater somewhere, she wanted to try to help them to become the best they could be in that community."

Price was involved in the inception and growth of several cultural organizations across the state, including the Native American Cultural & Educational Authority (the precursor to OKC's First Americans Museum), Oklahoma Arts Institute at Quartz Mountain, Bartlesville's OKMozart (now OKM Music Festival), Tulsa's Greenwood Cultural Center, Okemah's Woody Guthrie Folk Festival and OKC's Red Earth.

“In the years following Betty’s retirement, our agency has built on her legacy," Sharples said. "In 2015, after dialogue with state leaders, we earned their trust to take on the administration of the state’s public art program — a longtime goal of Betty’s. We have also ventured into new areas of impact for the arts such as health and wellness, creative aging, veteran services and more. We know Betty would be proud of our continued expansion of the arts to serve Oklahomans.”

Oklahoma Arts Council director led the way in commissioning state Capitol artworks

For almost three decades, Price was the driving force behind the Oklahoma Arts Council's commissioning of numerous artworks for the Capitol.

Some of the most prominent include Allan Houser’s monumental outdoor sculpture “As Long as the Waters Flow,” Wilson Hurley’s four landscapes titled "Visions of the Land: The Centennial Suite," Mike Larsen’s “Flight of Spirit” mural in the rotunda that honors Oklahoma’s Native American ballerinas known as the "Five Moons," a sculpture of Kate Barnard, the first woman in Oklahoma elected to state office, and Enoch Kelly Haney’s sculpture “The Guardian” atop the Capitol dome.

Plus, Price worked with state leaders to create new exhibition spaces in the Capitol to showcase the work of Oklahoma artists. Three spaces with rotating art exhibits — the North, East and Governor’s galleries — were opened through Price’s efforts. In 2007, the first museum-quality exhibit space in the Capitol opened, dedicated to spotlighting the Oklahoma State Art Collection, consisting of works by notable Oklahoma artists.

In 2008, a year after her retirement, the latter was officially named The Betty Price Gallery.

"When you see the Capitol when she started and then by the time she retired ... it really is so dramatic, the changes (she made). When she started, I was a young legislator — when I first met her, I was 23 years old — and she was just a whirlwind of artistic activity," recalled Henry, who retired as the president of OCU in 2018.

"The word impossibility was not in her lexicon. ... No one had the impact on the artistic landscape that Betty did, whether it was a musical concert in a town in rural Oklahoma or a magnificent sculpture in the state Capitol."

In the early 1980s, Price also helped establish the Oklahoma State Capitol Preservation Commission, and she guided the plan to protect the artwork during the construction of the Capitol dome.

“Our recent efforts to re-envision the visitor experience at the Capitol following its restoration were grounded in Betty’s work,” Sharples said.

“She would be pleased to see how the Oklahoma Arts Council has transformed the Capitol into the state’s largest public art museum through the Capitol restoration project, and how we have launched a museum-quality docent program to leverage the arts to teach Oklahoma history and fine arts through guided tours for schoolchildren and visitors from around the world.”

Betty Price to be honored at 2024 Governor's Arts Awards

During her lifetime, Price earned many awards for her contributions to the arts in Oklahoma. She was awarded the Liddy Doenges Leadership in the Arts Award by Gov. Brad Henry in 2007; Red Earth Ambassador of the Year in 2006; National Assembly of State Arts Agencies’ State Arts Agency Director of the Year in 2000; and Sovereignty Symposium Honored One in 1999. She also received a Chickasaw Nation Governor’s Award in 1999 and was inducted into the Oklahoma Women’s Hall of Fame in 1985.

Following a private family service, a public tribute to Price is planned in January during the 45th Oklahoma Governor’s Arts Awards at the state Capitol.

Price is survived by her daughter, Lisa Price, of Oklahoma City; son, George Price and wife Lisa, of Edmond; grandson, Matthew Price, of Lawrence, Kansas; granddaughter, Natalie Ford and husband Brady, and great-grandchildren, Payton, Samuel and Levi, all of Oklahoma City.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 64 years, Norris Price, in 2019, and their son, John Randall "Randy" Price, in 1975.

In lieu of flowers, Price's family encourages donations in support of the Oklahoma State Art Collection in The Betty Price Gallery. Donations in her honor may be sent to Friends of the Oklahoma Arts Council, P.O. Box 52001-2001, Oklahoma City 73152-2001.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Longtime Oklahoma arts supporter Betty Price dies at 92