Betsy Stirratt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and earned a BFA from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. She received an MFA from Indiana University in 1983, and worked as a graphic designer for the Pan American Games, IBM Corporation and other clients. She has been the Director of the Grunwald (formerly SoFA) Gallery at Indiana University in Bloomington since 1987. As Director, she has curated numerous exhibitions including Feminine Persuasion, The Art of Desire, Personal: Selections from the Robert J. Shiffler Collection, and Human Nature. She has edited several books including Human Nature, School of Fine Arts Gallery, Indiana University (2007), Les Vérités du Sexe, Editions Marval, Paris, France (French, German editions, 2003) and Feminine Persuasion: Contemporary Women’s Sexuality, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN (2003).
She has worked as an artist for over twenty-five years. Her work has been exhibited at known galleries and museums since 1983, including the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC), White Columns, (NY), City Gallery at Chastain (Atlanta, GA), and Aron Packer Gallery (Chicago, IL) among others. She is the recipient of several grants and awards, including a Visual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, Arts Midwest Fellowship and several Indiana Arts Commission grants. Her work is represented by Packer/Schopf Gallery in Chicago.