Camille Billops: A Multi-Talented Artist

The multi-talented Camille Billops has found many different ways to express her artistic ability throughout her career. Her works that were done throughout her career was an expression of her life. Throughout the life of Camille she had many influences leading her into the art world. This paper has the artist going through her life coming up through the world as a student to a teacher then artist, and her works making her a legend. The way she met her husband and worked together to make the Hatch-Billops Collection. In her time as an artist she changed her work a few times. She started doing printmaking then changed to sculpture and film making. Throughout her life is what made her films. The trilogy of films makes her life public for everyone to see. From Suzanne Suzanne to Finding Christa and then to String of Pearls. Camille Billops is an artist representing her culture through her works of printmaking, sculpture and film. She has made her mark in history by doing so. Because of this she will always be remembered.
Camille Billops was born in Los Angeles in 1933 to Alma Gilmore and Lucius Billops. She attended City College of Los Angeles, Associate of Arts and graduated in 1954. Then changed schools to the University of Southern California and studied occupational therapy. After that she changed schools again to the Los Angeles State College and received her Bachelor of Arts. After her schooling she met her future husband writer and playwright James Vernon Hatch, who is white, and traveled to Egypt and had a one person exhibit for Camille. After her exhibit in Egypt she came back to the states to go back to school. Billops moved to New York and received her Masters in Fine Art from the City College of New York in 1973. While attending the City College of New York she also had begun to teach ceramics. After graduating with her Masters in Fine Art she went and taught ceramics at Rutgers University, Newark, N.Y. Also in 1975 she founded the Hatch-Billops