Making Space for Wonder: Katy Betz on Reclaiming Imagination in a Distracted World

Katy Betz is on a mission to help people slow down, look deeper, and reconnect with the wonder that fuels true creativity. After stepping away from academia to fully embrace her studio practice and educational platform, she’s building immersive experiences — from sky-focused painting courses to outdoor art expeditions — that transform how people see and engage with the world. Through her work and upcoming podcast, Katy invites others to move beyond surface-level observation and rediscover imagination as a powerful, essential way of living.

Katy, your work centers around “creating space for imagination”. What does that idea mean to you, and why is it so important right now?
In everything I do, whether I am painting, teaching, writing, or mentoring, my goal is to awaken the imagination. To me, imagination is the capacity to see beyond what is obvious and to remain open to wonder. Wonder is where curiosity begins, and curiosity leads us toward wisdom, knowledge, and a deeper reverence for life.

Creating space for imagination means slowing down enough to truly notice what is around us. It means making room for beauty, mystery, and reflection in a world that constantly competes for our attention. Right now, that feels especially important because technology can distance us from one another, public discourse can divide us, and modern life often pressures us to explain everything rather than experience it.

I believe life becomes richer when we admit that not everything can be measured or explained. There is still mystery in the world, and there is meaning in learning how to see it. That belief shapes not only my art, but the way I want to live and the way I hope to encourage others to live.

After 15+ years in illustration and teaching, what inspired you to step away from academia and fully commit to your studio and educational platform?
I loved teaching for many years, and the classroom gave me some of the most meaningful experiences of my career. Over time though, my role began shifting away from teaching and more toward administration. More of my days were spent in meetings, spreadsheets, and email, and less time was being spent creating or working directly with students.

At the same time, I began to see new opportunities opening in front of me. I realized that the work I felt most alive doing was already happening outside the institution. I was creating art, building resources, and helping artists grow in ways that felt deeply personal and meaningful.

Eventually, I had to be honest with myself. I did not want my creative life to become something I only visited on the side. I wanted to build something that could reach people beyond a single classroom and create a wider impact. Stepping away from academia was not so much walking away from teaching. I see it as a repositioning into the work I feel called to do.

Your course Skybound: Paint Clouds. Cultivate Wonder focuses on observing the sky. How does learning to “see like an artist” transform the creative process?
Every profession trains people to notice different things. For example, my dad is a carpenter and he notices how things are built. A chiropractor notices how people walk. An artist learns to notice light, shape, color, and composition.  Learning to see like an artist transforms the creative process because it changes the way you move through the world.

Most people look quickly. Artists learn to observe deeply. When you draw or paint something, you are no longer just looking at it. You begin to understand how it is made, how it feels, and why it moves you. You start paying attention to details that most people miss.

That kind of seeing transforms creativity because it turns art from simple image making into a way of understanding. It teaches you to slow down long enough to form a deeper relationship with what you are observing. In that sense, seeing like an artist changes your awareness, and that often awakens wonder.

You’re bringing art into nature through outdoor expeditions. How do these immersive experiences deepen creativity compared to traditional studio learning?
There is something powerful about stepping outside a controlled environment and entering a living one. In the studio, everything is familiar. The lighting is stable, the temperature is comfortable, and the reference is often filtered through a screen or a photograph. That can be useful, but it is very different from direct experience.

When you are outdoors, all of your senses become involved. You feel the air, hear movement, notice shifting light, and become aware of details that a photograph can never fully capture. That kind of immersion sharpens perception because your mind is more fully engaged.

Painting outdoors can be more challenging because nature does not hold still for you. You have to deal with weather, bugs, etc. But that challenge often creates deeper creativity because it demands presence. It teaches people not just how to paint what they see, but how to respond to the world around them in real time. That kind of experience leaves a much deeper mark than studio learning alone. It is transformational.

Looking ahead to your podcast Creating Space for Imagination, what kinds of conversations or ideas are you most excited to explore with your audience?
What excites me most is creating conversations that help people recover a deeper way of seeing. I want the podcast to feel like a thoughtful pause in the middle of a noisy world, where we can talk about creativity as something much bigger than making art.

I am especially interested in exploring how imagination helps us perceive meaning that often gets overlooked in everyday life. That includes conversations about wonder, nature, beauty, silence, writing, music, and the role of solitude in creative work. I also want to explore how to strengthen creativity and how becoming more childlike in our attention can help us reconnect with awe.

Some episodes will touch on visual ideas like color, harmony, and sacred geometry, while others will focus on the inner life of the artist and what it means to live with greater awareness. More than anything, I want the podcast to invite people back into a sense of wonder that many of us have quietly lost.

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