Raised and educated in Southern California, Bet Borgeson began her first formal art studies at UCLA. After moving to the Pacific Northwest Borgeson completed her art education with a degree in painting from Portland State University. She was by this time working mostly in colored pencil, exhibiting and selling her work in various Oregon and Washington galleries and museums. Although colored pencil as a fine art medium was not then generally familiar to the public, it became increasingly clear that its unique handling characteristics and potential were also not well understood by other artists. Since Borgeson was already teaching oil painting, she felt that she should additionally be spreading the word about colored pencils.