Gardens and "All that Jazz"... new work from Brenda Benson

by Bella Erakko

A frequent award-winning artist, Brenda Benson combines watercolor, paper cutting, and special effects to create intricate inviting portraits of our world. An avid gardener, she bemoaned the fact that due to constructing and moving into her new home, she was gardenless in a sea of mud and grass seed. “So I made my garden on paper,” she laughs, “in my artistic style.” She envisioned creating a garden based on a friend’s wildish yard, but then was drawn to a “moon gate”—a circular entryway that traces its origin to China. Made of stone or wood or metal, it draws the visitor into the intimacies of a garden. In addition to her moon gate garden, she created several paper flower portraits: poppies, hollyhocks—“the flowers I had in my old garden and hope to have in my new one.”

She also started a jazz series which began, ironically, by a conversation with visitors to the Alliance Art Gallery. Admitting she was artistically stalled, she asked them, “If you were looking to buy a piece of art, what would appeal to you?” Immediately, they responded, “Jazz. We love it.” Brenda admitted, “Music is my second love, after art.” Thus started her jazz series. “The Beat Goes On” seems to couple rhythm, heartbeat, and soul-sound: strong jagged black lines cut across the composition, surrounded by free’d notes and “impressions.” If art ever embodied music, in the year-of-covid, Brenda created a bridge—moon gates and jazzed connections—between our heart and soul.

An Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, May 8 from 1 until 6:00.