Bridget Benton

Painting

For the month of April, local artist Bridget Benton will be featured in the FA Gallery of Woolworth Walk.

Bridget Benton has always been drawn to mediums that support working intuitively and building layers - printmaking, photography, collage, fiber, and assemblage. In 2006, she began incorporating encaustic, a wax-based medium, into her work. The unique qualities of encaustic allow her to quickly and intuitively build layers, while also allowing materials to be scraped back, revealing prior layers. In 2010, after being invited to teach encaustic at the annual Nature Printing Society workshop, Benton began to incorporate more and more nature print and

nature-focused monotype into her encaustic paintings. Benton also uses large-scale image transfers of her photographs in her work, and in 2019, received a grant from the International Encaustic Artists to explore alternatives to toner copy image transfer.

These three elements - photography, nature print, and encaustic - form the material foundation for most of her work. Benton then uses unusual juxtapositions of symbols – including roots, bottles, typewriters, hearts, and tree rings - to explore themes of containment, emergence, transformation, and the passage of time. While she most often works intuitively, meanings and stories emerge that are at once deeply personal and surprisingly universal.

Benton’s passion as a teacher is helping people discover and develop their own creative voice. Her workshops focus on techniques and processes that facilitate self-discovery and creative exploration. Her workshop-in-a-book, The Creative Conversation: ArtMaking as Playful Prayer, is a guide to creating flow in your creative work and building intuitive artmaking skills. In 2012, the book was awarded a Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal as the best book of the year on Creative Process. Bridget Benton holds a BA in Studio Art and an MS in Creative Studies.

Bridget currently lives in Asheville, NC. She is a resident artist and the lead encaustic instructor at 310 Art in the historic River Arts District. You can see more of her work online at www.BridgetBentonArt.com, and on Instagram @BridgetBentonArtist.

Laura Sheridan

Painting

Tori Motyl

Pottery

For the month of May, local watercolorist Laura Sheridan and local potter Tori Motyl will be featured in the FW Gallery at Woolworth Walk.

Laura Sheridan’s current preferred medium is watercolor painting. “I love the way watercolors dance and play together on paper. You really can’t control the final outcome; it forces you to let go and be surprised, sort of like life.” Her focus with watercolor is to capture the complexity of seemingly simple subjects with balancing light and dark using vibrant colors— the inside of a tomato, the curve of a stem, the multiple values of just one leaf. After working in the corporate world in her 20’s in Atlanta, GA, Laura returned to school to follow her dream of becoming a visual artist, graduating with a BFA in Drawing and Painting from University of Georgia, Athens. Often described as a colorist, Laura began her art journey as a figurative oil painter inspired by the works of Lucian Freud, Alice Neal, Georgia O’Keefe and Vincent van Gogh. After art school, she moved to Santa Fe, NM to pursue her love of art, adventure and nature, primarily trees. There she hiked the area, sketching, painting and exhibiting her large oil paintings, the trees of the Southwest. “Trees have a similar engaging energy as the human form and I am so drawn to their beauty and grace.” She also started a series of humorous cat art, selling to gift shops across the country. Moving to Asheville in 2008, she works from her home in West Asheville in the “tree house”, the upstairs art studio. A beautiful maple tree is at the base of the stairs; “I have to duck under the branches to walk up to the entrance. My studio is a purposefully magical space. Surrounded by twinkle lights, I sit at my drafting table in front of the north facing windows. While working, I can look outside through the high tree branches at the mountain views. I immediately relax into an altered state of peace and joy. It’s my place to retreat from the complications of life and the obligations of house and chores. It’s a place where I am only an artist and where I can create from the quiet connection of nature, my thoughts and my heart.” 

Tori loves making functional, minimalist forms with bright, saturated colors. She starts with a commercial stoneware which gives her pieces a smooth, white canvas to work on. Next, she mixes up happy colors and has fun painting whatever patterns feel right at the time. Once out of the kiln, the pieces are not finished until they are purchased. Only when they are off to their new home, full of joy and vibrancy, is the process complete.