Today we’d like to introduce you to Rebecca Bennett.
Hi Rebecca, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Welcome to the Austin art scene! I’ve had the pleasure to live here since 1997. Can now declare that I’m an Austinite. Art has been a lifelong passion. I began formal classes at age 11 and never stopped. I was inspired and mentored by the creative women in my family.
Paintings, quilts, fiber arts, and drawings filled our house. Creative endeavors were held in high esteem. How lucky I was to be taught to appreciate these things. I pursued a psychology major in college but always included studio art / art history into my curriculum. When I had an opportunity to spend a semester abroad in Florence, Italy studying art history, I jumped on it. I began to study art again in 1998 at the Contemporary Austin, Laguna Gloria campus in Austin, Texas. Years 1998-2002, I took life drawing and painting, impressionist painting, and fiber arts classes. In December of 2002, my husband and children gifted me a dedicated art studio space in a nearby warehouse. This sent me on my way to a year of solitary exploration and then onto a professional art career. Besides doing art, I love to seek out all the hiking trails, watering holes, and rivers that Central Texas has to offer.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The art business is a series of waves. Challenges arise when you are in either spike, up or down. The best way to navigate these waves is to recognize that we all experience them. When demand is low, play, play play. Explore new ways to do things or ideas to explore. Busy times require focus and productivity. Chin up. It’s a fun ride.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am primarily an oil painter, exploring the limits of abstract landscape. My work references color field, Mark Rothko, Barnett Newman, and others in the abstract expressionism genre.
From the images of these paintings, I have developed a “Meta” collection. The Meta collection is born of re-imagining my painting photographs in a way which transforms them into a new construct. These digitally manipulated images push forward and abstract the work to create a new form and concept. Cutting, reorganizing, and shaping the images uses them in a new way to create organic art forms.
Contact Info:
- Email: rebeccabennettartworks@gmail.com
- Website: www.rebeccabennettartworks.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rebeccabennettartworks/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rebeccabennettartworks
- Twitter: R_B_art
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTgkCRE-bTPKcWW45C7Ewbg
Image Credits
Rebecca Bennett
