Jennifer Bentson

Glendale, CA, United States

Statement

Art has called to me as my expression of the things I perceive but cannot say. At first when I climbed the Catalinas in Tucson or the Rockies in Colorado, I sat on precipices, and gazed over the trees and rocks; my painting was a substitute for the camera I could not afford. Soon I found a meditative state in my visage, seeing not only the rocks and trees but other things. This was the birth of my connection with nature. Over 40 years ago, looking and using my eyes to fondle the landscape became my mantra for future paintings. The process of painting while backpacking limited me to watercolors. These were easy to carry, use, and light. So watercolor became my medium of choice out of necessity. I’ve improved my techniques, and find watercolors offer that piece of uncontrollable mystery that makes a painting unique. I inadvertently put the horse before the cart with my training in art. Raised in a family of purpose driven people, career choices had to do with earning money and not expression of artistic ideas.

On the weekends, art was my release, my place of respite. Why do artists create? I can answer with another question: what is creativity? But the essence of all of us, for me it is the string that lingers inside our communications, it sparks the mind from the hum drum of churning. Art can be a little bump that makes you feel the road.

My project, “California Oaks as Art”, is an artistic expression of the beauty of the oaks, and a historical, environmental catalog of their stories. Yes, there goes that goal driven orientation. Yet on a deeper level the oak tree of California, although one of the most common trees, it is also one that is very unique to its climate. It is everywhere, and even in some places considered a weed. It pops up and takes root and before you know it, those leathery leaves are all over your yard. Common but not so common. This project has taught me so very much about the California natives. We study Indians and early people of California, but not much is known about its early oaks and current oaks. Like my backcountry experiences in the Desserts of Arizona, and the mountains of California, there is a richness of nature that cannot be described in words. One quote I like about nature and the new generations, is that how can you expect someone to care about nature, if they have never experienced it? To describe sleeping under the stars, hearing the wind through the pines, smelling the morning dew of a meadow, tasting the clear clean water from a spring, and sitting under an oak, are all sensual and transient. Understanding the role oaks have played in history, in ecology, and their uniqueness is one of the goals of my art project. On one level, I want the audience to walk away and say, I never knew this about the oaks, I think I’ll take another look at the oak in my yard, I want to visit this oak, or on another level; although I am one of many like the oak, I have a unique story, nature is a common denominator, under the surface there is more, the roots of each being are what make them unique.

My project has stimulated conversation both in writing and in conversation. I have had an article in the California Poppy, a publication of all the California Garden Clubs. The President has contacted me and asked for a follow up article on the oaks and their stories. I have presented a short slide show to the Los Angeles District Arboretum in Arcadia. This exhibit has been shown in Thousand Oaks Community Gallery and received a lot of positive responses. I have even been commissioned to paint a significant oak tree at Caltech. The grand Engelmann Oak is fading and I was commissioned by Caltech to paint it as a memory of how it once grew. This painting is now on display at California Institute of Technology.

My paintings themselves represent my journey through painting and expression. I have found some of the oak trees are quite plain and have decided to use an unusual technique such as Chinese Brush Painting to make the tree more interesting. As in the case of the 13,000 year old Palmer Oak, it is a low growing scrub oak, which is far more interesting when I painted it using Chinese Xuan Paper, Chinese Brushes, and Chinese Paint. This painting has won many awards which leads me to believe that the medium helps to spark the interest in the subject. I use watercolors which are my first love for most of the works, sketches, and preliminary paintings. I have created oils from the watercolor studies which are in this exhibition.

My style of painting is what I call environmental impressionism. There is an overt goal to encourage appreciation and knowledge of California’s Oak Trees, and there is a subliminal goal to see the limbs of the oak as we see the limbs of our own bodies. And how can you not love your own limbs.

Biography

Jennifer Bentson

3181 Linda Vista Road, Glendale, CA 91206

Cell (818) 243-5405

Email: jb@jenniferbentson.com

Web: www.jenniferbentson.com

Mediums:

Watercolor, Oil, Sketch - Charcoal, Pencil, and Pastel, Print, Chinese Brush Painting.

Commissions

California Technical Institute, Engelmann Oak, 2011

State of California, Air Resources Board, 2004

Publications

Six Visions, Wapshott Press

Storylandia, Wapshott Press, Cover 2013

Erotique, Wapshott Press Cover 2013

Chevy Chase Garden Cub, Member’s Directory, 2012

California State Garden Clubs, California Poppy, 2012

Current Correspondent for Art Quench Magazine, www.artquenchmagazine.com

Exhibits:

Chevy Chase Country Club – Solo Show 2009

Highland Taffy Art Assn., Summer Art Shows 2009, 2010, 2011

Brand Library, Glendale, CA , 2010

Modern Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA, March, 2010

Descanso Gardens Art Gallery, La Canada, CA 1995, 1996

Montrose Art Walk – 2010, 2011

Bluebird House Art Gallery, Juried 2010

California State Air Resources Board, 2000-2010

The Advocate Gallery, 12-6- 2010 to 1-20-2011, Hollywood, CA

Segil Fine Art Gallery, Juried 2011, 2012

North Hollywood Performing Arts Center, Juried 2011

Gallery 800, Juried 2011, Juried 2012 winner of watercolor award. Juried 2013

Bonham and Butterfields 2011, APLA Juried 2012. 2013, 2014, 2015

California Institute of Technology, Permanent Collection 2011- present

Thomas Payne Foundation, Juried 2012

GAA – Silverlake Citibank Gallery - Group Show 2012

White’s Gallery 2012 – ( Two Shows) Fall Salon and October Show

Huntington Gardens and Library – Juried Show, 2012

La Canada Library – 2013 April Show

Anzoh Gallery – GAA – June 2013 Show

Burbank Creative Arts Gallery – July 2013 – Winner 2nd place, Watercolor

Glendale Youth Alliance, Juried Show, Nov. 2013

Valley Visions, Juried Show, June 2014, Winner “First Place Watercolor”

Thousand Oaks Gallery, “California Oaks as Art” 27 pieces with interpretative information.

Theodore Payne Foundation, Juried Art Show, 2014

GAA, Juried Show, October 2014, Winner “Honorable Mention” Sculpture

Lark Gallery, Brea Show, 2014-5

Aquarium of the Pacific, 2014, One of 20 artists juried into show.

Aquarium of the Pacific, 2015, One of 23 artists juried into show

Glendale Youth Authority, Juried Show, 2015

Far Niente, Curator, Oct. 2014 to March 2015, over 40 pieces of art hung on a rotating schedule, combining the artwork of two organizations.

Glendale Area Loves Art, Curator, Spring Show, 2015

White’s Gallery, GAA Spring Show, Juried, Winner “Honorable Mention” Figurative 2015

Blick Art Store Gallery, Pasadena, May, 2015

Exhibitions Produced

2013, Love of Art, Gallery 800, 50 participants, 95 pieces of art, SFVAC

2013 Masters of SFVAC Exhibition, CSUN Gallery, May, 2012, 22 artists, 34 pieces of art

2013 Small is Beautiful, White’s Gallery, 31 artists, 76 pieces of art

2014 Theodore Payne Foundation, Paint Out and Subsequent Gallery Show, 22 artists

2014 Thousand Oaks Gallery, open call, 43 artists, 87 pieces

2014 Thousand Oaks Gallery, 6 Visions Show, 6 artists, 95 pieces of art, published catalog created featuring the artists.

2014-5 Far Niente Restaurant, Glendale, CA, negotiated management of the walls of art for the restaurant. New show every two months, since October, 2014

2015 GALA, Glendale Area Loves Art, As GAA President, I curated and organized this show in a short period of time.

2015 GAA, White's Gallery, Spring Salon, Winner Honorable Mention, Figurative

2015, Children's Network Art Auction, Juried

2015 Bonham's, Art Project Auction, Juried

Presentations on “California Oaks as Art” Project

Chevy Chase Garden Club – 2012

Los Angeles County Arboretum – 2013

Delegate to China representing SFVAC – September 2014

Education:

BA Education, University of Arizona

MS Post Graduate Coursework in Educational Psychology

Professional Art Courses