Woolworth Walk will highlight the encaustic and mixed media artwork of Bridget Benton in the FW Gallery through the month of April. Three media—photography, nature print and encaustic—form the material foundation for most of Benton’s work. “Working in layers, and media that support layering, allows traces of the journey from idea to final piece to be visible,” she says. “Artmaking for me is very much a process of discovery. And, this artmaking approach allows for surprising and spontaneous things to happen along the way.”
Time in a Bottle. Bridget Benton, artist
Benton holds a BA in Studio Art and an MS in Creative Studies. In 2012, she was awarded a Nautilus Book Award Gold Medal for her workshop-in-a-book, The Creative Conversation: ArtMaking as Playful Prayer. She is also a resident artist and the lead encaustic instructor at 310 Art in the historic River Arts District.
Benton has recently started a new series that explores alchemy, “or the seemingly magical transformation of something from one state to another,” she says. The series features prominent symbolism of change and growth like seeds, elixirs, potions and typewriters. “The pieces in this show are a mix of new work that’s exploring this theme and older work that I realized was connected,” Benton says. “There’s a lot of mystery in transformation. It is often an invisible and internal process. It takes time, and all that’s left once transformation is complete is a memory. Ideas of memory, the passage of time, internal realities and what is left behind are themes that show up in my work again and again.”
Woolworth Walk is located at 25 Haywood Street in downtown Asheville. Gallery hours are Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more information, call 828.254.9234 or visit WoolworthWalk.com.
