Teresa Benjamin was born in Iowa, and moved to Lancaster, Pennsylvania with her family when she was eight. Her creativity was originally nurtured by her father starting at about four years of age; he would come home from the office with gifts of paper and pencils for her to sketch. Making her feel quite special, he would take her "masterpieces" to the office and tell her how impressed all of his coworkers were by her abilities. Her father was an artist of sorts, being a mechanical engineer, but was very busy supporting six children and building experimental airplanes on the side. Now and then, though, he would gather his watercolors and take her along as he sat in the grass painting local fields and barns while she watched in awe. She knew then that she wanted to be an artist.
When she was five, Teresa's father took her to a local school for an art class, but to their great disappointment, the class was full and no amount of bribing on dad's part helped. That, unfortunately, was the end of Teresa's extracurricular art study until much later in her life.
During kindergarten testing, one of the measurements of intelligence and readiness at that time was the task of drawing a person. Teresa's score on that sketch was above average, and forever after, she has loved to include people in her works. In grade school, her favorite class was art; she would rather stay in and work on art projects than do anything else, including recess.
Teresa's formal education led to a college degree in accounting, creative indeed, but not very fulfilling to her. Through the years, she sketched frequently and occasionally painted a piece that would reinforce to her that she was still meant to be an artist deep inside. When her children were teens, she began studio classes with Neilson Carlin, an accomplished artist in Chadd's Ford whose lessons included agonizing attention to detail in drawing and color theory. She sketched casts, did value studies, measured and compared, painted from live models, and knew that she was on her way.
Upon moving to Naples, Florida, her daughters then in college, and with lots of free time, Teresa browsed local and national galleries, visited the art shows in town, and became friends with many in the art community. She finally became brave enough to venture out on a workshop to Italy and upon her return started painting in earnest the wonders that she had seen in her travels.
At this point, Teresa continues to enjoy workshops, studies with Marco Bronzini and fellow artists, and is excited about beginning to experiment with paintings that are less representational and more suggestive. Balancing maintaining a social life and showing up at the easel is always a struggle for her, but she is very happy that she is finally doing what she knew that she wanted to do when she was five years old!
Teresa is an associate member of Oil Painters of America, and a member of the Naples Art Association, the Bonita Springs Art Center, and the United Arts Council. She paints in the Third on Canvas wet paint charity event in Naples. Her work can be seen in her home in Naples, and is also in private collections in Florida, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, New Mexico, New York, California and France.
Please call or email her about availability or prices of paintings, or for questions about commissions.
Exhibits and Awards:
May 2014 Collier County Library Friends of the Library Exhibit featuring "Stay in May, Italy" paintings
Von Liebig Member Gallery Small Works Show 2015 - Technical Achievement award
Fine Art Studio Online BoldBrush Contest - Top 15 percent popularity recognition for entry
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