Artist Statement
My endless curiosities carve diverging and reconverging paths which continue to defy simple categorization. Landscape painter? Fiber artist? Illustrator? Photographer? Assemblage and metal sculptor? Even during my career as a web and digital graphic designer in Silicon Valley, my CV opened with the description “radical generalist.” “What if…?” seeps into many portions of my creative process.
I enjoy learning traditional foundations, soon to watch myself run amok, blending disciplines and breaking boundaries, often including those literal edges of the art pieces themselves.
The natural world remains an endless source of wonder and wellbeing for me, and I feel almost remiss when not lending at least some creative eye or homage, daily, to nature’s endless treasures. My professional time as an outdoor guide along with my environmental academic background further enhance the dizzying fractal depths and simultaneous simplicities with which nature presents itself, everywhere. I humbly try to capture what too often feels inexpressible, as I build small, fleeting artifacts — love totems to what I see, feel, and wonder upon.
Bio
Lisa Benham was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, earning a BFA (Painting and Drawing concentration) along a with minor degrees in music and psychology. Before and after graduation, Lisa worked in several therapeutic recreation contexts, specializing in differently abled populations. Her roles ranged widely, from guiding various adaptive outdoor experiences to studio art instruction.
After raising a family and expanding her creative edges to work primarily as a digital artist in Silicon Valley for almost two decades, she returned to formal education, earning an MS degree in Environmental Studies, a certificate in GIS (think deep play with maps), and a certificate in Buddhist chaplaincy. Always seeming to meld her areas of interest in unexpected ways, she combined much of the above while working as a paid "eco-chaplain," teaching meditation, mindfulness, and ecological literacy in both San Quentin State Prison and Elmwood, the Santa Clara County Jail, before moving to Springdale, Utah in beautiful Zion Canyon in autumn of 2015.
With her recent and deepening return to the fine arts, she continues to reside and creatively thrive in this amazing canyon community, along with her amazing wife and two cats. Their co-founding and proprietorship of 2 Cranes Inn-Zion in neighboring Rockville provides yet another avenue where she can broadly share her love of place through creative offerings.
Education
2007 - 2014
San Jose State University
Master of Science degree in Environmental Studies
GIS certificate (Geographic Information Systems)
2011 - 2012
Sati Center for Buddhist Studies, Insight Meditation Center
Chaplaincy Training Program
1982 - 1989
San Jose State University
Bachelor of Fine Arts in Art (painting and drawing concentration)
Minor degree in Music (performance),
Minor degree in Psychology
Recent Awards
Dec 2023
2023 Festival of the Cranes Art Contest - Winner, Representative Artist
Bosque del Apache, New Mexico
Sept-Oct 2023
Saint George 2nd Annual Plein Air Festival
- 1st Place Winner-Mini category,
Art Provides Gallery and Studio, Saint George, Utah
Sept 2023
Electric Box Public Art Project - Juried Finalist
Springdale, Utah
Recent Exhibitions
Solo exhibitions
Mar-April 2024
Lisa Benham, solo exhibition
River Rock Roasting Company, La Verkin, Utah
Aug-Sept 2023
Lisa Benham- Oil, Fiber, Metal - A Very Mixed Media Exhibition
Canyon Community Center Gallery, Springdale, Utah
Group exhibitions
Nov 2023 - Jan 2024
Moving Light - Juried Participant
Art Provides Gallery and Studio, Saint George, Utah
Oct 2023
All About Art Showcase Event - Juried Participant
Veterans Park, Washington City, Utah
Sept-Nov 2023
Day of the Dead Exhibition - Juried Participant
Saint George Art Museum, Saint George, Utah
Sept-Oct 2023
Saint George 2nd Annual Plein Air Festival
Art Provides Gallery and Studio, Saint George, Utah
Apr 2023
1st Annual Zion Canyon Chalk & Earth Festival
Street painting exhibition
Zion Canyon Village, Springdale, Utah
Mar-May 2023
CSU Conservation Art Show and Silent Auction - Juried Fundraising Exhibition
Modern Farm and Artisan Co-op (MoFACo) St. George, Utah
Feb-Mar 2023
Canyon Kaleidoscope Art Show - Group Exhibition
Canyon Community Center Gallery, Springdale, Utah