Carol Benson and Chris Powell combine for Shape of Place, a tour de force show at the Museum of East Texas this fall. Exhibit opens to the public on August 19. Closing reception on October 18 from 3 to 5 p.m. All are welcome!

"Tree Lines" Carol Benson

The Museum of East Texas is thrilled to bring Shape of Place, an exhibit featuring works by Carol Benson and Chris Powell to our main gallery this fall. Benson and Powell hail from Fort Worth, Texas. Here's a little more information about the artists and a preview of some of their works. Special thanks to Denise Davis for imagining and curating this exhibit for the Museum of East Texas.

Carol Benson

Biography

Born in Baytown, Texas, Carol Benson is a contemporary artist living in Fort Worth.   She

earned her MFA in painting and drawing from Texas Christian University, and also has undergraduate degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University and the University of North

Texas.  Carol has taught in public and private schools as well as TCU and the University of

Texas at Arlington.  She is currently a docent at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth.

Carol’s work has been exhibited in juried and invitational shows throughout Texas, the

Southern States, the Midwest, New Mexico, Wyoming, and New York State.  In 2016-17 she

lead a team of  artists in a public art project in Fort Worth to gauge citizens perception about

public art and projects in the city. The project was titled, Coming Home: Community

Conversations on Public Art.  Carol’s work is included in numerous public and private

collections, including, Tyler Museum of Art, Verizon, Neiman Marcus, Pacheco Koch (now

Westwood), Freeze Nichols, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co, and Moncrief Cancer Center.

Artist’s Statement

"My artwork combines painting, drawing and sculpture, and I like to reduce my subject to its

most basic form. Shape of Place gave me an opportunity to study  shapes in memorable

places and to present them in new ways, in various mediums. In Organic Shapes  I

configured post oak leaves in three jigsaw shapes  to represent a neighborhood, Post Oak

Forest, in central Texas where we had a home for several years. Corner Post is an image of a rock fence build under the historic Works Progress Administration program that surrounds a school yard in Chandler, Texas where I attended elementary school. Fourth and Jones is the location of what remains of a Methodist church, built in 1874, in downtown Fort Worth.  The Gothic shape of the windows  reminded me of folded wings so I made 'Wing Rack.'  Since then I have  continued to work with bird images from meaningful locations. My work invites viewers to look closely at familiar places and explore shapes in their own special spaces."

work by Chris Powell

Chris Powell

Biography

Chris Powell, Professor of Art at TCU, received his MFA in ceramics from Bradley University in 1983. A recipient of numerous public and private commissions for outdoor sculpture, Powell employs stone, clay, and other traditional materials in sometimes unexpected ways to explore the abstract shapes of plants, animals, and natural phenomena. Much of his work achieves a subtle balance between figurative and non-figurative art. His proficiency as a sculptor and ceramist imparts an air of timeless perfection to his deceptively simple exercises in pure form.

Powell has held several positions at Texas Christian University. He has taught classes in ceramics, sculpture, three-dimensional design, drawing, and graduate critique. His areas of interests include ancient firing techniques, collecting, and using found objects.

Artist Statement

"I was so excited as Carol, Denise, and I started talking about the possibility of this exhibition. Carol is from East Texas; I am from Southwest Arkansas. We both have strong ties to the land. As a child I made things out of clay from the creek below our house. Ten years ago, I returned to the hill above that creek, built a kiln from that clay, and fired works, some of which are in this show. Other pieces reference aspects of my childhood growing up on a ranch working alongside my parents and grandparents."