Benton Artwork In Two-Day Hampton Court Showcase

RIDGEFIELD — Hampton Court Interiors will be showcasing a group of diverse artworks by the internationally acclaimed artist Suzanne Benton on Saturday and Sunday, September 16 and 17, at 390 Main Street. The works will bring together several periods of Ms Benton’s exceptional art. The artist — a sculptor, mask performer and printmaker — will be present on both days from 1:30 to 3:30 pm to welcome and speak with the public.

The artworks featured in the front windows of Hampton Court will include two of Ms Benton’s copper coated welded steel seated sculptures from Viveca Lindfor’s successful one-woman play, I am a Woman; a welded steel mask called “The African Queen,” created by the artist in Tanzania; and the mixed media sculpture “Ireland Secret Future Work,” that reflects her Irish experience.

Blackbirds are a recurring element in Ms Benton’s recent work and are represented in two vivid mixed media wall pieces created in Spain, “Call of Spring” and “Even the Birds Took Fright.”  Searching the rich surfaces of “Voice,” the viewer will find another signature blackbird as well as a portrait of one of Susan B. Anthony’s “nieces.” This monoprint with Chine colle is from the artist’s ongoing 19th Century Americana series.

Suzanne Benton has shared her many-faceted art for 30 years in 28 countries. A Ridgefield resident for 35 years, she is also a trans-culturalist. As such, her venues extend beyond New York City’s art world to villages in remote parts of Africa, India and Nepal, and to philosophy and education portals from Calcutta to Cambridge.

Over the past five years she has worked throughout South Asia, Bulgaria and Bosnia. Returning to her Ridgefield home/studio from an artist residency in Spain and at Harvard University in 1997, she became one of the first Weir Farm Trust resident artists at Weir Farm National Historic Site in Wilton. She also curated the 1999 exhibition, “Facing East, Asian Masks and artists inspired by them” for Hammond Museum in North Salem, N.Y.

For further information contact gallery owner Linda Maine at 203/438-6300.