scott bennett |
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Scott received a Masters of Fine Art in Ceramics at Ohio State University in 1989. His sculpture has been exhibited in galleries and museums nationwide. He was a prototype designer for Bath and Body Works and White Barn Candle Company for 7 years, and has been working with clay for over 25 years. "My recent sculpture takes inspiration from various forms of jewelry such as rings, brooches, and pendants. I am intrigued by jewelry’s common inclusion of two separate materials—stone and metal. My work plays with that contrast in its juxtaposition of two violently dissimilar surface textures—the polished, shiny, and reflective versus the rough and pitted. I am infatuated with the interplay between the setting and the jewel. By interchanging form and surface, I pose an uncertainty as to which holds more importance—that which holds the object or that which is displayed. By constantly testing this distinction I seek to question the value we place on all material objects. The concepts of attraction, desire and obsession are paramount in my work. As much as its jewelry-like qualities are meant to reflect emotions such as greed, sexuality is referred to in various abstractions of body parts, referring to corporeal longing and lust. These sexual parts are displayed like jewels, as rare and precious objects of desire. My pieces emphasize the tension between the attractive beauty of an object and the corruptive power of lustful obsession with that object. The bulbous, organic forms of my work evoke a memory of the material’s history—a record of its past condition of malleability and plasticity. Recollection of the object’s former state is also apparent in the shiny, reflective surfaces, bringing to mind the fluidity of liquid metal. These aspects of my work, combined with the bubbly look of the glazes (which recalls the fact that at one time these materials were supremely hot) impart a plea for a particularly sensual response, calling to mind the beginning of things—the primitive, the wet, and the molten. Color plays a part in this fascination with the primordial, especially in combination with the texture imparted by my glazing technique. I place the green of mildew, molds, and mosses next to the fiery, lava-like blush of orange and red. My work expresses an enthrallment with the primitive: desire and instinct, the attraction and need for the sensual and the physical, our connection with the elemental." |
scott bennett |
Born 1962, Moundsville, West Virginia, Lives in Birmingham, Alabama, attended Glenville State College, West Virginia 1980-81, West Liberty State College, BS 1984, Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky, MA Ceramics 1986, and The Ohio State University, Ohio, MFA Ceramics 1989
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Selected Exhibitions 2007 Alabama Originals: Expanding Perspectives, Alabama Artist Gallery, Montgomery, AL The Grammar of Ornament, Sherrie Gallery, Columbus, OH Alabama: Nature, Industry, Art, Julie Collins Smith Museum, Auburn, AL NCECA Clay National, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft, Louisville, KY Bourbon Bottles in the Bluegrass, Louisville Stoneware, Louisville, KY National Juried Woodfired Exhibit, Thrown Together Clay Center, Louisville, KY 2006 Between Form and Function, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD Ohr Rising: Gulf States Juried Exhibition, Gulfport, MS Comtemporary Alabama, Alabama Council on the Arts Gallery, Montgomery, AL Just A Head: A Survey of Ceramic Heads, University of Montevallo, Montevallo, AL 100 Teapots, The Signature Shop and Gallery, Atlanta, GA 2005 Many Splendored Things, Red Dot Gallery, Birmingham, AL Blue Plate Special, Chester Springs Studio Gallery, Chester Springs, PA Visions In Clay, University of The Pacific, Stockton, CA Beyond Dolls, The Dairy Barn, Athens , OH 2004 Amaco/ NCECA exhibit, Indianapolis, IN Teapots a Go-Go 2, Mudfire Studios, Atlanta, GA 2003 Figures of Speech, The Ohio State University Mairon Campus, Marion, Ohio Wall Works, Baltimore Clayworks, Baltimore, MD 2002 Tastefully Tawdry, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA Our Cups Runneth Over, The Society of Arts and Crafts, Boston, MA Show Us Your Undies, OXOXO Gallery, Stone Harbor, NJ, Baltimore, MD Gemantics, Carnegie Art Center, Leavenworth, KS Humble Origins, Artspace/Lima, Lima, OH 2001 NCECA Clay National, Winthrop University Glalery, Rockhill, SC Baltimore 25, ACC Anniversary Exhibit, Baltimore, MD 2000 New Artists in Craft, Charles Wustum Museum of Art , Racine, WI Evolution of the Common Cup, Hall of Fine Arts Gallery, West Liberty, WV Earth and Mystic, Dublin Arts Council Gallery, Dublin, OH 1999 Pacific Tides, Lancaster, PA New Work: Julie Byrne, Scott Bennett, Waldo's, Columbus, OH 1991 NCECA Clay National, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 1989 Scott Bennett: Sculpture, Burke Gallery, Denison University, Granville, OH Art As Play, Pearl Conard Galery, Ohio State University-Mansfield, Mansfield, OH 1987 Works on Walls, Huntington Museum, Huntington, WV Works off Walls, Huntington Museum, Huntington, WV 1985 Works off Walls, Huntington Museum, Huntington, WV |
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Publications 2007 Image Transfers on Clay, Lark Books 2004 500 Cups, Lark Books 2003 Craft On Craft by Glen Brown, January Ceramics Monthly |
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pottery classes with scott bennett
for more information, call (205) 870-7608 or email scott@reddotgallery.com.
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Red Dot Gallery • 1001 Stuart Street • Birmingham, Alabama 35209 • Telephone (205) 870-7608
Gallery Owners: Dori DeCamillis and Scott Bennett. All images copyright Red Dot Gallery © 2005. |