2005 Year in Review

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Benson's artist's reception Sunday

An artist reception for John Benson will be held Oct. 23, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the River Arts Center, in downtown Clinton

Opened October 12 and showing through November 20 will be an exhibit of photography, paintings, and metal sculpture by students Amy Luskey of Clinton and John Benson of Morrison. The River Arts Center promotes art in many media by young people as well as experienced artists. A public reception for the artists will be held on Sunday, October 23, from 1-4 PM. Gallery and gift shop hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 1-4 PM.

Amy Luskey is a senior at Ashford University, majoring in Professional Accounting and with minors in Computer Graphic Design and Art Administration. She is a member of Alpha Tau Omega and Phi Beta Lambda and has held officer positions at both the local and state levels. Amy is employed by Big Brothers Big Sisters and serves as the treasurer of the Clinton Art Association. She is originally from Charlotte and graduated in 2001 from Northeast Community High School.

Amy’s photography adds diversity, color, and creativity to balance the black and white of accounting. She uses the digital format to keep her photos as close as possible to what she perceived while taking them. The theme of this exhibit is the beauty of landscapes, where she works with mood, shapes, lighting, and reflections. She hopes that viewers will experience the beauty of familiar places in a new way.

John Benson is a senior at Morrison High School who has had a life-long interest in art. His family owns the Morrison Machine Shop where his father taught him to weld. His grandfather, John Benson, has also exhibited his sculptures in the past for the Clinton Art Association. John began welding small animal sculptures, but now expresses himself in the abstract with scrap steel, paintings, and drawings, with his most recent works on exhibit in this show. He has created about sixty sculptures, with his largest about ten feet tall.

John also has an interest in art history and has a collection of over 45 art books. He plans to work toward a Bachelor of Fine Arts in college. He states, “I believe in the notion of the artist as a soulful dreamer whose work dares to capture the cosmos itself. As an artist, all I do is create a surface. This surface can reflect any sort of image and content to the viewer. Specifics of the content of my work are of little concern to me, for I do not wish to dictate the way people find meaning in my work.”

by Editor, theCity1.com
October 18, 2005