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Bennett wins State Fair award
By Tom Chace

Paul Alan Bennett, Sisters artist, holds a poster of his Oregon State Fair award-winning painting, "Winter Madonna." photo by Tom Chace

Put Paul Alan Bennett and Paul Gauguin together and you get an award-winning painting.

A Bennett painting earned first place honors in the fine arts Professional class at the Oregon State Fair in Salem, which ended September 1.

Entitled "Winter Madonna," the painting depicts a female skier with darkened goggles and child, both dressed in colorful winter clothing and mitts surrounded by a blackened sky of stars and planets ... or are they snowflakes?

"I have always liked the work of Paul Gauguin," Bennett said, "and among my favorite of his works is the 'Woman with Mango.' I liken it to a Madonna and child, the way Gauguin's woman looks, like a Tahitian Madonna.

"The original was in the Baltimore Museum of Art, near the Baltimore Art School where I taught art to children and studied myself. As I was creating ('inventing' is almost a better word) the idea for Winter Madonna, I thought of a Winterfest, a sort of community."

Bennett gets an image from a story or from history, especially Greek mythology, and develops that idea into a piece of art. But he puts a modern or contemporary touch to his work, making it unique.

Greece is one of Bennett's favorite places. He taught at the University of LaVerne in Athens, where he studied for half a dozen years and received his master's degree.

His "Icarus on the Metolius" derives from Greek mythology and has a contemporary -- and local -- twist.

For "Winter Madonna," Bennett evolved an idea of community.

"What is the symbol of community? I asked myself. And that brought me to the idea of family and from there to the Madonna and child," he said.

Bennett, who has painted literally thousands of pieces, as many as 20 in one week when teaching art literacy at Sisters Elementary School, said that all these thoughts came together and he created his "Winter Madonna."

He used Gauguin's Tahitian woman as the dark skinned model and his own son, Parker, as the face of the pale, white skinned child.

"And I added traditional ski poles," he said. "I wanted the feeling of a glass vase with the colors swirling within and then added a couple of mountains for the winter effect. I think they are Broken Top and Bachelor. I also wanted to put in the idea of Greek pottery with the colors and cubic outlines."

Bennett paints with a variety of mediums. Gouache is one of his favorites.

"It is a watercolor, but not transparent as most think of that medium, but more opaque with white added making it similar to tempura."

He also works with acrylics and oils.

He might be able to finish a painting in as little as 15 hours, "or take 200 hours or more," he said, "depending on how the ideas all come together and the picture takes shape."

Todd and Myrna Dow, owners of High Desert Gallery on Elm Street across from the Sisters Area Chamber of Commerce Visitors Center, are the agents for Bennett's work.

His "Icarus on the Metolius" is currently hung there along with a number of his other original works, prints and cards.

Bennett was instrumental in forming the Art Literary Program for Sisters schools.

He endeavors to have five other local artists tell and show art in all forms to elementary age children during the school year.

Myrna Dow is actively involved in this school-age program as well.

For a number of years Bennett taught art history at COCC in Bend.

He will offer a class in Sisters on November 1, in conjunction with COCC, on "creating huge, bright tempera paintings on paper -- a portrait, an abstract or a still life," he said.

The cost is $41 for the Saturday course and registration is required through COCC.

For more information call 388-7270.

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