CARLA BENGTSON

Artist Statement

These paintings have evolved their current forms within a painterly eco-system that embraces natural and cultural influences, that confounds abstract minimalistic tendencies with glimpses of sky and water, and that inititates a dialogue between my experiences in nature and my experiences in the white cubes that we call galleries and the flat rectangles that we call paintings. Mine is the story of a frontal collision between the sterile, already exhausted world of 80s abstraction and the overwhelming sensory stimulation of time spent on my feet, at times on my back, and sometimes on my knees in places as near at hand as the pavement in my driveway and as far away as ceiba trees in the Amazonian basin. In these paintings I attempt to link sensory, immersive experience with self-referential awareness. I seek openness along with criticality – an invitation to wander in the “stuff” of painting, as one might wander in the landscape, and a reminder that all is not contained within the frame.

Education

1983 M.F.A., Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut

1979, 1980 Whitney Independent Study Program, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York

1979 B.F.A., Tyler School of Art, Jenkintown, Pennsylvania

Selected Exhibitions

January 2008 Convergence, Solo exhibition, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2006  Green, Sloan Miyasato/Michelle Bello Fine Art, San Francisco. CA
13th Anniversary Exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY

2005  Latitude Zero Paintings, Solo exhibition, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento, CA
New, JayJAy Gallery, Sacramento, California
Abstraction and Landscape, RKL Gallery, Brooklyn, NY

2003  Oregon Biennial 2003, Portland Art Museum, Portland, OR
Carla Bengtson, Ovals, Solo exhibition, JayJay Gallery, Sacramento, CA

2002  Rupert Lydell/Carla Bengtson, Gallery W, Sacramento, CA

2001  Recent Work, Solo exhibition, 204 Gallery, Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

2000  Ovali, Solo exhibition, Dante Allegheri Gallery, Florence, Italy

2000 - 2003 Abstraction: The Power of Memory, traveling exhibition to 15 museums, galleries and exhibition spaces in US

1999  Carla Bengtson, New Paintings, Solo exhibition, Quartersaw Gallery, Portland, OR
Carla Bengtson, Solo exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY
ANA 28, Holter Museum of Art, Helena, MO

1998  Arts on the River, Savannah College of Art and Design Savannah, Georgia

1997  Carla Bengtson, New Paintings, Solo exhibition, Quartersaw Gallery, Portland, OR
Carla Bengtson, Reflections, Solo exhibition, O'Connor Gallery, Dominican University, River Forest, IL
Carla Bengtson, Reflections II, Solo Exhibition, The Salon, Maison Francais, Assumption College, Worcester, MA
15th Annual Group Exhibition, Pleides Gallery, New York, NY

1996  Carla Bengtson, Painting from a Distance, Solo exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY

1995  Invitational Exhibition, Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletown, CT
The Connecticut Open, Real Art Ways, Hartford, CT
Art for Artspace, Artspace, New Haven, CT

1994  Carla Bengtson, Recent Work, Solo exhibition, Smith College, Hillyer Hall Gallery, Northampton, MA
Recent Work, Zilkha Gallery, Wesleyan University, Middletwon, CT

1993  Carla Bengtson, Paintings, Solo exhibition, The Painting Center, New York, NY

Selected Academic Positions

1995-present Associate Professor of Art, Painting, Department of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

1994, 1995 Visiting Lecturer in Yale College, Yale University, New Haven, CT

1989-1994 Instructor, Department of Art, Connecticut College, New London, CT

1989-1994 Visiting Faculty, Graduate Liberal Studies Program, Wesleyan University, Middletwon, CT

1988, 1989 Instructor in Art, Department of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT

Curatorial Experience

1995-1996 Head Curator, John Slade Ely House, Center for Contemporary Art, New Haven, CT, curated multiple solo and group exhibitions of work by contemporary artists from New England

2006  “Contemporary Artists from the Netherlands” Co-Curated exhibition consisting of works on paper by 21 well-known and emerging contemporary artists from the Netherlands, with Toon Verhoef, traveled to Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College, in addition to the JSMA, UO

Selected Bibliography

2007  Cephalatus atratus, cover for Environmental Philosophy, Journal of the International Association for Environmental Philosophy, Fall 2007

2005  “Critic’s Pick”, Victoria Dalkey, The Sacramento Bee, September 25, 2005
“Yesterday and tomorrow”, Saunthy Nicolson-Singh, The Sacramento News and Review, September 8, 2005

2003  “Art of small things”, Bob Keefer, The Register-Guard, July 13, 2003
“Oregon Biennial,” D.K. Row, The Oregonian, March 3, 2003
“2003 Oregon Biennial”, Exhibition Catalogue, Portland Art Museum
“Carla Bengtson and David Wetzl”, Debra Koppman, Artweek, March 2003

1999  ANA 28, Peter Plagens, catalogue essay, Holter Museum of Art

1997  “Prejudging the 15th Annual Juried Exhibition at Pleides Gallery”, Sean Simon, Artspeak Magazine, June/July 1997

1996  “How Funny is the Human Body?”, William Zimmer, The New York Times, January 28, 1996

1995  “RAW Talent, Raw Energy”, Patricia Rosoff, Hartford Advocate, May 22, 1995
“New Haven Artists’ Show at John Slade Ely House”, Antiques and the Arts Weekly, October 28, 1994

1994  “5 Galleries Show Their Best in Hartford”, William Zimmer, The New York Times, May 18, 1986

Honors and Awards

2003  A&AA Yeon Faculty Research Award, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

2001  Gunilla K. Finrow Faculty Research Award, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR

1998  Juror’s Award, 3rd National Juried Exhibition, Ceres Gallery, New York New York, Jacquelyn Serwer, Chief Curator, National Museum of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Juror

1997  Summer Research Award, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

1996  New Faculty Award, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon

1994  National Endowment for the Arts Individual Grant to Artists, Regional Award, Connecticut