ARTIST BIOGRAPHY:

 

What is mystifying and humbling about the experience of painting is that the paintings themselves aren’t the reason for creating them.  Rather it’s the process – it’s being there, in the moment, wholly present.  It’s slowing down, emptying the mind of chatter, letting go of judgments, comparisons, and preoccupations.  It’s being fully observant, profoundly aware, open to surprises and wonderful accidents, especially in watercolor.  What is magical is that I can look at one of my paintings and I can relive that time at my easel – the colors, the sun, the reflections, the breeze, the cold, and I find myself surprised that my hand and brush created this image on a blank sheet of paper. 

 

I have long had an interest in art and began taking art classes in New York during the summer of 2001. On weekends and evenings I take classes in watercolor, drawing, and pastel at the National Academy of Design School and the Arts Students League, and I participate in workshops in and around the city. I have studied with and been inspired by Ellen Eagle, Jane Goldman, John Goodrich, Michael Leigh, Nicki Orbach, Elizabeth O’Reilly, Ephraim Rubenstein, Wendy Shalen, and Kamilla Talbot.

 

I have retired from teaching mathematics, and at times serving in administrative roles, for over forty years.  At a time in the late 1980s when short seminars were offered to seniors at Trinity School, I taught a small group to make hand-and-rod puppets and to create a play for a performance at a street fair.  I also conducted professional workshops, published articles, and am currently a co-editor of the column, Mathematics Lens, in the monthly Mathematics Teacher magazine.   I received a BA in mathematics from Earlham College, an MAT at Johns Hopkins, and have taken post-graduate courses at Teachers College.  I live in Manhattan and can be reached at bbentele@gmail.com.

 

AWARDS:

 

Colonel Michael Jacobs First Prize in the Figure Category, National Academy School of Fine Arts Juried Student Exhibition 2007

 

GALLERY SHOWS:

 

Prince Street Gallery National Juried Exhibition, 2018 and 2015;  National Academy Creative Mischief Exhibition, 2014;  Bowery Gallery’s Annual Juried Shows, 2013 and 2009;  Painting Governor’s Island, Building 408 Show, 2011;  Watercolors from the National Art School at Bronxville Public Library, 2010;  National Academy School of Fine Arts Juried Student Exhibitions, 2009, 2008, 2007;  The Heart and Soul Invitational Art Show, 2007; “On the Other Side” paintings at Southampton Inn, 2007;  Cork Gallery Exhibition, 2005