|Woodturner of the Week: Roger BENNETT
Bennett’s bowls in the PORTFOLIO @ Solomon gallery venue on opening night
PORTFOLIO: BASKETRY & WOODTURNING 4 - 26 Sep
"I love wood, the uniqueness of each piece, the history of the tree’s life preserved in the ring patterns and figuring. I delight in the daily interaction between maker and material, the magic of shaping, turning argument into conversation.”
I dream of making a bowl as strong as an eggshell, as heavy as a whisper. Of capturing and fixing my favourite colours – drake mallard green, oil on water, midnight in midsummer, frosty night skies.
Roger Bennett, Indigo Bowl #2, coloured sycamore bowl (indigo), inlaid with silver dots in a spiral pattern
And with silver I can indulge my love of order, imposing my markings on the wood’s surface, complementing the natural flows and eddies of the grain with my precise patterns of dots.
Roger Bennett, Grey Bowl, coloured sycamore bowl (grey), inlaid with silver dots in a plume like pattern
“A completed bowl should satisfy all our senses. Line and form above all else, traced by eye and hand, from rim to base and all around. The smell of wood and oil. And whenever a bowl is right, it sings."
National Museum of Ireland
Crafts Council of Ireland
Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland
Office of Public Works, Ireland
Honolulu Museum of Art, Hawaii, USA
Columbus State University, Georgia, USA
Mobile Museum of Art, Alabama, USA
Roger Bennett, Blue Bowl, coloured sycamore bowl (blue), inlaid with 6 undulating lines of silver dots
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND AWARDS SINCE 2007
2014 Is it wood?, Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales
Bravura, Blue Egg Gallery, Wexford
2013-14 Irish Craft Portfolio at RHA, Dublin
2012 Crafts Council Purchase Award, RDS National Crafts
My Place, Bluecoat Display Centre, Liverpool
Vessels, Cill Rialaig Arts Centre, Co. Kerry
2011 Solo Exhibition, Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh
Conversations with Wood, Minneapolis Institute of Arts
2005-13 Irish Craft Portfolio selection
2009 Contemporary Craft Fair, Bovey Tracey, Devon
2008, 2010-12 CraftBoston, International Invited Artist
2007-11 Small Treasures, del Mano Gallery, Los Angeles
Roger Bennett, Indigo Bowl #1, coloured sycamore bowl (indigo), central well inlaid with silver dots in a controlled random pattern
Roger Bennett, Green Bowl, coloured cherry bowl (green), inlaid with 6 undulating lines of silver dots
Opening night for Roger Bennett at PORTFOLIO @ Solomon