Behind the Canvas:
Meet the Artist
Dian Martin Benson (1935-2015) was a mother, grandmother, teacher, and lifelong abstract artist.
She captured her perspective through paint on canvas using light, darkness, and texture in her unique vision.
“finding a visual vocabulary for this inner world has been both a passion and a tyranny”
The Early Years
Dian was born and raised in Michigan where she graduated with a major in English and Education from the University of Michigan. Her large-scale paintings often reflect the colors and textures of the lakes, fields and woods she loved as a child. “I read a book a day during summer vacation, often perched in a tree or anchored in our rowboat on the lake.”
The work is shaped by her lifelong interest in literature, and is always interpreted from her non-subjective perspective.
“I must have been born an abstract artist. In junior high school our art teacher asked us to paint a still-life. I ‘interpreted’ it; she was livid. That was when I became a closet artist. I painted like crazy, but put it away.
In my twenties I began to take evening art classes and found it was OK to be abstract.
Frankly, I am still sensitive about showing my work. I am learning to overcome my fear.”
The Art Teacher
While raising three boys, Dian continued to take drawing and painting classes. In the 1970s she studied under Mitchell Jamieson at the University of Maryland, graduating with a Fine Arts Degree and attending Graduate School in Studio Art until the family’s move to Massachusetts in 1975. It was then that she opened her studio to a few private students. In 1977 she began teaching painting at Phillips Exeter Academy where she remained until 1986.
“That was a time of great adventure for me. I loved sharing whatever I was learning at the moment with my students. We supported one another. For me art is a way of living my life, not just the time I spend in my studio.”
Dian showed her paintings in several shows while teaching at Phillips Exeter Academy.
During the summer of 1985 Dian taught a workshop in which meditation and silence were an important part of the art experience.
“My work has changed so much lately, the size, the medium, the color. I have been making collage, a medium that suits my interest in color and texture. Change can create anxiety, but I have learned to embrace change; much as I loved the changes of season as a child. After all, my work is nothing but a continuous redefinition of the life I am living.”
As an artist and a teacher, a parent and a wife, Dian balanced living in two worlds: the practical, material outer world and the inner world of the dreamer and the spirit, which motivated her art.
“For many years, finding a visual vocabulary for this inner world has been both a passion and a tyranny. For me, color, light and texture are the elements that have made this expression possible. It is my hope that others find a meditative quality in the work allowing them access to a spiritual place.”
Get in Touch
For inquiries about exhibition, auction, or private purchase, please use the form provided and we’ll get back to you shortly.
You may also email us at info@dianmartinbenson.com