In early childhood, Dr. Benyshek lived in a farmhouse amidst a Czech immigrant community in Kansas. She earned a BFA from Wichita State University, an MFA from University of Washington, and later completed an MA and PhD in psychology at Saybrook University, San Francisco. Benyshek attended Pilchuck Glass School on a full scholarship. She was awarded artist-in-residence grants by the Ucross Foundation and OpenStudios. For 15 years, she taught visual arts and dance in the Native villages of the Alaskan bush. Far from the contemporary art scene, she discovered her unique artistic voice. When she returned to Seattle, she modeled for I. Magnin's.
“I make art as an act of service. In 2018, a South Korean shaman, master of one thousand spirits, led me through a traditional initiation ritual. When creating, I invite nature spirits to guide me, further inspired by my ancestors, science, folk art, animism, and transpersonal psychology.” Benyshek’s published research focuses on contemporary artists as shamans, with publications in the USA, Europe, and China. Her research methods inform her studio practice.
“While writing an anthology chapter, I asked how to physically represent, in art, my experience of inspirited nature. This led to the series of symmetric, organic abstractions. I integrate traditional and contemporary art media, in an iterative process that circles through love, caregiving, gardening, painting, photography, collage, printmaking, ritual garment design, and then, back around to drawing and painting.”
Using heightened color, intuitive combinations, and reverie-provoking discontinuous space, her visionary art provides the viewer with access to nonlinear time and the eternal cycle of life.
Her artworks were included in group exhibits at the Bellevue Museum of Art, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Yakima Valley Art Museum, Coos Bay Museum, Museum of Northwest Art, and Daum Museum of Contemporary Art, with solo exhibits in Seattle, Washington, Portland, Oregon, Sun Valley, Idaho, Santa Fe, New Mexico, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Anchorage, Alaska, and Wichita, Kansas. Dr. Benyshek’s work is in the public art collections of the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, King County Ethnic Heritage Collection, Glass Museum of Ebeltoft, Denmark, and Snoqualmie Point Park. She recently exhibited at the Women in Art Biennale London and will soon exhibit her artwork at the Affordable Art Fair Stockholm, Spiritualism II, Con/Temporary Spaces, Torino, Italy, and Sea to Shining Sea, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art.
For 25 years, Benyshek lived in the Cascade Mountains. She recently returned to Kansas with her son. Dr. Benyshek is currently preparing for a major solo exhibit at MARK Arts, a regional art center located in Wichita, Kansas.
