Pi Benio's solo exhibition, Earthbound, features recent work by the Michigan sculptor. Found objects such as driftwood and other organic materials are mixed with electronic parts like resistors and wires to create airy forms that reflect the sensitivity and fragility of life, while also evoking feelings of transformation, rebirth, and interconnectedness.
Did you miss Pi's gallery talk and tour at our Coffee@Ten, April 29? Watch the recorded video here.
Artist Statement
I am a collector, a hoarder of potential art materials- neat and organized.
I am a lifelong beach walker.
On the beach, my thoughts become most pure, unrestricted, and deep. My ears crowded with wave tumbled stones and weeping birds. The smell of wet sand air surrounds me and my eyes are filled with aquamarine and cerulean of the horizon.
Beaches strewn with the once verdant, growing and living are reshaped by sun, sand, wind, water and become my media. In bits of driftwood, I see anatomical hearts and winged beings. Those same branches, roots, and bark become arboreal arteries, pathways and passages- a metaphor for all life on earth.
About the Artist
Pi Benio received her MFA from Eastern Michigan University. Her work has been shown regionally, including a one-person exhibit at the Detroit Institute of Art, in Chicago, New York City, and Japan. She has completed residencies at Oxbow, Ragdale, the Women’s Studio Workshop, and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts. Pi was awarded multiple Individual Artists Grants from the State of Michigan in addition to Best of Show at the Toledo Area Artists Exhibition. She has also studied at Haystack, Penland, Arrowmont, and Anderson Ranch taking many workshops in media ranging from ceramics, fiber, woodworking, glass, papermaking, and sculpture. Her works span multiple media where she incorporates a plethora of techniques into installations that voice concern for the environment and the delicate nature of life. After a long teaching career at Adrian College she helped to found the Adrian Center for the Arts in 2015. A firm believer in the arts as a way to enhance community, she helped to also found the Lenawee Council for the Visual Arts in 1998 and the Artalicious Art Festival in 2006. She is still active with all three and serves as the Co-chair of visual arts for Artalicious and as the Programming Director for the Adrian Center for the Arts.
