South Shore artist Marla Benton shows a body of work inspired by her young daughter who started celebrating everything and anything, all the time. Benton described these celebrations as “a beautiful ritual to take on as an adult”. She started to look at life with a twist of a little girl’s perspective then began making ceramic cupcakes, which lead to cake slices and then to full cakes, without forgetting stands, platters and trays to accompany. Celebrate!!! is a charming, touchable collection of Marla Benton’s ceramic treats. It runs from July 6 – 27 in the Corridor Gallery.

About the medium and the work on view, Benton explains:
Clay is an art form that allows for function and sculpture to mix or be completely separate.  My style varies from project to project, depending on context and purpose; pushing the boundaries of sensibility leads me from pure function, to functional decoration, to pieces that are purely decorative.  I see my work in the middle of the world of art and the world of craft.  Not wanting to commit to either one completely, either set of standards, or their theories, I consider myself a combination of the two.

Within my work, the different concepts of scale, ergonomics, gravity, graphic texture, theories of art and craft, travel and a child’s perspective all play important roles in the form, surface design and placement of my work.  The cupcakes, cake slices and cakes are all sculptures with a small functional aspect to them. The cupcakes and slices hold candles which you can light, blow out and use over and over again. The full cakes lift up and have a small storage container under them.

When people see and handle my pieces in Celebrate!!!, I want them to love the feel of the clay and glazes, admire the beauty in the forms themselves and think about what they could celebrate in their lives. I encourage celebrating people, friends, events, dates and love.

Marla Benton is a clay artist. Through all her experiences, she has been exposed to many different materials.  She found that clay was a perfect fit for her as she loves to be practical and fanciful at the same time.  Benton earned her education through the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, the Ontario College of Art and Design (BFA) and Nipissing University (BED).  As an artist she has exhibited her work nationally, across the country from coast to coast and internationally, reaching such unique destinations as Nuuk, Greenland.  Her work has been published in the USA in American Craft and within Canada, in Studio Magazine, the Canmore Leader, Yukon Arts Magazine to the Chronicle Herald.  Benton has over 15 years of teaching experience and is presently an Art Instructor at the Chester Art Centre and the Lunenburg School of the Arts, while she continues her own studio work in Mahone Bay.

To see some of her work, please check out her website and Instagram page:
www.marlabenton.com
www.instagram.com/marla.benton/

Located inside the Visual Arts Nova Scotia office at the Halifax Seaport since 2000, the Corridor Gallery is complimented by a historical legacy of Nova Scotia culture, simple yet modern architectural elements and an array of current cultural activity in the Cultural Federations of Nova Scotia office. The Corridor Gallery is located at 1113 Marginal Road, Halifax, Nova Scotia and is open Monday through Friday, 9:30am – 5pm.

Visual Arts Nova Scotia advances the visual arts through leadership, education, and communication.

High resolution image for press available via Dropbox.

For further information regarding the exhibition please contact:

Carri MacKay
Programming Coordinator
902.423.4694 | 1.866.225.8267 | f: 902.422.0881
vans@visualarts.ns.ca | www.visualarts.ns.ca