FEATURED ARTISTS AT THE FRANCIS
Bringing Portland’s Best to You
Portland has such a vibrant art community, and we’ve chosen to showcase some of the local talent here, in Maine, through a rotating gallery in common spaces at The Francis. Each exhibit will either feature an artist or subject from Maine.
MJ Benson
From an article on MaineToday.com:
“Benson describes her paintings as abstract land and seascapes. Most start and end with the horizon, though the horizon line is not always the most evident piece of the final image. Her inspiration comes from the ocean.
“I’m really looking at the personal manifestation of memory, mine and the viewers,” she said. “I love hearing about what people see in my work. I’m not afraid to play with tension between representation and non-representational. It’s about starting a conversation about how paintings evoke and create memories from the past, in the moment and toward the future.”
She wants her paintings to feel fluid with the ability to change within the mind’s eye, rather than feel specific about a time and place.
Benson grew up on the water in Cohasset, Massachusetts, and moved to Boston as a teenager. Moving to the city at that age opened her up to galleries, street performers and counter-culture. The fuse was lit. She’s been an artist most of her life.
She took photography courses in high school, studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and earned a bachelor of fine arts degree from Tufts University. She taught and practiced photography for many years and took up painting a few years ago. She has taken courses at Haystack Mountain School of Craft and Maine College of Art, and shown her paintings publicly since 2016.”