Melding the animate and the inanimate in A.P.E. show

By Bob Dunn
Staff Writer

Published on July 27, 2007

There's an old adage that says, "Those who can't do, teach."

Those who subscribe to that notion haven't met Benjamin Sears, who does both.

Sears, 33, is the head of the Amherst Regional High School art department and a working artist, whose latest exhibit, "Core Samples," is on display at the A.P.E. Gallery in Thorne's Marketplace in Northampton.

The exhibit showcases a series of Sears' oil paintings that reflect his observations of connections between the human form, architecture and machinery - "The way that buildings and human beings both contain energy and have interiors and exteriors," he said.

He said he first observed those commonalities on a trip to Rome in 1996, his first time out of the U.S., where he was able to observe and examine the ancient architecture.

Everything and every space within buildings, machines and humans have functions and energies that Sears tries to communicate in his work.

Sears earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the Rhode Island School of Design and his master's from the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. He said that though formal art training was important for him, there are many "outsider artists" whose work he admires.

"It can be done without it," he said.

Sears has been teaching art since 1999, and joined the faculty of ARHS in 2005, first sharing department head duties and, beginning next school year, as the sole head.

He admits that being a full-time teacher and a working artist presents a challenge, especially at the high school level, where he doesn't have as much time off during the week to paint or draw as he did when he taught at the community college level. But he said that maintaining both disciplines is important. "Art fuels my teaching and teaching fuels my art," he said.

The biggest challenge, Sears said, was trying to ignore, or at least constructively use his own internal critic, which can easily discourage him if a particular piece isn't coming together as fast as he'd like or not taking shape in the way he envisioned.

"I just have to keep faith that I'm moving in the right direction," he said.

Another challenging aspect of creating a piece of art is knowing when it's complete. Sears said the best piece of advice he received on how to know when a piece was finished was, "If you can walk by your painting and it doesn't irritate you, it's probably done," he said. "That's the best you can do."

In addition to oil on canvas, Sears also works in pen-and-ink. His approach flexes different artistic "muscles" he said, but his technique, using thin brush strokes with oils and broader ink and water color strokes, make them similar disciplines, he said.

Discipline is something else that Sears tries to adhere to, devoting an hour to an hour and a half each day to work on his art, "more on a really good day," he said. "It's got to be something that's consistent."

He said that he knows of artists who work differently and will go for longer stretches without doing any work, then suddenly create something wonderful in a matter of a few days, "which really irritates me," Sears joked.

Sears said that he feels fortunate to be able to work and teach and create in an area that is so supportive of the arts. Still, "I dread going to my own openings," he said, but added that it was always good to see the people who know and care about him as well as his students and those who are seeing his work for the first time come out and support him.

"(Art) is meant to be in the world," Sears said. "If it's not put out into the world, you're not giving that gift that artists are supposed to give."

"Core Samples" is on display at the A.P.E. Gallery until July 31.

Another challenging aspect of creating a piece of art is knowing when it's complete. Sears said the best piece of advice he received on how to know when a piece was finished was, "If you can walk by your painting and it doesn't irritate you, it's probably done," he said. "That's the best you can do."

In addition to oil on canvas, Sears also works in pen-and-ink. His approach flexes different artistic "muscles" he said, but his technique, using thin brush strokes with oils and broader ink and water color strokes, make them similar disciplines, he said.

Discipline is something else that Sears tries to adhere to, devoting an hour to an hour and a half each day to work on his art, "more on a really good day," he said. "It's got to be something that's consistent."

He said that he knows of artists who work differently and will go for longer stretches without doing any work, then suddenly create something wonderful in a matter of a few days, "which really irritates me," Sears joked.

Sears said that he feels fortunate to be able to work and teach and create in an area that is so supportive of the arts. Still, "I dread going to my own openings," he said, but added that it was always good to see the people who know and care about him as well as his students and those who are seeing his work for the first time come out and support him.

"(Art) is meant to be in the world," Sears said. "If it's not put out into the world, you're not giving that gift that artists are supposed to give."

"Core Samples" is on display at the A.P.E. Gallery until July 31.

Another challenging aspect of creating a piece of art is knowing when it's complete. Sears said the best piece of advice he received on how to know when a piece was finished was, "If you can walk by your painting and it doesn't irritate you, it's probably done," he said. "That's the best you can do."

In addition to oil on canvas, Sears also works in pen-and-ink. His approach flexes different artistic "muscles" he said, but his technique, using thin brush strokes with oils and broader ink and water color strokes, make them similar disciplines, he said.

Discipline is something else that Sears tries to adhere to, devoting an hour to an hour and a half each day to work on his art, "more on a really good day," he said.

"It's got to be something that's consistent."

He said that he knows of artists who work differently and will go for longer stretches without doing any work, then suddenly create something wonderful in a matter of a few days, "which really irritates me," Sears joked.

Sears said that he feels fortunate to be able to work and teach and create in an area that is so supportive of the arts. Still, "I dread going to my own openings," he said, but added that it was always good to see the people who know and care about him as well as his students and those who are seeing his work for the first time come out and support him.

"(Art) is meant to be in the world," Sears said. "If it's not put out into the world, you're not giving that gift that artists are supposed to give."

"Core Samples" is on display at the A.P.E. Gallery until July 31.