Harry Benjamin: Grant County artist
By DAYNA GRIEGO special to The Press

Harry Benjamin — painter, potter, sculptor and printmaker extraordinaire — has deep roots in Grant County.

Originally from Bayard, Benjamin now lives where he works in his studio/gallery, What's a Pot Shop, in downtown Silver City, where a visitor experiences art like nowhere else in Grant County.

The visitor encounters an art experience even before entering the door to Benjamin's domain and studio/gallery.

These days, Benjamin can be seen working outside in the cool, golden mornings. Paint-laden brush in hand, the artist is enveloping his home in black and white checkerboard design reminiscent of an ancient culture that has become a big influence in his life and artwork.

The historical aspects of art and art-making have been instrumental in the development of this artist. Benjamin has done considerable study and research on the Mimbres designs that are so prevalent in southwestern New Mexico.

The black and white checkerboard design is an inherent element in Mimbres pottery design and is incorporated into much of Benjamin's work — sometimes subtly, but never accidentally.

From paintings to pottery, to sculptured angels, to effigy figurines, the checkerboard design is an important component in Benjamin's work.

As he puts it, "on the street, on the walls, on my pots, in my checkerboard brain," the black and white design is always there.

Although a powerful force, the Mimbres connection is not the only checkerboard influence.

Back in the 1940s, the Consumers' Cooperative Association of Silver City — or the farmers' market, as Benjamin calls it — was located on the block where Benjamin now lives and works on Yankie Street.

The entire block was painted in the checkerboard design (some red and white, some black and white) that was a dead giveaway that Purina products were sold there.

Benjamin, always the history buff, has a picture of his house and the block in which he lives showing the design not merely on the walls of the buildings, but also covering a truck parked on the street as well.

Inspirations and influences in this artist's life have been many. One of the first influences was an aunt whom Benjamin remembers as a "little old lady in spectacles," who began painting late in life after the death of her husband.

"She loved to paint, and painted every day until her death when she was well into her 90s," Benjamin recalled.

The work of fellow Bayard painter, Art Alvo, also an inspiration to Benjamin, was hung and admired in businesses in Bayard.

Cecil Howard, Dorothy McCray, Woody Johnson and the late Ruben Gonzalez were positive influences in his development as an artist, as well.

McCray, Howard and Johnson were professors of art at Western New Mexico University when Benjamin studied there.

Howard first introduced Benjamin to the manipulation of clay and glazes, an artistic process that Benjamin is fascinated with and works with to this day.

After spending years showing work around the state and in neighboring states, Benjamin decided to open his own gallery.

Although he now devotes all of his energy and time to his art, it has not always been that way. He has been a teacher, run craft shops and art galleries, and spent time in the military, and was instrumental in the creation of the Silver City Museum.

In the 1960s, while still a graduate student at WNMU, Benjamin became involved in saving the building that now houses the Silver City Museum.

In those days, it was the firehouse and was to be demolished so that a new building could be constructed in an effort to modernize the firehouse.

Along with WNMU professors Cecil Howard, John Harlan and Leon Bower, as well as Tip Cowan and "Uncle" Fred Ramsey (who, by the way, was no one's uncle, but was always called so by the locals), Benjamin approached then Mayor Lowell Cain with the idea of creating a museum and housing it in the old firehouse.

The mayor liked the idea, it was presented to the Town Council and the rest is history.

Benjamin was the first director of the museum and remained in that position for 11 years, until he decided to follow his spirit and become a full-time artist.

Benjamin has devoted his life to art. His work is diverse.

Benjamin's paintings are in oil and the high desert landscape is, by his work, obviously important to him.

But the landscape is never the only element to his paintings. There is a message there, but that is for the viewer to find and decipher.

The pottery is as diverse as the rest of the man's life. He creates sculptural forms that invite touch; angels and effigies that are both mysterious and comforting; bowls and plates inspired by, but very different from, the Mimbres culture that has been such an influence; and pots that are painted with scenes from the landscape that he loves.

Most recently, Benjamin has begun working with digital photography. His images are of familiar places and things, but through the use of a computer, he manipulates them until they become ghostly images that take on their own lives and meanings. The photos are then integrated into his paintings. This is exciting new work by an ever-evolving artist.

Visit What's a Pot Shop and chat with the artist on historic Yankie Street in downtown Silver City.