Ronnie Benware ~ Pastels

Ronnie Benware
benwarer@hotmail.com

Ronnie Benware is a member of the Adirondack Pastel Society where she serves as treasurer for the group.  Her art has been adjudicated into the past three national shows. 
 Her pastel drawing, “Onion Skins”, was awarded best still life in 2016.

Ronnie received her undergraduate and graduate degrees from the College of St. Rose with a concentration in printmaking.  After a 37 year career she retired from the South Glens Falls School District where she taught Drawing I, Advanced Drawing and AP Studio Art in Drawing.  Ronnie specializes in high school portfolio development and is available for private instruction. 

                                   Artists Statement

To say that I am obsessed with all things smooth, shiny, translucent and reflective would be an understatement.  Over the years I have amassed quite the collection of old irons, bottles, marbles, polished rocks, and various other objects that I often used in my classroom.  My students’ works over the years are a “reflection” of my own desire to create unique compositions by setting up objects on shiny surfaces, posing images in front of store windows, multiple mirrors, etc.

I slowly gravitated towards pastels while I was still teaching.  I needed to find a material other than charcoal that students could move around the paper quickly in order to create enough work for college portfolio submissions.  It is a constant learning process of experimenting with different types of pastels on different surfaces.  Printmaking is very technical.  I liken it to playing a game of chess where you constantly have to be thinking multiple steps in advance.  Pastels are more immediate.  Though that’s not to say it isn’t without its own challenges in problem solving.