BIO — C H R I S B E N A V I D E S

For nearly 40 years Chris Benavides' career has been one of a professional Illustrator for the American Greetings Corporation. At 17 Chris was accepted into the Cooper School of Art. Upon graduating from art school Chris was recruited by AG and has worked as a designer and illustrator in several departments and capacities.

Chris' work has been juried into the BayArts juried exhibition in Bay Village, Ohio as well as the annual American Greetings juried fine art show. His work has also been accepted into the Scottsdale Artist's School's Best and Brightest competition. He has pieces in private collections as well as having had his work purchased by American Greetings to be a part of their permanent corporate collection for their new world headquarters in Westlake, Ohio.

Although having had a very rich and fulfilling career as an illustrator, in recent years Chris's call has been to express his artistic vision more personally, and so beyond the education that one receives as a professional in the commercial art world of illustration, Chris has continued to grow in his fine art aesthetic through the workshop experience, learning under several great instructors such as Michael Malm, Bryce Cameron Liston, Stanka Kordic, Jeffrey Watts, Daniel Gerhartz, and Johanna Harmon. Chris would like to thank and acknowledge them all for their contributions towards his growth as an artist.

Chris states: "Through my long experience and love of the human form and the desire to convey it's beauty in an evocative manner, my hope is that I might create art that may move others, either in ways similarly to how I have been moved personally, or in ways unique to the viewer."

"In terms of my motivation and inspiration. There is so much to the created order. A truly limitless array of visual imagery which tantalizes and captures the imagination. From a simple, lyrical line, to the turn of a head, to the gesture of a wind-blown sapling, and which, I believe, point to the One who is the source of all beauty. For me, simple honesty is all that is required. No hidden meaning, or manifestos. Just a simple, honest reaction and response to what I see. These images and icons prompt me to share the Imago Dei that I see around me and which point to the ultimate artist and restorer, or repairer of cracked icons, of which we all are in some measure."