“The Japanese master Hokusai said, ‘until I’m sixty, I will be a beginner and nothing I do will have any meaning. From sixty to seventy, you can look at what I’m doing; from seventy to ninety, I’ll finally be getting it together; and from ninety on, every dot, every line will be perfection.” -Tom Benton
Screen printing is a stencil method of printmaking in which a design is imposed on a screen of silk or other fine mesh, with blank areas coated with an impermeable substance, and ink is forced through the mesh with a squeegee onto the printing surface. Each color is applied to the print individually to create the final image. It is also known as silk screening or serigraphy.
Benton was prodigiously productive, a man considered by peers and collaborators alike as equal parts dreamer and doer. Tom was known for creating everything he needed, from his art supplies to his furniture to his home and art studio—and often his tools and accessories were as captivating as his works on display. Said friend Jay Cowan, “he could have gotten rich designing buildings, furniture, accessories, almost anything, but he wanted to produce art and he did.”