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MOMPIECE
1. MOMPIECE: Clean Your Room or No Allowance!, Altoid tin, found objects,
     5" x 1-1/2" x 1"
2. MOMPIECE: Don't Go Out Without a Coat, Altoid tin, twig, paper, bottlecap, found
     objects, 6" x 5" x 1"
3. MOMPIECE: You're Too Young to Wear a Bra, found objects, 5" x 2" x 1"
4. MOMPIECE: When You Grow Up I Hope You Have Children Just Like You! #2,
     vintage tart tin, picture frame, found objects, 6" x 3"
5. MOMPIECE: Stop Clowning Around and Do Your Homework!, found objects,
     6" x 5" x 1"
6. MOMPIECE: Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get The Milk For Free, found objects,
     5-1/2 " x 1"

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7. Baby Diva, cast paper, found objects, vintage cheese box, toys, 14” x 5” x 3"
8. I Carry My Mother in My Heart, drawer, printers' letter, vintage doll head, fabric, old documents,
      handmade paper, dressmaker pattern, found objects, 15" x 5" x 5"
9. Camera Girl, vintage camera, found letters, fiber, computer parts, doll head, found objects,
      15" x 5" x 5"
10. Little Buddy, vintage case, dog tag, book cover, game pieces, found objects, 20" x 9" x 5"

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Divas
11. 4 Diva Girlfrends, paper mache, clay, felt, wire, cheesecloth, acrylic, found objects,
       13" x 2" x 2" each
12. A Suitcase Full of Divas, paper mache, fiber, cast paper, acrylic, found objects,
       5" x 1-1/2" each"
13. Divas on the Level, vintage tools, level, fiber, wire, paper mache, clay, found objects,
       12" x 11" x 12"
14. Three Party Divas, paper mache, fiber, clay, acylic, wire, found objects,
       13" x 3" x 2" each
15. Diva on Top of the World, paper mache, felt, clay found objects, 14" x 5" diameter
16. Pink Diva Rider, paper mache, clay, felt, fiber, wire, acrylic, found objects,
       17" x 10" x 4"

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Contact Information
e-mail: ebenson@erols.com
Please contact artist for purchases, commissions, etc.

Artist Statement
Since I left my job as a bank SVP in 2002, I have been creating art nonstop! Inspired at first by boxes of old family photos and documents, I began making collages, assemblages and altered books with these very personal materials. I soon found myself collecting old dolls, doll heads, doll limbs, tiny ceramic figures, and vintage children's play furniture, buttons, jewelry, fabric, all of which frequently end up in my work.

Another inspiration for me has been the colors and folk art of Mexico and Guatemala, where I make an annual "pilgrimage" with a group that calls itself "the muchachas." We visit woodcarvers, weavers, ceramic sculptors, mask makers and other artisans in their homes and studios, and my collections have expanded to include ethnic textiles, little books in Spanish, rusted cans and other Latin American detritus!

For a number of years I have been a member of Philadelphia's Dumpster Divers, a group of artists which focuses on re-using cast -off pieces of the world around us to make found object art. To me and to many "divers," art materials are everywhere, and sometimes just finding a particular item inspires a variety of projects. I look at a bottlecap on the street and see a doll's little hat; my old paintbrushes look like legs. Cigar boxes and old drawers are really "houses" for creating a story within.

My work brings together many elements of my life as an artist: figures are made from reused materials such as plastic bags, recycled paper, old doll clothes, toys and found objects; my colorful palette, the use of masks and the paper maiche process are inspired by the exuberance of Mexico and its crafts people. My assemblages are frequently family records and memory pieces which incorporate the wall paper pattern of my chilhood home, postcards from the beach town where we spent the summer, my father's passport and ration books from World War II.

Currently I have a long-term goal of creating 1000 figures! I've made about 260 in the past year and a half and a few are displayed here,

Publications
2006
Art Doll Quarterly, Winter 2006

American Style, August 2006

Art Doll Quarterly, Summer 2006

Somerset Wedding, February 2006

Somerset Studio, January 2006

2005
Somerset Studio, January 2005

Art Doll Quarterly, Fall 2005

Selected Exhibitions

South Street Renaissance Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Sedgwick Cultural Center, Philadelphia, PA

Crafts for Living Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Journey Home Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

Fireside Gallery at Main Line Unitarian Church, Devon, PA

Main Line Art Center, Haverford, PA

Cheltenham Art Center, Cheltenham, PA

Paoli Hospital Cancer Center, Paoli, PA

Brandywine Realty Trust Croporate Center, Radnor, PA

Neighborhood Bike Works, Philadelphia, PA

Bahdeebahdu, Philadelphia, PA

Sweet Mabel, Narberth, PA