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MOMPIECE
1. Clean Your Room or No Allowance!, Altoid tin, found objects, 5" x 1-1/2" x 1"
2. Don't Go Out Without a Coat, Altoid tin, twig, paper, bottlecap, found objects,
    6" x 5" x 1"
3. You're Too Young to Wear a Bra, found objects, 5" x 2" x 1"
4. Stop Clowning Around and Do Your Homework!, found objects, 6" x 5" x 1"
5. There's Nothing Wrong With Your Hair!, Altoid tin, hardware, found objects, paint,
     5" x 2-1/2" x 1/2"
6. I Don't Care What the Other Mothers Let their Kids Do!, Altoid tin, bottle caps,
     photocopy, found objects, 5" x 2-1/2" x 1/4"
7. When You Grow Up I Hope You Have Children Just Like You #4, vintage tin box,
     found objects, photo, 6" x 3" x 1/2"
8. I'm Working My Fingers to the Bone, vintage dollhouse piece and figure,
       found objects, 4-1/2" x 2" x 3/4"

Assemblages
9. RED ACCESSORIES
10. WHERE'S MY CURLER?
11. REDy to GO!
12. WHO NOSE?
13. PLAY BLUE!
14. THE EYES HAVE IT!
15. TOY THEATRE
16. Baby Diva, cast paper, found objects, vintage cheese box, toys,
      14” x 5” x 3"
17. 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"
18. Camera Girl, vintage camera, found letters, fiber, computer parts, doll
       head, found objects, 15" x 5" x 5"
19. Cherry Garcia, ice cream container, old doll, broken necklace, lace,
       acrylic paint, found objects, 5' x 3" x 3"
20. A Boy's Life, game pieces, vintage fishing lure, found objects, acrylic

Divas

21. Book People: Quite A Pair, recycled books, magazines, papmphlets, cand tin,
       license plates, 9" x 4"
22. Book People: Going Green, recycled books, magazines, papmphlets, cand tin,
       license plates, 9" x 4"
23. Book People: Boy and Girl, recycled books, magazines, papmphlets, cand tin,
       license plates, 9" x 4"
24. A Suitcase Full of Divas, paper mache, fiber, cast paper, acrylic, found objects,
       5" x 1-1/2" each"
25. Divas on the Level, vintage tools, level, fiber, wire, paper mache, clay, found objects,
       12" x 11" x 12"
26. Diva on Top of the World, paper mache, felt, clay found objects, 14" x 5" diameter
27. Pink Diva Rider, paper mache, clay, felt, fiber, wire, acrylic, found objects,
       17" x 10" x 4"
28. Diva With a Camera, plastic bags, masking tape, paper maiche, clay, paint, felt,
       found objects, 16" x 8" x 3"
29. Cheesebox Diva, vintage cheese box, plastic bags, masking tape, paper maiche,
       clay, paint, felt, found objects, 7" x 7" x 2"
30. Tricycle Diva, plastic bags, masking tape, paper maiche, clay, paint, felt, found
       objects, 16" x 9" x 10"
31. Circus Diva, plastic bags, masking tape, paper maiche, clay, paint, felt, found
       objects, 7" x 3" x 1"
32. Fly Away Diva, plastic bags, masking tape, paper maiche, clay, paint, felt, found
       objects, 4" x 13" x 1"

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1. When You Grow Up I Hope You Have Children Just Like You! #2,
     vintage tart tin, picture frame, found objects, 6" x 3"
2. Wipe Off That Makeup You Look Like A Clown!, flashlight bulbs, cake
      topper, photocopy, doll furniture, acrylic paint, found objects,
      5" x 3-1/2" x 2"
3. Eat your Dinner, There Are Children Starving in China, bottlecap,
      photocopy, doll furniture, acrylic paint, found objects, 6-1/2" x 3" x 1/2"
4. Why Buy the Cow When You Can Get The Milk For Free, found
      objects, 5-1/2 " x 1"
5. Little Buddy, vintage case, dog tag, book cover, game pieces, found
       objects, 20" x 9" x 5"
6. Who's Got Time to Wait for a Prince?, found objects, acrylic paint,
       memory box, 9" x 6" x 2"       paint, old drawer, 7" x 6" x 1-1/2"
7. Jesus saves 24/7, vintage pin, decorative box lid, found objects,
       6" x 3" x 1/2"
8. 4 Diva Girlfrends, paper mache, clay, felt, wire, cheesecloth, acrylic,
       found objects, 13" x 2" x 2" each
9. Three Party Divas, paper mache, fiber, clay, acylic, wire, found objects,
        13" x 3" x 2" each
10. Natural Diva, branches, wood, clay, paint, copper rods, 15" x 3" x 2"

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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
2009
Found Object Art 2, Schiffer Publishing Ltd.

2006
Art Doll Quarterly, Spring 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

2010
Toy Theatre Festival Museum, Brooklyn, NY

The Green Exhibit, Garbage Museum, Stratford, CT

2009
Mt. Airy Art Garage, Philadelphia, PA

Found Object Art, Snyderman-Works Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

transFORMation, Hicks Art Center Gallery and Artmobile, Bucks County Community College, Newtown, PA

SURREAL ESTATE, Dumpster Diver Central Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

The Games We Play: Remade, Annex Art Gallery, Eastampton, NJ

Stretching the Spine: Books on Health and Healing, Philadelphia Center for the Book and Hahnemann University Medical Library, Philadelphia, PA

Ecologically Correct: The Philadelphia Dumpster Divers, Outsider Folk Art Gallery, Reading, PA

Re-cycling is A-MAZE-ING!, Please Touch Museum, Philadelphia, PA

Dumpster Divas and Trashy Woman, Cecil County Arts Council, Elkton, MD

The State of the Garden, Noyes Museum of Art, Oceanville, NJ

And You Think That's Funny?, WomanMade Gallery, Chicago, IL

Altered & Assembled: The Beat Goes On, Williams Center Gallery, Lafayetee College, Easton, PA

2003 - 2009

Riverfront Renaissance Center for the Arts, Millville NJ

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

Salon des Amis, Malvern, PA

Payne Gallery, Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA

Home & Planet Gallery, Bethlehem, PA

Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, Salem, OR

Still Life in G Gallery, Bradenton, FL

Art in City Hall, Philadelphia, PA