1969-1970 Calgary, Sculpture, Drawings & Etchings
Benjamin in his second Calgary studio- 1969, press photographer
When Benjamin decided to accept the offer of a second term at the university, they found a more suitable place to live and work in an early 20th century wood frame house with a big garden and an unusual large extension with floor-to-ceiling windows, originally intended as a square dance practice venue, however, it also had great potential as a spacious studio workroom.
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The situation at the university was difficult and time consuming, but fortunately there was a group of interesting guest artists in the temporary teaching posts, including witty Charlie Pachter, known primarily for his delightful image of ‘Madge’ in her British Royal uniform riding a Canadian moose, and his adventurous wide roaming, ‘Toronto Trolly Buss’, as well as Chris Sayer, a hilarious storyteller and bon vivant from Peterborough, John Clinch, a prolific and charming sculptor from the UK, Bob Bigelow, the ultimate perfectionist, litho printer, who worked at Tamarind Press with abstract expressionist, Robert Motherwell, and Glenn Lewis, an art school friend of Nancy’s and his associates who were all involved at Intermedia, an adventurous art organisation in Vancouver.
Everybody enjoyed socialising, but time was slipping by and not many pieces for New York were ready to ship. Benjamin spent a lot of his tme drawing and etching, trying out new media and subject matter. When the University staged an adventurous film festival he produced a detailed Surrealist ink drawing for the poster.
First sketches for University Film Festival Poster
Nimbus series, Perspex & polished chrome, 1968. Collection, Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, D.C. Photo: Adri Govers, Calgary
Benjamin had a substantial exhibition of sculpture, drawings and prints in the Library at Calgary University in April of 1969
“His sculpture is a total environmental thing expressed through tremendous skills with machine processes and forms and total appreciation of the materials such as metal casts with a fantastic sheen, almost a plastic expression and colored plastics, translucent and transparent that pass light along the edges as well as throughout.”
David Thompson (Special to the Calgary Herald),1969
“In a work such as District a plain of Perspex is raised on supports above the undulating steel base while vertical columns pass through openings in this almost colourless sheet, it’s edges glowing deep pink, like tower blocks piercing the clouds. In 1968 he was able to realise these architectural ambitions with his first open-air sculpture, produced for an exhibition of British sculpture in the precincts of Coventry Cathedral. Later works, such as the nine-feet-high Nimbus Arch, 1970, were designed to incorporate the reflected sky in the work.”
Chris Stevens, ‘Anthony Benjamin 1931 - 2002’
Nimbus series, Perspex and stainless steel, Calgary, Photos - Adri Govers
Nimbus series, Perspex and polished bronze, Calgary, 1969
Photo: Adri Govers
Photo: Adri Govers
