Active, Artist, Northwest, Print Making, Traditional

Elton Bennett

A 20th century American Artist of the Northwest School movement.

Elton Bennett’s lifelong dream always was to be an artist. He grew up in Hoquiam in the Grays Harbor region of the Washington Coast, where mill work, fishing and dredging are common occupations, and Bennett himself knew many years of firsthand experience at them. The pursuit of art was not encouraged by the people around him.

Elton Bennett chose silkscreen printing for his medium because it allowed so many possibilities for manipulating compositions. Bennett didn’t like the idea of creating a work only one person might see, or that could not be changed once ‘completed.’ Bennett would always use a great number of screens and colors in infinite combinations so that each finished serigraph was a unique work of art.