Meet Pi Benio

Today we’d like to introduce you to Pi Benio.

Hi Pi, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory. 
I was always interested in visual art. I can recall spending special time in elementary school with the art teacher where I assisted her. I have a really clear memory of loading a kiln with her. It was prophetic as I went on to earn two degrees in ceramics. Up to college, I was interested in all media, but my freshman year in college, I was dating a guy who was taking ceramics; hung around the studio fall term enough that the professor approached me and said, “I think you have an innate ability with clay” and gave me a pass into his difficult to get into course for spring term. It was during that spring term that I fell in love with clay and set my sights on teaching college-level clay. I was fortunate enough to live my dream. I taught ceramics, design, sculpture, and fibers (being a small school about everything else, including art history) at Adrian College for 36 years. I am a passionate person, but my biggest passion is art. I wanted people to see art as relevant. During my time at Adrian, I realized I could use my creativity not just in the studio but also in teaching and developing programs that integrated disparate organizations. It helped our Department at Adrian grow from 3 majors my first year to 26 the year I retired. For the students allowed them real experience, lines on their resumes, and a way of thinking that was expansive and not limited. 

During my time at Adrian, I led many community-based initiatives. As examples; Empty Bowls every other year for almost 40 years, helping to found the Lenawee Council for the Visual Arts in 1998 (which is the mother organization of the ACA), and Artalicious, a downtown Adrian Art Fair now going into its 17th year and growing still. I also maintained my own studio in various locations in downtown Adrian. It is hard to teach and inspire your students if you aren’t inspired about your own work. Maintaining focus allows you to transfer that excitement. I have exhibited in NYC, Chicago, Japan, Canada. presented over 10 solo shows including one at the Detroit Institute of Art. 

When I retired in 2014, I enjoyed the freedom of going to my studio every day, but there was a nagging sense I wasn’t done with community involvement yet. I met Kris Cravens, who wanted to start a community ceramics studio. I knew the perfect place, in fact I had the idea for an art center there years earlier when the Adrian Training School (ATS), a state facility for adjudicated adolescents, closed. I and a friend who worked at ATS, Helen Henricks, developed and administrated an art therapy program with a degreed and certified art therapist, Liz Hartz, at the Training School. The girls at ATS would process the experiences that led them to ATS through art, and Adrian College students would intern at ATS and also take art therapy classes at the college. Many AC students went on to become art therapists and are all over the country working today. Back to I retired. We got approval from the city, who now owned the property, to use the campus’s abandoned buildings to start the Adrian Center for the Arts. It began with clay as while at Adrian I taught a Saturday class for community members, who then became residents of the ceramic studio in our fledgling organization. They helped us and put in many hours fixing and cleaning. Then other artists took note, and soon, in our six buildings, we had over 30 Resident Artists, a gallery, a painting and drawing studio, a warm glass studio, and a print studio to which we have now added hot glass, metalsmithing, and sculpture studios. Fortunately, after being the volunteer Executive Director for the first three years of ACA, the board hired our first paid Executive Director. I was learning on the job about marketing and development, way over my head, when I was rescued by the first ACA Executive Director, Lisa Wilke Neuman. She set the course for success at ACA. Another important change was the City of Adrian sold the property to PlaneWave, a maker of telescopes moving from California. Instead of forcing us out they embraced us, offering financial support and taking over care of the 55 1/2 acres and 14 structures on the campus 

I am the Director of Programming which means much like when I was a professor I, with the gallery committee and the Executive Director, Valerie Herr create vibrant programming. The ACA Gallery is the nexus of much of our community visibility. We have created 4 exhibitions on and off campus each year for our growing membership in addition to shows of invited significant regional artists. Each year the Gallery Committee selects a local non-profit to partner with. Our most successful, the “Power of Passage”, paired families in the Bereavement Program at Hospice of Lenawee with an artist member who created a full-sized panel door about what the families loved one most enjoyed in life. With 26 doors, it was too expensive, and we had to display it outdoors under tents. It was healing for the families, and the sheer multitude was inspiring. Last year, we mounted an exhibition, “Confluence,” partnering with the Raisin River Watershed, where we made art that incorporated trash cleaned from the River Raisin. I learned all about magnet fishing! Was a huge success, and toured to Hidden Lake Gardens. We have also worked with Salvation Army, Share the Warmth, Goodwill, the Humane Society, Adrian Public Schools, Croswell Opera House, and the Boys and Girls Club to name a few. 

I should mention that I have done all of this as a volunteer. Before I retired, I went way beyond my pay as a professor to utilize art, so it was not viewed as a frill but a vital element in the fabric of life. That is because passion about something is way more motivating than money, and my passion is art. 

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall, and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Having enough people and money to make my outsized vision come to life. I am always willing to put in my time, energy, and money, but it takes more than that to make an impact. Getting people to believe, buy in and want to make the city in which they live a great place. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
You have heard all about my community activism, but art is the motivator for all of it. My art is rooted in my concerns about the sustainability of the earth. I am a sculptor who has worked in a wide variety of materials. Many times, the idea of the works dictate the mediums. Clay, of course, but I have also worked in steel, gut, handmade kozo, linen, flax paper, wood, plexiglass, handmade knotted and knotless netting, and many found objects. I have created many room-sized works called installations. At the end of undergraduate school, I tried of pedestals and began to not only using the wall but also hang works from the ceiling. That led to incorporating all the materials mentioned so I could make bigger, more impactful works. Currently, I am working with driftwood inspired by the book “The Hidden Life of Trees”. Trees as a bellwether of the continuance of life on earth. 

Is there something surprising that you feel even people who know you might not know about?
I am addicted to swimming laps, it is great while swimming no one can talk to you, let my thoughts flow unrestricted. About length 30, I get into what I call zen. It is my meditation time. 

Contact Info:

• Website: pibenio.com