The Betty Strong Encounter Center is pleased to bring the wonderful artwork of Sioux City native Phyllis Bennett to its main gallery. Her exhibition opens Tuesday, June 10 and runs until Sunday, July 27. The free exhibit is open to view during normal business hours.
Phyllis Bennett, at ninety-seven years old, is still going strong. A sixty-seven-year member and past president of Siouxland Artists, she is credited with having made a difference in the lives of other artists and the community. She has been painting for years starting out with oils but switched to acrylics when the smells from the oil paint and turpentine became too much.
According to Phyllis, “I’m not a very modernist painter, so what you see is what you get. You can tell that a barn is a barn, and a tree is a tree. So, I’m a realistic painter, I guess you could say.” She states that she gets a lot of ideas from everything from cards, magazines, and also photos. Her family members send her lots of stuff to inspire her, so she never lacks for ideas for paintings.
Siouxland Artists Inc. has been promoting art and artists for three-quarters of a century in the tri-state area of Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota.
