{{Short description|Canadian artist (born 1947)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2020}} {{Infobox artist | name = Douglas Bentham | image = | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = 1947 | birth_place = Rosetown, Saskatchewan | death_date = | death_place = | nationality = | spouse = | field = | training = B.F.A. (Painting), University of Saskatchewan, SK (1969); M.F.A. (Sculpture), University of Saskatchewan, SK (1989) | movement = | works = | patrons = | known_for = Sculptor | awards = member in 1976, Royal Canadian Academy; Lynch-Staunton Award, Canada Council (1980)
}} '''Douglas Bentham''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|RCA|size=100%}} (born 1947) has been since the late 1960s, acknowledged as one of Canada's pre-eminent producer of large-scale welded steel sculpture.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Anderson |first1=Jack |title=Bentham's work continues investigation |url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/498689022/?terms=douglas%20bentham&match=1 |access-date=2021-02-15 |publisher=Leader-Post, Regina |date=30 Mar 2000}}</ref><ref name="NAC " >{{cite web |title=Saskatchewan Artist: Douglas Bentham |url=http://www.sknac.ca/index.php?page=ArtistDetail&id=121 |website=www.sknac.ca |publisher=Saskatchewan nac |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref><ref name="Ring" />
==Career== Bentham was born in Rosetown, Saskatchewan but moved with his family to Saskatoon in 1959. He originally graduated from the University of Saskatchewan with a fine arts degree in painting, but was interested in sculpture by working with the American sculptor Michael Steiner at an Emma Lake Artists' Workshop in 1969.{{sfn|Murray |1999|p=150}} In 1977, Bentham worked as co-leader in a workshop with Sir Anthony Caro at an Emma Lake Artists' Workshop<ref name="Ring " >{{cite web |last1=Ring |first1=Dan |title=Douglas Bentham |url=https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/bentham_douglas_1947-.jsp |website=esask.uregina.ca |publisher=Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> as Caro made a series of 15 sculptures, in which he combined found materials with steel tubing and beams.<ref>{{cite web |title=Caro 1977|url= https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/caro-emma-dipper-t03455 |website=www.tate.org |publisher=Tate Gallery, London, UK |access-date=2020-12-05}}</ref> He went back to school in 1989 to get his master's degree in sculpting and credits his father, who worked as a mechanic, as the driving force behind his interest in sculpting with metal.<ref name="Petrow " >{{cite web |last1=Petrow |first1=Erin |title=The evolution of an artist: For almost 50 years Douglas Bentham has let his intuition guide in creation |url=https://thestarphoenix.com/life/bridges/douglas-bentham |website=thestarphoenix.com |publisher=Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Oct 20, 2017 |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref>
Bentham lives and works in his studio on an acreage near Dundurn, Saskatchewan.<ref name="NAC" />
== Selected exhibitions == Bentham has had over fifty solo exhibitions across Canada, notably a national travelling exhibition organized by the Art Gallery of York University, Toronto, Ontario, in 1975,<ref name="Ring " /> and a twelve-year retrospective exhibition at the MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina, Saskatchewan, in 1980.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wylie |first1=Liz |title=Douglas Bentham, Vanguard 1983 |url=http://ccca.concordia.ca/c/writing/w/wylie/wylie008t.html |website=ccca.concordia.ca |publisher=Concordia |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> The Mendel Art Gallery, in his home city of Saskatoon, presented a major exhibition of his work, "Resonance", in 2004.<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Bentham: resonance. Mendel Art Gallery, 2004. |url=https://douglasbentham.com/resonance-2004 |website=douglasbentham.com |publisher=Mendel Art Gallery, Saskatoon |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> Bentham's first installation,<ref name="Petrow " /> ''The Tablets'', consisting of 27 pedestal-scaled sculptures displayed on identical plinths was exhibited in five western Canadian public galleries from 2016 to 2018.<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Bentham: The Tablets |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1agrp3YjII |website=www.youtube.com |publisher=SaskTel maxTV |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> Installed in symmetrical rows, the collection of metal assemblages of textured bronze and brass panels infused with fractured text, numbers and dates contributed to a narrative about time.<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Bentham: The Tablets, 2017|url=https://artsandscience.usask.ca/news/articles/1395/Exhibition_Douglas_Bentham |website=artsandscience.usask.ca |publisher=University of Saskatchewan |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> More recently, small-scale sculptures in brass and bronze were displayed at the Nicholas Metivier Gallery, Toronto, Ontario, which represents him, in 2019<ref name="NAC " /> as does Mann Gallery in St. Catharines in 2023.<ref>{{cite web |title=Artists |url=https://manngallery.ca/artists/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwkNOpBhBEEiwAb3MvvbmXu8ptWGW7_VNgHoir7NnUfKGHP7PNgB9UO0Nplasuud7hYizwShoCyzYQAvD_BwE |website=manngallery.ca |publisher=Mann Gallery, St. Catharines |access-date=22 October 2023}}</ref>
Bentham has participated in over one hundred group shows throughout his career, both here and abroad.
== Commissions == Bentham's commissioned works are in many outdoor settings across Canada. Particularly well-known is his stainless steel sculpture, ''Unfurled'' (2006), in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, cited at the foot of University Bridge.<ref name="NAC " /> One author believes that its lightness and openness reflects the expansiveness of the prairie landscape{{sfn|Tippett |2017|p=212}} but, as another author said of a Bentham work, it presents endless opportunities for interpretation.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shuebrook |first1=Ron |title="Spanish Voices" Exhibition Review |url=https://website-metiviergallery.artlogic.net/usr/library/documents/main/bentham_border-crossings.pdf |website=website-metiviergallery.artlogic.net |publisher=BORDERCROSSINGS magazine, Fall 2012 |access-date=2020-12-05}}</ref> The painted steel sculpture ''Garland'' (2008), installed at Durham College (DC) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) on the north Oshawa campus, although not specifically commissioned for the location, has a spiraling motion that gives the appearance of upward movement suitable to its original intention as a design for a ''Spirit of Youth'' competition in Saskatoon, and to its Oshawa location as well.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hayman |first1=Jenna |title=Garland by Douglas Bentham |url=http://jennahayman.com/storytelling/article4.html |website=jennahayman.com |access-date=2020-12-06}}</ref> In 2015, Bentham won a national competition for ''Skater’s Arch'', a monumental circular structure in painted steel for Rogers Place Arena, Edmonton, Alberta.<ref>{{cite web |title=Douglas Bentham wins national competition for public sculpture in Edmonton, 2015 |url=https://www.gallerieswest.ca/news/douglas-bentham-wins-national-competition-for-public-sculptu/ |website=www.gallerieswest.ca |date=July 16, 2015 |publisher=gallerieswest |access-date=2020-12-04}}</ref> He was commissioned to execute a large-scale wall sculpture, ''Nine Planes X Full Flight'', in painted galvanized steel which he installed at Royal View Plaza, Calgary, Alberta, in 2016.
== Selected collections == Bentham's sculptures are included in public collections throughout Canada, and significantly, in the Remai Modern in Saskatoon.<ref name="Petrow " />
== Workshops and groups == Bentham has contributed to many international artists' workshops throughout his career, including the Emma Lake Artists' Workshop, Saskatchewan (1977); the Triangle Workshop, Pine Plains, New York; and the Hardingham Sculpture Workshop, UK.<ref name="Ring " />
He co-founded Canadian Artists' Representation (now known as CARFAC) in Saskatchewan.
==Awards== * 1980 Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council.<ref>{{cite web |title=Prizes |url= https://canadacouncil.ca/funding/prizes/victor-martyn-lynch-staunton-awards|publisher=Canada Council |access-date=15 August 2022}}</ref>
== References == {{Reflist}}
=== Bibliography === *{{cite book|last1=Murray |first1=Joan| title=Canadian Art in the Twentieth Century|date=1999|publisher=Dundurn|isbn=|location=Toronto|oclc=260193722}} * {{cite web |last1=Tippett |first1=Maria |title=Sculpture in Canada: A History |publisher=Douglas & McIntyre |date=2017|url=https://search.library.utoronto.ca/search?N=0&Ntx=mode+matchallpartial&Nu=p_work_normalized&Np=1&Ntt=tippett%2C%20sculpture%20in%20canada&Ntk=Anywhere |accessdate=2020-12-04}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentham, Douglas}} Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Canadian sculptors Category:People from Rosetown Category:University of Saskatchewan alumni Category:Members of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts Category:Canadian abstract artists Category:20th-century Canadian artists Category:21st-century Canadian artists