wildscape. literary journal

Title: Night Garden 16: Brief Lives of Artists
Artist: Denita Benyshek

about the piece

Work in process, photographed on January 9, 2026 acrylic paint, collaged pages from a book titled Brief Lives: A Biographical Companion to the Arts, on canvas. 48 x 60 in. The inclusion of my artwork in Wildscape is a delight and an honor. The wild places, whether in nature or in the soul, are so very sacred to me. After earning a BFA at Wichita State, I taught visual art and dance for 15 years, in the Alaskan bush, working with all of the major tribes.  In this frontier, amidst vast wilderness, far from big city art scenes, I experimented and further developed my unique artist’s voice.   I later completed an MFA at the University of Washington and worked as a model for I. Magnin’s. After my son was born, I needed a steadier income. I studied marriage and family counseling at Saybrook University, then continued into the research program, earning a PhD in humanistic and transpersonal psychology. In 2018, Kim Junghee, a South Korean master of one thousand spirits, heard about me and invited me to undergo a traditional Naerim Gut (shamanic initiation ceremony). Three shamans flew from South Korea to my home in the Cascade Mountains, to perform this ceremony. I am also a researcher on contemporary artists as shamans and my research influences my art studio practices.  Night Garden 16: Brief Lives of Artists is part of a 3 year series inspired by my adult son. He is disabled, chronically ill, always suffering pain. He asked to move from the mountains, to be in a city. So, we moved to Wichita, where I grew up. Before a surgery, he asked me to plant a garden where he could go and be amidst nature. So, I did. For me, as my son’s caregiver, the garden also became a source of respite, beauty, and inspiration.  Walking out in the wild, I carefully pulled up a clump of wild sunflowers, brought them home, and planted them in front of our cottage, where they have flourished and spread.  My son’s medical condition worsens, his suffering escalates, his is hospitalized again, for two weeks. After visiting him, I am in my studio. I am painting and collaging. Gluing pages of a book, Brief Lives of Artists, into a ladder shape that is over a dark lake or ocean that was previously our cement driveway, before it was a band of gold, just beyond a flower garden. Storm clouds blowing in towards the observer. Light failing into the night. Something is needed. I listen, waiting for what the painting wants, to hear what the Art Spirit will say. The painting asks for wild sunflowers. A thin, tall stalk with flowers over here, another one, a bit closer, on the right.  So, here she is, a painting about standing in the wind, as the storm approaches, and the world darkens, a moment of beauty.  For me, making art is an act of service. My work presents the spirit of nature, providing access to a radiant, mystical, inspirited world, where viewers experience awe, connecting to the eternal cycle of life and the cosmic soul of nature.

about the artist // Denita Benyshek