Carol Benioff, a native of San Francisco, creates art that explores the emotional impact of societal pressures and upheavals on both the human form and the environment. Through her work, she gently leads the viewer into deeper, often darker, mysteries—one picture at a time.
Benioff’s art education followed an unconventional path. At 15, she began attending a weekly workshop for high school students led by artist Ronald Chase, where she learned the value of a daily art practice, honing her creative process, and studying other artists. Most importantly, she developed the perseverance essential to an artist’s growth.
She continued her studies through various workshops and courses, including a summer session with Jay Defeo at the San Francisco Art Institute, time at the California College of Arts and Crafts, and instruction from printmaker Edward McCluney Jr. in Boston. Benioff also studied with Elizabeth Murray in a master class at the San Francisco Art Institute, participated in The Greatest Hits of the Achenbach Graphic Arts Council with Robert Flynn Johnson, and worked with master printer Karen Tossaivanen at Limestone Press in San Francisco.
Benioff has exhibited her work both nationally and internationally, and her pieces were recently acquired by the Hall Technology and Art Foundation in Alameda. In 1993, she was an artist-in-residence at the Kala Art Institute in Berkeley. She went on to receive the James D. Phelan Award in Printmaking in 1995, followed by a fellowship at the Kala Art Institute in 1996.
She has taught printmaking combined with digital imagery at the Kala Art Institute and Mendocino Art Center. Additionally, she has given presentations on integrating traditional printmaking with digital tools such as Corel Painter and Adobe Photoshop at MacWorld in San Francisco.
Benioff’s work has been featured in Print Magazine and Artweek. In Artweek’s December 1999 issue, Barbara Morris wrote, “...Her work glows with washes of pure color, bathing them in a kind of Renaissance light.”
Her art is featured in the following catalogs: Access An Ordinary Notion, Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project: The Nineties, Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project: The Eighties, Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project: The Seventies, Carol Benioff Etchings, Bay Area Women Artists Legacy Project 2020, and Prints Without Borders.