Q&A with Heather Bennett

What is your favorite tool, material, and/or process?
Collage Wet & Dry

What is your favorite tool, material, and/or process?
I have no loyalty to materials. Whatever gets the job done is my bestie.

What is the best advice you’ve ever received about your work?
Don’t be afraid to make something stupid.

What is the best advice you’ve ever given to someone about their work?
Probably the same with a variation that sums up to ‘trust yourself’.

Where do you make work?
Varied locales- the studio, on location, the lab, the computer, a notebook

What do you listen to/watch while you work?
I have lots of records – it varies but generally I love 60s-70s soul, old blues and punk rock.

What’s your top studio jam?
I often get ready to go out to Gimme Shelter and Ohio/ Machine Gun by the Isleys. Slightly demented.

Best studio hack OR the skill you’d be most lost without?
I have a bunch of weird skills from working in the movies as a scenic, something always comes in handy. I mean, I know the best formula to make fake blood that looks real on camera.

What food can be used to bribe you?
Is wine a food?

Do you have a studio uniform? Please describe.
My ‘best’ paint clothes are saved for the studio so I still look cool.

It’s the 11th hour before your opening. What are you doing?
Once in LA, I was trying on lime green crushed velvet pants at some place on Melrose. It was after the opening had already started though.

Who or what has had the biggest influence on your work?
It is surprising what a hard question this is- but I think seeing Cut Piece in an undergrad survey course changed what I thought art could do.

A book you’ve read more than twice is __________________.
This question makes me realize I don’t usually read books twice. There is so much I still have to read!

How do you stay motivated?
Rage and making stuff for people.

How do you procrastinate?
Like a champ.

Early Bird or Night Owl?
Night owl, every day and twice on Sunday.

Do you have pets? If so, what are their species and names?
I have 3 cats- all total babes: Rollins (as in Sonny and a bit of Henry), Etta (as in James), and Mackane (as in the T. Rex song NOT the politician).

Biggest pet peeve?
Laziness and gum. I find gum to be really gross.

What is your favorite thing about St. Louis?
Incredible music history.

Epoxy, mineral spirits, or Command-Z?
I tested a bunch of different resins for all kinds of arcane qualities for my graduate thesis work and epoxy resin was one. If you need to know about resin minutiae, I am your gal.

Tell us something we forgot to ask:
I like to dress.