Featured Artist of the month

Each month we feature one artist from our Community Artists page here on our website, in our monthly newsletter, on Instagram, and on Facebook. We will also host an artist’s talk with them over Zoom so our audience can get to know them better. Check back at the beginning of each month for a new artist to learn about. And view artists from past months here.

November 2024: Ben Haggard

We are delighted to feature Ben Haggard as our Featured Artist of November 2024. Read on to learn about Ben and his work. And check out Ben’s website to learn more!

Mark your calendar for an artist’s talk with Ben on Thursday, November 21st at 12:00 PM Eastern Time on Zoom. Register ahead of time by following this link.

About the Artist

My first visit to the Leo Marchutz School in the summer of 1978 was life-changing. I discovered that I was a visual thinker and that painting was a language that allowed me to express and evolve my understanding of the world. These insights were corroborated when I returned for the winter program in 1980, redirecting me from what I had assumed would be an academic career into a life as an artist and designer.

My public life has focused on ecological design, including nearly three decades as part of Regenesis, a group that has helped to pioneer the practice and theory of regenerative design and development. In parallel, I’ve privately pursued a practice of painting, with occasional forays into ceramics and sculpture. I’ve exhibited in that time, most notably a show at SITE Santa Fe, but exhibiting has not been my priority.

I’m now transitioning to a full-time focus as an artist. I’m interested in painting and drawing as a way of exploring how one experiences phenomena before the rational mind kicks in and turns visual impressions into concepts and language. I think of my work as research into what it means to see. I’m also interested in thinking and perhaps writing about the intersection of regenerative thinking and art—what might it mean to be a regenerative artist?