Custom Jewelry News
(excerpt from: Stuggling Mateel Plans A Bustling, Fun-Filled Summer Arts)
For Returning Jeweler, Another Opportunity to Shine
THE INDEPENDENT
Published: May 29, 2007
Not all of the artists and musicians at the festival are strictly local, of course; many of them make the trek to Southern Humboldt from out of the area. Darrel benoit, who lives in Gasquet, finds much of his inspiration in the waters of the Smith River, and has been showcasing his graceful, unusual merpeople at Summer Arts for several years. A jeweler and sculptor, Benoit originally planned to be an architect – and while he ultimately chose a different course, his appreciation of Frank Lloyd Wright is evident in his clean, fluid designs, crafted in fine metals and gems.
A native of San Francisco, Benoit was raised in Mountain View and attended high school in Santa Rosa, where he focused on an industrial-arts curriculum: wood shop, metal shop, electronics, and arts and crafts classes. "I had an extensive education in mechanical drawing and industrial drafting, then moved forward into architectural drafting," he said. "The teacher informed our class that we would be the graduating newcomers to what is now known as AutoCAD, so after studying everything pertaining to vellums and straightedges, we'd have to can all that just to learn about computers!
"So I disengaged from architectural drafting," Benoit continued, "and for about 30 years, I've devoted my career to sculpting of gold, platinum, and silver, which are the mediums that I really enjoy working with the most." As for gems, "Diamonds are really forgiving," he said. "They're the most awesome and easiest. The most complex are emeralds and opal, and with the care and love that I've acquired from awesome gem setters, I love setting them all – from the 'veils in the garden' of emeralds to the ease and structural integrity that diamonds give a design."
Having begun with an eye towards architecture, then sculpture, moving into jewelry was a natural progression that involved at least one great stroke of luck: "I had worked as Rosenberg's Department Store all through high school," Benoit recounted, "and I had decided I didn't want to be a visual-merchandising director. So, I cast my cards to the wind and showed one of the wax designs I was sculpting at the time to a buyer, and she said, "My husband ought to take a look at this.'" As it turned out, the buyer's husband was Stephen Stern, owner of Lustre Jewelry & Gem Co., a store that still stands in downtown Ukiah.
"he really showed me the way," Benoit said. The artist has also enjoyed a long association with other mentors including his first teacher, Larrry Williams, who was the president of the California Jewelers' Association in the late 1070's. Benoit credited his mother, who worked for Hewlett-Packard, for his lifelong interest in the arts: "She was a bit of a suppressed artist," he laughed, "who very much enjoyed guiding my brother and me to explore the arts." He has not forgotten his early architectural training, either – he used it to design an addition to his then home in Santa Rosa, and has done the same for several other people.
In addition to a scholarship received in high school and a number of blue ribbons earned at fairs, Benoit has been honored with the American Gem Trade Association's Spectrum Award, "for making something that looks like a hologram, by capturing the comedy and tragedy masks behind an opal." His ethos, he explained, is "to comfort with integrity and harmony through creation. I find that imagery, either physical or spiritual, that lends itself to comfort allows harmony to move through creation. It's a redundant statement, I know – but one that I see running true time and time again, to the point of sculpting of fractals, which I really enjoy.
"Fractals are ongoing mathematical formulas," Benoit explained, "where the smaller is to the greater as the greater is to the whole, and the ones I enjoy sculpting are those of carbon molecules. I've sold them at the Exploratorium in San Francisco. … It's just astonishing, the level of awareness that can come into one by sculpting the micro, to a point of being able to understand the macro."
Benoit also draws inspiration from mythological figures, especially angels and merpeople. Of the latter, he said, "Where we moved to is just about one of the most gorgeous places in the world – 385,000 acres of national and state forests. So, the Smith River is what inspired the mermen and the mermaids that I have been sculpting for the past several years."
Benoit added that he's currently intrigued by fairies, having felt inspired, on a recent drive to the coast, by seeing the burst of lavender azaleas "in the midst of an emerald-green forest, with the redwoods spiraling upward… It's just awesome in it's beauty." He and his wife Adair, who's also a jewelry designer, have recently opened a store in Crescent City, and launched a website, benoitdesigns.com, featuring pieces in a wide range of styles and prices. Benoit cited Adair's parents, John and Marg Helgeson – "accomplished artists both" – as inspirations to him as well.
By Cristina Bauss
Independent Staff Writer
