About Barb Lavalley Benton

My work depicts human emotion and experience through the heartbreaking or unexpected moments of reality surrounding grief and its counterpart joy. Difficult life experiences led me to seek healing for my heart and mind through art. Learning to express vulnerable feelings through different mediums taught me a great deal. For example, how it was okay to make mistakes and how to use those mistakes to move forward, or how to let those mistakes go. Art taught me perseverance, awareness, boundaries, and about the importance of connections. I use concept, color, marks and iconography for expression. Mixed media and clay enable me the opportunity to use the uniqueness of each art form to express a concept. Art has become part of the necessary process for me as a human.

Biography

I am an artist who uses mixed media and clay. I currently graduated Marshall University,
Huntington, WV from the School of Art and Design, minoring in Psychology. I am the intern at
West Edge Factory in Huntington, WV co-creating murals and assisting in community
workshops. I lead the “Art From Within” workshops for people with disabilities at West Edge
Factory and I am a teaching artist for a CALL grant project for 55+ seniors in the Ceredo
Senior Center in Kenova, WV. I also work part-time as a Training Consultant for Cabell
County High Schools Transition students. My works, Rachel – A Life Lived and Just Keep
Living were included in the National Juried Exhibition, 2022, Marshall University. I am the
author of a children’s book for grieving families called, Nothing is Ever Lost. Previous works
have been published in Et Cetera, Marshall University, Huntington, WV. My work can be
viewed on Instagram @Blynn0143 and at West Edge Factory, Steptoe & Johnson PLLC and
Chandler’s 4 th Avenue, Huntington, WV. My work included in the Flight Group Exhibition in
Charleston, WV can be viewed at: https://sandrajreed00.wixsite.com/flightselvage/barb-
lavalley-benton

[email protected]

Other Creative Skills

Painting
Ceramics