1970. Steve Bendy (left). We had a new teacher for our senior year and one of his suggestions was to do a “found object” art project. My best friend Lamont Wiksell and I partnered to find this old gas pump and restore it. We did spend a lot of time on it, but it was a total waste of time as far as art goes. My senior year I was more interested in cars and my girlfriend so I didn’t care. I was done with art until college where I felt I would have a fresh start.
Spring 1970. One of my best friends, Lamont Wiksell works on the gas pump as I watch. The gas pump was a "found object" art project. The photo is from the Burke High School yearbook.
Oil on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. My teachers did not like the subject matter of my decaying building paintings and encouraged me to “paint what I knew”. I decided to take a Polaroid of my Firebird parked at McDonald’s on Dodge street where we all hung out. I considered this one of my best paintings but got little if any recognition for it by the teachers. It was the last painting I did in high school and did not paint again until 1974 - 5 years later! Signed and dated 12-12-1969.
December 1969. I am working on my "Saturday Night" oil painting in the Burke High School art room. My friend's girlfriend was a yearbook photogapher and took the photo.
Source Photo for Saturday Night
November of 1969. A polaroid of McDonald's on 78th and Dodge. It was where we all hung out and was a source photo for a painting. We had almost 20 inches of snow that December (we normally get only a couple of inches).
Oil on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. This painting was done senior year in high school, and is of my friend Dick Arant looking north out of the Burke High School art room windows at the farm fields. He did not like school and would come up to the art room just to hang out, often just staring out of the windows. I decided to pose him and take a polaroid so that I could make a painting of it.
Oil on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. I wanted to continue my series of decaying buildings but felt because of my teacher’s feedback that it was not appropriate. Being very naive I trusted in what he said, but did know what to paint. I had come across a book on Van Gogh paintings at the bookstore where my girlfriend worked, and decided to use the subject matter I liked, but in a colorful color scheme.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 12x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. This was the first painting where I purposely cropped a photo for aesthetic reasons and chose a canvas to match. While I was working on this painting Lloyd Wood, the head of the art department and a "real working artist", made a comment that I really did not understand at the time. His comment was “How is our social commentarian doing today?” He was not my painting teacher and rarely talked to me. My painting teacher let me know in subtle ways that he did not approve of my series of paintings. Nevertheless, this painting was exhibited in an art show at Burke.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. My girlfriend and future wife worked at a large bookstore and I would read books while she was closing the store for the night. I came across a book with many photos of the impoverished south. I had no interest in the racial aspect the photos portrayed; I was just interested in the textures and colors of the weathered buildings. I was also interested in the bleak outlook on life the photos portrayed.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. Having a book of photos that I could identify with I began painting in earnest. I was not completely satisfied with the results, but in general I felt as if I was expressing something inside of me. The figures in the paintings were secondary to the landscape, and I was not at all interested in the racial aspect. After 50 years I can still remember painting them.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. Searching for subject matter that had meaning to me, I took this photo of downtown Omaha, where I had done some sketching with a fellow art student. I am not sure why it attracted me - maybe it was the colors or the textures. I did not know why and did not try to figure it out, I was just excited to paint it. I was very happy with the results even though I got very little positive feedback from others. Completed Junior year in high school (9/68-6/69).
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. When I was 16 and in my junior year of high school I began to move away from painting landscapes taken from travel magazines. I became more interested in painting subjects that interested me on a deeper level. Completed in my Junior year in high school, this painting was inspired by Dick Arant, one of my best friends. He liked to play guitar and go his own way. It was completed very quickly - in about 4 hours.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. Clara Bendy, my grandmother, wanted one of my paintings of a landscape with a farm to remind her of where she grew up. I gave it to her as a present and she kept it in her house, nicely framed until her death. I was actually very pleased with this painting.
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. I painted this acrylic painting in the style of my watercolors. It actually turned out pretty well, but there was something missing. I wanted to express what I was feeling through my painting and this was not communicating what I was feeling. Choosing subject matter from a travel magazine would not accomplish that. Completed Junior year in high school. (9/68-6/69).
Acrylic on Canvas Panel. 18x24. 1969. Steve Bendy. The art teacher set up several still life stations and this is the one I chose to paint. We were not given any instructions on how to mix color, thin paint, or how to apply the paint. No one dared question the teacher - we thought that was just how art was taught. You had to learn it on you own. As I look back at this over 40 years later, I am amazed at how well I did.
Watercolor on Paper. 12x18. 1968. Steve Bendy. I was not taught any watercolor techniques beyond what you see here. I was not even aware that an artist could or should develop a style or have a message. When the watercolor class was over in December of 1968, I never did another watercolor again.
Watercolor on Paper. 18x24. 1968. Steve Bendy. Watercolor was required so I took the class, but was not interested in the media. We were never shown any examples of watercolors done by masters, or any other techniques other than what you see here. What I wanted to do was to paint in oils as I considered it more “professional”. This was painted my junior year in high school (9/68-6/69).
Watercolor on Paper. 18x24. 1968. Steve Bendy. I painted from photos in the the Nebraskaland magazine because they reminded me of scenes of central Nebraska where my dad was born. When I was younger, he took me there to hunt and explore old abandoned farms. Unlike other high school art classes we were given instruction in basic watercolor techniques which helped quite a bit.
Pencil on Paper. 18x24. 1968. Steve Bendy. This drawing was done for an Art III class sophomore year in high school, and shows my interest and skill in minute details. Mr. Brakke, my art teacher invited me to work on this drawing during Burke’s open house and also for a demo at the Crossroads Mall. It was quite an honor as these honors went to older students.
Oil on Canvas Panel. 12x16. 1968. Steve Bendy. My mother wanted one of my paintings to hang in her kitchen and encouraged me to paint one for her. I set up a still life and took a Polaroid photo, which is what I painted from. I was actually very pleased with the results. I had not taken any formal painting classes yet. It hung in her kitchen for many, many years. Signed and dated, 1-26-1968.
Oil on Canvas Paper. 5x7. 1967. Steve Bendy. I painted this while at home during my sophomore year at Burke High School. I had a little studio setup in the basement but did not spend much time there, or paint much. I was still on my own as I had zero instruction in painting techniques. I am not sure why I decided to paint with a palette knife. Signed on back and dated 12-8-1967.
Oil on Canvas Paper. 12x16. 1966. Steve Bendy. Other than paint-by-numbers, this was my first oil painting. My cousin Terry Chappell was taking art classes at UNO and helped my parents purchase oil painting supplies for my 14th birthday. I was interested in the Roman Empire at the time and painted this from a picture in a book. The main problem was that I did not know how to mix colors or thin the paints.
Pastel on Paper. 12x18. 1963. Steve Bendy. Pirate movies also fascinated me and I can remember drawing quite a few battle scenes.
Pastel on Paper. 12x18. 1963. Steve Bendy. I drew the Fireball Junior from the TV cartoon show. Fireball Jr. separated from the mother ship to explore planets.
Pastel on Paper. 12x18. 1963. Steve Bendy. Fireball XL5 was a favorite TV cartoon of mine. I used the paper and pastel that came with the John Gnagy set to draw this.