In early childhood, Dr. Benyshek lived in a farmhouse, amidst a Czech immigrant community in Kansas. She earned a BFA (Wichita State University), an MFA (University of Washington), and a graduate certificate in the psychology of creativity, MA and PhD in humanistic and transpersonal psychology (Saybrook University). Benyshek attended the Pilchuck Glass School on a full scholarship and was an artist-in-resident at the Ucross Foundation, Wyoming. For 15 years, she taught visual art and dance in the bush villages of Alaska. Her research focuses on contemporary artists as shamans, with publications in the USA, UK, Poland, Hungary, and China.

Her artworks were included in group exhibits in west coast museums (Bellevue Museum of Art, Whatcom Museum of History and Art, Yakima Valley Museum, Coos Bay Museum, Corvallis Art Center, Museum of NW Art), with solo exhibits in Seattle, WA, Portland, OR, Sun Valley, ID, and Santa Fe, NM. Dr. Benyshek’s work is in the public art collections of the University of Washington Medical Center, Harborview Medical Center, King County Ethnic Heritage Collection, Glasmuseet of Ebeltoft, Denmark, and Snoqualmie Point Park. In 2022, OpenStudios selected Benyshek as the Botanica gardens artist-in-residence and, in 2024, she was awarded a Koch Cultural Trust grant.

In 2025, Dr. Benyshek will present “Contemporary Artists as Shamans: Near and Far,” at Harvester Arts. Scheduled solo exhibits may be seen at Reuben Saunders Gallery, and University of Michigan Health’s main gallery. Her work will be featured at the Clio Art Fair, New York City, May 8-11, with group exhibits at Harvester Arts and The Commerce Club at The National.

For me, making art is an act of service. In 2018, Kim Junghee, a mansin (master of 1000 spirits) from South Korea, initiated me as a shaman through a traditional Naerim Gut (initiation ritual). The shamanic model best explains my lived experience and “fits” with how and why I create. During daily meditation, I invite the spirits of nature to enter and speak through me.

When immersed in nature, I feel the presence of an inspiring life force which I translate into watercolor paintings and drawings. Detail photographs highlight layers of colors, brushwork, and elegant lines, bringing subtle details to the foreground. These photographs become symmetrical organic abstractions, with archival pigment ink prints establishing a foundation which is further developed with layers of acrylics, watercolor, gouache, graphite, oil and chalk pastels, to enriching color and adding texture.

Each unique mixed-media artwork represents the spirit of nature, providing access to a radiant, mystical, inspirited world. In this liminal place, viewers engage in meaning-making creative processes, connect intimately to self, the eternal cycle of life, and the cosmic soul of nature.

My creative process is supported and inspired by my Czech heritage, quantum physics, studies of life sciences, folk art, animism, and transpersonal psychology. My artwork integrates nonlinear time, reverie-provoking discontinuous space, intuitive combinations, heightened color, and ecstatic visionary experiences. I believe in the power of transcendent beauty as I create healing experiences for my audience.