Johnye Bennett is a Richmond, Virginia-based painter working in acrylic, oil, and mixed media. An expressionist at heart, she moves between abstraction and the natural world — often within the same canvas — guided by color, feeling, and the rhythms of the botanical world around her.
Bennett came to painting after a distinguished career with the Virginia Senate. Retirement, for her, was not a retreat but an opening — a chance to give full expression to the creativity that had always been part of her nature. What began as exploration quickly became devotion. She now paints daily in a private studio behind her home, producing large-scale works — most running 36×48 or 48×60 inches — that command space and reward sustained looking.
Committed to deepening her craft, Bennett has sought out master instructors through workshops across the country, bringing a disciplined curiosity to a practice that is nonetheless rooted in intuition and joy. Her work is held in notable collections throughout Virginia, including the Virginia General Assembly Building, as well as Westminster Canterbury, VCU Medical Center, and Cedarfield Retirement Community, in addition to numerous private residences.
View Johnye Bennetts’ collection at the Stravitz Gallery.