Artist Spotlight

If you are an artist, or know of a local artist, email WMeditor@gatehousemedia.com. Fair warning, in order to publish your work, you’ll need to provide a small bio and high resolution digital copies of some of your art. We reserve the right to choose what will run, based on resolution and what will reproduce best on newsprint.

Benson Bercovitz is an 83-year-old retiree living in West Boylston. Born in the Bronx, New York, he studied engineering at NYU College of Engineering, getting a degree in 1958. Over the years he’s had a number of enjoyable creative hobbies, including model making, black and white photography, stained glass and making pictures out of cork and wood. About 18 years ago he faced a situation of possibly having a physical disability which could prevent him from enjoying a part of his life which always brought him much creative pleasure. He looked for a hobby in which he could express his creativity, working in a small, confined space, and would not be very messy and have people say, “Hey that’s real cool.” He ended up with making pictures out of colored Duck Tape. He found that the longer that he worked with Duck Tape, the more he enjoyed it. Luckily, the physical disability never got very serious, but the enjoyment of working with Duck Tape continues to grow.