Benita Brewer is a local artist who is currently the Director of the Illinois Watercolor Society, Membership Chair for the Transparent Watercolor Society of America, and a signature member of the National Watercolor Society. Benita earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) from Indiana University and her Master of Fine Arts (MFA) from the University of Cincinnati. After several years of working as a graphic designer, photographer, and web developer she became an Assistant Professor at Purdue University - Fort Wayne teaching visual and multi-media design. In 2010, Benita and her family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma where she began painting full time and joined the Focal Point Artists, a co-op gallery and studio. Benita now continues to paint and teaches watercolor at the Dupage Art League.

For Benita, painting is a form of storytelling and her ideas often start with a personal connection to an object or place. It is the spark she uses to develop a composition that reflects a specific memory but is more abstract and universal in its message. The story may be hers, but she hopes viewers interpret the image from their perspective and the painting becoming a talisman for their own memories.