Carol Benson received a BA in Art History and a BFA in Painting from the University of Washington, and an MFA in Painting from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

She joined Blackfish Gallery in 2004.  Carol’s fictionalized memoir, The Old Lonesome, about growing up in northeastern Montana, was published in 2006.  She wrote a collection of tanka poems, published as Pandemic Poems in 2020.

Carol taught classes for children and high school students for over 20 years in the Portland Public Schools Talented and Gifted program; the Saturday Academy; Arts in Education; Young Audiences; and the PNCA Anna B. Crocker program.

She was a member of two dance companies, Mythobolus and the Westernaires.