Philomene Bennett is a founding member of the Kansas City Artists Coalition; on March 5, 1975 a large group of artists gathered in the Bennett’s and Lou Marak’s studio to address “How the Artist Can Benefit from Centralization.” Overwhelmingly the group felt a self-initiated organization was the only alternative to isolation, elitism, apathy, and ignorance. The ultimate result of that meeting was the incorporation of the Kansas City Artist Coalition in August 1976.

Philomene Bennett attended the University of Nebraska at Lincoln where she received her BFA in 1956. Bennett has exhibited in hundreds of solo, two-person, and group exhibitions in Kansas City and around the United States through her extensive career.

Bennett’s distinctively bright, contemporary paintings are a Kansas City staple that can be found in collections at the Kemper Museum and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art; National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington DC; Daum Museum in Sedalia, MO; Prudential Life Insurance in New York, NY; United Missouri Bank in Kansas City and Blue Springs, MO; Mutual Benefit Life in Kansas City, MO; Odyssian Technology in South Bend, IN; American Express in Salt Lake City, UT and many more.

Bennett taught a number of local artists including but not limited to Jane booth, Lowell Smithson, and Vickie Trotter. Along with her role founding KCAC, Bennett served as Board President in 1977.

“It’s all about trying to get the best out of people. And it’s certainly not going to be what I do. It’s gotta be what they do. And that, to me is the essence. It may take, and I’ve talked about it. It takes years and years and years. And determination and desire. Your want to be obsessed. It’s really obsession.”