Benny’s Story

Benny McAdams was a Portland artist and calligrapher with a particular interest in colored pencil work. Benny received part of his art training at the art school of the University of Texas in Austin and almost got his B.A. in art, but that last year he changed his major to English. “I was very glad I did,” he says. “That way, art school didn’t ruin my art. I learned a lot of techniques and ways of doing my own research and both those things were very, very valuable. I also had a lettering course way back in my first year in college in East Texas and it was under a wonderful teacher, Gaddis Geeslin. I’m still picking up on that course and incorporating some of its techniques . .. but in the pencil of course. It was mostly drawn letters, built up letters. So I was already predisposed toward built-up letters.”

In 1980, Benny left Texas to come to Portland to study Italic under Jaki Svaren. “I loved her beautiful, elegant letterforms, and it was the most natural thing on earth to start translating them to colored pencil, because I’ve always used colored pencil. And all the techniques that I’ve used both for myself and in teaching are techniques that I’ve learned myself simply because I wanted to produce a certain effect and I didn’t know anybody that was doing it, so I had to invent a technique myself. I had to just . . . roll it over in my mind and think what would produce this technique the best. So that’s the way that a lot of these techniques were born.” 

Benny wrote all his notes, poems, and lists in italic to keep in practice. Besides drawing and italic, Benny was fond of traditional and modern versals. He often worked on black paper because it makes the colors so luminous and jewel-like. With the black paper, too, the pores add a richness and depth, and look more a part of the drawing. 

He taught classes nationwide, at Calligraphy Northwest, and Portland Community College, and led small drawing groups at the homes of students, including Maggie Rogers’s home.  Benny was known as a forgiving and gentle teacher, giving individual attention to each student. He said, “I don’t ever want to violate the student’s integrity. I ask before touching their drawings.” Benny valued the exploration of new techniques, and often worked a little bit on each student’s drawings to show them new techniques. 

From the PSC newsletter summer 1994 update