By Stacia Friedman

Most people do not want to talk about the skeleton in their closet. Marie Bender, 61, does not hesitate to reveal hers, however. “I keep it in the basement,” said the Ambler artist, who takes an avid interest not just in human anatomy but also in the skeletal systems of the birds, squirrels, mice and insects.

“Neighborhood kids are fascinated by what I do, and whenever they find a dead bird or chipmunk, they bring it to me,” she said. As a result, Bender has assembled her own miniature Museum of Natural History.

“Anatomy isn’t taught in most art schools,” said Bender who grew up in Flourtown and after graduating from Bishop McDevitt High School, studied painting at Temple/Tyler. “I had some really fabulous teachers at Tyler including Chuck Schmidt and Roger Anliker. To this day, their words run through my head when I work on a painting. They taught me that all painting is abstraction, whether you are a realist or an abstractionist.”

However, Bender was still eager to get to the “bare bones” of things and after earning her Bachelor’s Degree in Fine Arts at Tyler, she studied human anatomy at the University of the Arts with Martha Earlbacher, a leading realistic painter. “Martha died in 2013, but she continues to influence my work,” said Bender who displays in her living room a riveting, bald-headed, self-portrait by Earlbacher done when the artist was battling cancer.

Informed by her intimate understanding of what goes on under the flesh of people and animals, Bender creates still-life paintings that are anything but ordinary. She starts by finding objects that capture her interest. “Artists are observers. I walk around and pick up whatever catches my eye. Sticks, stones, sea shells.”

She then arranges her “treasures” on a table covered by a white cloth. The day I visited her studio, she was in the process of assembling a new still-life based on three brass bird cages of various sizes. Many of her paintings include crystal globes, a sliver of satin ribbon, eggs and birds. When Bender is satisfied with the arrangement, she floods it with a spotlight to create the strong light and shadow that give her work the surrealism found in the paintings of Salvador Dali and Georgia O’Keeffe. “I’m not a surrealist or a photo realist,” she said. “I’m more influenced by the Dutch Masters.”

That said, Bender’s paintings are startlingly contemporary. Take, for example, her painting “Spheres,” which features a marble ball inside a crystal vase with a cardinal in flight. Another painting, “Plumb Line,” shows several plumb bobs dangling on strings against a stormy sky above a table displaying an old-fashioned wood planer with wood curls. While these objects are a far cry from Vermeer’s paintings, Bender approaches them with the same reverence.

One of the unique and identifiable features of Bender’s work is the sense of vast space and light she creates by placing a blue sky in the background. Many of her skies are as idyllic as the Rococo skies of Fragonard, Boucher and Watteau. Others are threatening with dark clouds. “It all depends on what the still life demands,” she said. “I will spend weeks going through photos trying to get a feeling for what I want the sky to be doing.”

In addition to still-life paintings, Bender does landscapes. Her passion for nature is evident in “Bridge,” a small 8-by-8-inch oil painting which captures the beauty of the bridge over Wissahickon Creek at Valley Green. You can almost hear the water gurgling.

How does she do it? “I work on a painting for months, painting in translucent glazes, one color over the other, so the result is like looking through a stained glass window.” Because each painting is so time intensive, the artist works on several at once of various sizes from tiny to colossal.

Bender gets together with a group of artists once a month. “Thirty-five years ago, I was asked by another artist if I would be interested in splitting model fees. Now, a dozen of us meet at a studio in Fort Washington once a month. We work in different styles and mediums, but we are all paint figuratively. I’m what I call a social introvert. I’m content to be alone in my studio for long periods of time, balanced by working in a group.”

Formerly affiliated with Rosenfeld and Newman Galleries, Bender’s work is now on display at Profiles Gallery in Chestnut Hill. There, you will find limited edition, giclee prints of her paintings on paper and canvas. “It allows people to have a work of art without taking a second mortgage on their home, said Bender.

To view her original oil paintings, visit www.MarieBender.com. Stacia Friedman can be reached at staciafriedman@gmail.com.