Elaine Melotti Schmidt is an American educator, philanthropist, art curator and collector."San Antonio couple endows $50,000 award for female painters" San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2023-10-06.
Career A Michigan native, Melotti Schmidt is best known as an educator."Meet Elaine Schmidt of The Bennett Prize in Downtown Chicago" Voyage Chicago. Retrieved 2023-10-05. She received her doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies from Temple University in Philadelphia and worked in schools on three continents."Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt" M Live. Retrieved 2023-09-05. Her areas of specialization include early childhood, special education, second language learners, and at-risk student instruction. She served from 2002 to 2013 as founding principal of the Barron/Sara Isaacs Early Childhood School in the Plano Independent School District near Dallas."New early childhood school dedicated to namesake" Plano Star Courier. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
Melotti Schmidt is married to Steven Alan Bennett and they have an extensive art collection of works by women figurative realist painters."Supporter Spotlight: Steven Alan Bennett and Dr. Elaine Melotti Schmidt" Frye Museum Blog. Retrieved 2023-10-06. Their collection contains several hundred works and is composed exclusively of works depicting women by women painters."Dr. Elaine M. Schmidt talks about collecting and curating" The Artist Next Level Podcast. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
To further support the type of work they collect, Melotti Schmidt and Bennett established The Bennett Prize for Women Figurative Realists ("The Bennett Prize") in 2016."Groundbreaking Event Planned for Muskegon Museum Expansion" US News & World Report. Retrieved 2023-09-28. The competition awards $50,000 biennially to a woman figurative realist painter following a juried competition. The Prize also sponsors a traveling exhibition of the works of the ten finalists."A $50,000 Biennial Prize Recognizing Women Figurative Realist Painters" Fine Art Connoisseur. Retrieved 2023-09-28."First-of-its-kind prize aims to propel careers of women artists" Pittsburgh Foundation. Retrieved 2023-09-28. The Bennett Prize has been awarded three times since inception and has recognized 30 women painters as finalists."First-of-its-kind prize aims to propel careers of women artists" Black Tie Magazine. Retrieved 2023-09-28."The $50,000 Bennett Prize is Back for Its Third Edition" ARTnews. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
She has curated art exhibitions including “Visions of Venus” at the Zhou B Art Center in Chicago in 2018;"Risking Rebuke in the #MeToo Milieu: A Review of “Visions of Venus” at the Zhou B Art Center" Newcity Art. Retrieved 2023-09-08. “Inside Out: Outside In” at the RJD Gallery in Sag Harbor, New York, in 2019 and “Story Tellers” at Flinders Lane Gallery in Australia in 2020."Internationally Curated: Story Tellers" Flinders Lane Galleries. Retrieved 2023-10-05. In 2019, she co-curated with her husband “Secondary Meanings” at the Zhou B Center"#102: Secondary Meanings" PoetsArtists. Retrieved 2023-10-05. and then in 2021, she and Bennett curated “Iconic” and “Painting the Figure Now IV” at the Wausau Museum of Contemporary Art in Wausau, Wisconsin."Port Moody painter will show "iconic" work in an American museum this summer" Tri-City News. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
In 2022, Melotti Schmidt and Bennett made a $12 Million gift to the Muskegon Museum of Art,"Muskegon Museum of Art to break ground on $11.2M expansion with spotlight on art by women" MiBiz. Retrieved 2023-09-28. the host museum for the Bennett Prize competition, which included a monetary donation along with art from their collection."Muskegon Museum of Art breaks ground on new expansion, celebrates $12 Million donation" WZZM. Retrieved 2023-09-28. In February 2025, the Bennett-Schmidt Pavilion, a 26,000-square-foot expansion,"See inside $15.4M expansion putting this Michigan art museum on the map" M Live. Retrieved 2025-02-27. opened at the museum doubling its size."Muskegon Museum of Art to unveil $15.4 million expansion this February" WZZM. Retrieved 2025-02-27."Muskegon Museum of Art transforms into ‘destination’ with $15.4M expansion" M Live. Retrieved 2025-02-27. The opening featured a new gift of 70 paintings on view for the event for a total of over 150 paintings from their collection donated to the museum."Bennett Collection Of Women Realists Opening At Expanded Muskegon Museum Of Art" Forbes. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
The Collection Melotti Schmidt and Bennett's personal collection has been compiled over many years. The Bennett Collection is composed of historic works including pieces by Mary Cassatt, Artemisia Gentileschi,"Art Herstory Adds Five New Note Card Designs for Spring 2021" Art Herstory. Retrieved 2023-09-06. Elaine de Kooning, Sarah Miriam Peale, Agnes Martin, and Suzanne Valadon. Among the living artists represented in the collection are major works by Julie Bell, Margaret Bowland, Zoey Frank, Xenia Hausner, Andrea Kowch, Katie O’Hagan, Harmonia Rosales, Alyssa Monks, Annie Brito Hodgin,"Dealers Are Doing Brisk Business at a Smaller and ‘More Intentional’ Expo Chicago" ARTnews. Retrieved 2026-08-11."Expo Chicago’s local focus pays off as Midwestern collectors, institutions buoy sales" The Art Newspaper. Retrieved 2026-08-11. SuSu, and Kathrin Longhurst,"Major new work by Kathrin Longhurst purchased by The Bennett Art Collection" NandaHobbs.com. Retrieved 2023-09-08. among others."The Collection" The Bennett Collection. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
Philanthropy Melotti Schmidt and her husband are supporters of the charity Friends of Kenyan Orphans, which provides food and shelter along with K-12 education to orphans in Kenya."San Antonio collectors champion women artists with Bennett Prize, Muskegon Museum gift" San Antonio Express-News. Retrieved 2023-10-05. In addition, the couple sponsors The Bennett-Schmidt Lectures on the Higher Aim of Art at Studio Incamminati."The Bennett- Schmidt Lecture Series on the Aim of Art" Studio Incamminati. Retrieved 2023-09-08. a school encouraging contemporary figurative realism in Philadelphia as well as the Olmos Ensemble of San Antonio, a classical music group."Donors" Olmos Ensemble. Retrieved 2023-09-05.
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