Artist, memoirist, and essayist Yarrott Benz was born in Nashville and has undergraduate and graduate degrees from Vanderbilt University and University of Pennsylvania. He has written about architecture's seminal role in art history and the psychology of visual trends. Having taught art history and architecture for many years at Friends Seminary in New York City and Sierra Canyon School in Los Angeles, he now lives with his husband Jeroen Jurg in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he continues full-time studio work.