Barton Lidice Benes was born in Westwood, New Jersey, and educated in the early 1960s at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York. Benes became internationally known in the 1980s as the "money artist,” a period when he used recycled currency as a collage medium on sculptural and flat forms. More recently, Barton began making “Museum Pieces,” displays of collectible objects (often belonging to well-known personalities) and relics which he mounts, labels, and places in museum-like containers. The North Dakota Museum of Art’s Donor Wall, created by Barton, exemplifies this style. Another similar work, Ebb Tide, resulted from a commission by the North Dakota Museum of Art for its recent nationally known and award-winning flood exhibition. The work remains in the Museum's permanent collection.