Tom Benson’s fascination with the sensuous properties of natural wood as an incredibly compelling artistic medium began as a boy in Atlanta when Tom whittled walking sticks into small works of art during hiking trips with his father and brother. Life would take a circuitous route through the Georgia Institute of Technology, a year studying at a university in Germany, and seven years as an engineer in the aerospace industry before Tom made his way back to the art world.

Beginning with a commission by the City of San Diego to create forty-three pieces of elaborately carved street art for the suburban community where he lived, Tom turned a part time hobby into his full time vocation when he left the aerospace industry to pursue his dream of becoming a wood sculptor. Quickly graduating from more commercial artistic ventures to art for its own sake, Tom began carving large animal pieces from such woods as maple, avocado, plantation grown Samoan mahogany and California Pepper.

“I love showing the wood off to its best advantage”, Tom says, “so I create large animal pieces that will allow me to expose the natural beauty of the wood, and still complement the animal form through slightly exaggerated expressions to capture the animal’s spirit. I’m not interested in advancing the myth of the “noble beast” through my work, instead, I want to show these creatures for the qualities they have, not the romantic qualities that are thrust upon them by society”.

To create some of his more complex works, Tom applies his engineering skills to the artistic process, often inventing new tools and equipment to achieve the desired effect. “I’m obsessed about incorporating an element of surprise in my pieces, things other artists might not think of including in their own work, or collectors might not expect to find in fine art sculpture, like the secret compartments I sometimes include, or the way other works are designed and assembled.”

“I want to make things with my hands that can be passed down from generation to generation” Tom says “so the challenge of figuring out how to turn an idea into reality is often the most exciting part of the process for me”. His passion for innovation, combined with a unique artistic talent has paid off with several awards, including a First Place award at the Del Mar Fair for a piece depicting several different animals clustered together under a piece of glass, as well as the Congressional Certificate of Merit from San Diego Congressman Bob Filner for the street art project.

His work is included in the collections of Joan Embry, ambassador for the world famous San Diego Zoo, and is represented by such galleries as Gallery One in Naples, Florida, Jungle Drums Gallery (also in Florida), American Craftsman in New York, and the Aurora Gallery in Anchorage, Alaska. His pieces have also just recently been selected to be included in the new mammal wing of the Smithsonian Institute.

 

HGTV recently did a small segment on Tom Benson. Click here to see it.