In North Carolina, Ben Strear sculpts and carves wood sculptures that feature detailed patterns inspired by ancient artifacts and structures.
Artist: Colorado native who was born and grew up in Longmont. He graduated with a BFA in furniture design from the Rhode Island School of Design.
“The furniture design program was great for me because it was a great mix of fine craft and sculpture, funneled through a utilitarian format,” said Strear. “It was where I really began to explore relief carving in wood and different ways to overlay patterns onto forms.”
After graduating in 2006, Strear was a resident artist at the Arrowmont School of Arts in Gatlinburg, TN, where he focused on carving turned forms.
After the year-long residency, he moved to NYC and took nearly a decade long pause from doing his own work. During this time, Strear primarily worked in the high end millworking industry as a fabricator, design-engineer and project manager.
In 2016, Strear and his family relocated to the Lake Norman area of North Carolina and he began doing his my own work again.
Studio: Since 2020, Strear has been working out of his home studio in Greensboro, NC.
In the beginning: Grew up in a family (his mom is a painter) that had an appreciation for the arts and he loved working with his hands to create objects at an early age.
Art & materials: Finely detailed wood sculptures and wall panels embellished with both shallow relief and chip carving. Bass wood, which is relatively easy to carve and takes paint well, is a go-to material.
What’s popular: A series of turned forms ($5,000) that were popular but incredibly difficult to make because the scale of the carving was so small.
They were turned cherry wood, solid and cracked, and often dyed black. The forms were covered with one of Strear’s favorite patterns (a tessellating array of triangles resembling a bird’s mouth) that he developed and still uses.
Process:
- Begins by hand drawing and sketching forms and patterns.
- After a good foundation design, moves to drawing in CAD. Because of his background in commercial millwork, Strear is reliant on 3D modeling to really nail down how he is going to build something and how he will lay out the carving.
- After drafting is done, he hand makes templates and begins doing material layups and sculpting.
- After sculpting, he goes through a tedious process of laying out the patterning to carve. He carves using a variety of chisels and gouges and wood burning tools. If the grain is difficult he will use grinders, followed by finishing with gouges.
- After carving, he uses a wire brush to even out surface quality, followed by paint or dye and a sealant.
Favorite tools: Primarily Swiss Made carving tools. Also a few skew chisels that he customizes to suit his style.
Inspirations:
- Art history books and image libraries of ancient artifacts and antiquities from all over the world from throughout human history. They all share a common trait of being heavily embellished with patterning, said Strear.
- Patterns on wall reliefs and steles from Assyrian and Babylonian civilizations. Patterns include those on hair, feathers, clothing embellishments and vegetation.
“I am really intrigued by this idea of compound layering of pattern and texture,” said Strear.
Awards/honors: In 2018, Strear was the recipient of The Center for Art in Wood’s Bob Stocksdale International Excellence in Wood Award.
Fun commission: A ceramicist asked him to make a mallet for hammering out clay slabs.
“It was cartoonishly large and fun to make,” said Strear. “I like smaller quick projects that are tangential to what I would usually make.”
Recent project: A series of wall panels inspired by medieval triptych panels.
“I’m really trying to work on using my fractal style of carving direction,” said Strear. “And hope to explore more embellishments like gold leafing, incising and painting techniques.”
Upcoming event: Strear will be teaching a carving workshop Sept. 7 at the Sawtooth School for Visual Art in Winston-Salem.
What’s new: Smaller, more production-based items, such as platters and vases similar to work he sold at craft shows pre-pandemic. Available via his website by fall.
Where to buy: strear.work. Also for commissions.
Get social: Instagram: @benstrear
