Conversations with Aaron Benson

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Benson.

Hi Aaron, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
When I began college at the age of 18, I was way too immature to attend college and almost immediately dropped out. I bummed around the country for several years in a VW van until joining the Navy in 1979. After I was honorably discharged, I had a woman who encouraged me to give college another try. She taught me how to go to college and succeed starting with, “If the professor tells you to read the book, it means you need to study the book”.  I enrolled in the University of Tennessee as a Geology major but always took one Art class each semester.

The Art secretary continued to urge me to change my major to Art and I eventually did. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made in my life. I am a first-generation artist. I didn’t understand that you could be an artist as a vocation. I thought it was something you did when you got home from work. The University of Tennessee changed my life direction. I earned three degrees in the Arts. A BFA, MFA and a BS in Art Ed. In my first year out of grad school, I taught 2nd through 12th grade in a private school before being hired as a tenure-track, sculpture professor at a small school in Georgia.

Soon after, I won my first major public sculpture commission at Talladega School for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega Alabama. I was overwhelmed with the opportunity to make a large sculpture that was undergirded with meaning. We eventually started Benson Sculpture which includes my wife and our four children who are all artists or art helpers. Since that first public sculpture, we have built sculptures in 27 states and four countries. Our latest piece, The Trail of Truth, is five sculptures that tell the contribution of African Americans to the success of Jackson Madison County Tennessee.  We will do one work a year for the next 5 years and hopefully the city of Jackson will budget to continue it until the whole story is told in sculpture. We also have two public works in Nashville, Our Peace, Follow the Drinking Gourd at the Hermitage which tells the story of slavery in Tennessee, and Anchor in the Storm which tells the story of one of the communities in west Nashville devastated by the flood in 2010.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I would say that being an artist is never a smooth road. I’ve often said that being an artist is not something you do as much as it is a way of life you have chosen to live. Also, success at being an artist is a frame of reference. I would say I’ve been unbelievably successful because I’ve had such a rich life, mainly because of the arts. I’ve been able to travel widely, do work that I love doing, and learn a field that I find incredibly fascinating.

Was it financially, wildly successful? No, but as the old saying goes, “Money can’t buy you happiness”.  After the Navy, I realized that what I wanted was life experiences. I wanted to live a life very rich in beauty, see a lot of the natural world, and be inspired visually. I guess the greatest struggle I would say I’ve had is having much greater Art dreams than I could ever really realize. Artists are very much attuned to visions, and dreams, and making significant work that has a significant impact on the world. Here is an example; several years ago across America, many sculptures that upheld a certain way of life that others disagreed with were torn down and destroyed. I decided that if I could get the sculptures that they had torn down I would make another sculpture out of that material. I was unsuccessful, but I did think instead of tearing down sculptures, we should build a better sculpture. So, has it all been wonderfully successful? No, but has it mostly been a life successfully lived? Yes!!!

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I make large scale, public works, as well as smaller gallery work. I generally focus on works that uplift our contribution to the public good of a community or a group of people. I’ve made several works that celebrate the contributions African Americans have contributed to the success of specific communities.

We also work with Habitat for Humanity and Habitat for Humanity International and many of our sculptures, after being created and leased for a while are dismantled and used to build a low-income home in the community in which the sculpture was built. 

I am most proud of three projects. One project titled, Our Peace, Follow the Drinking Gourd, is the eternal burial site of 60 slaves unearthed in Nashville during a construction project. The sculpture is named after the song that slaves were taught to aid in their escape from slavery. The second one is The Seven Pillars, which is a massive project in West Tennessee that again tells the story of many African American individuals who made significant contributions to the success of their community. Out of this grew the last piece which is named The Trail of Truth and it’s an ongoing sculpture project that continues to tell that story. I don’t know that artistically anything I’ve done sets me apart from others.

I will say that 15 years ago, we decided to become Benson Sculpture LLC, and three of our children and my wife teamed up to begin to create sculptures all over the country and the world. This was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made and has not only allowed me to work with my family but also allowed us all to participate in large-scale public sculpture that tells a significant story that needs to be told.

What was your favorite childhood memory?
My father was a pastor, and when I was five years old, we moved to a small country church in East Tennessee. Behind that church was a mountain named Big Rock Mountain. At the top of that mountain are massive boulders strewn about the forest floor. Often after church and Sunday dinner my dad would take me by the hand and he and our family would hike up that mountain. I’ve never gotten over it as a small child walking through these massive sentinels in the woods. It continues to strongly impact the work I make today.

Contact Info:

• Website: aarontbenson.com zacbenson.com
• Facebook: Lee Betty Benson
• Other: https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/4854053710211880087?blogID=4854053710211880087#allposts

Image Credits
Hurrican’t Come Here No More, 60’/60’/8′, Sculpture Key West winner, Habitat for Humanity home eventually 2. Extreme Unction, 49″/49″/7″, 1 gram 24K gold, 10 grams Lapis Lazali, 100 grams human ash, 1000 grams lambs blood, 10,000 grams pure white pigment 3 New American Gothic Tapestry, 96″/48″/3″, all Walton’s TV show on VHS tape crocheted into a tapestry 4 Bethel, 3 acres, public sculpture, stone, two waterfalls, Anchor in the Storm, 28’/8’/5′, public sculpture, Nashville TN, Oasis, 100’/100’/16′, public sculpture, 6800 cubic yards of earth, boulders, stone, well, tree. 7. Immortality, 4’/12″/4″, 10,000 q-tips each with my DNA buried in amber buried in resin, and The Seven Pillars, 15 acres, public sculpture, 11,500 cubic yards of earth, TN marble boulders, trees