Ben Wood is a multidisciplinary artist and emerging conservator whose work draws on a foundation in woodworking, textiles, ceramics, and graphic design. Trained in traditional techniques—from throwing pottery and building furniture to weaving on a loom and repairing textiles—they bring a deep understanding of materials and processes to their conservation interests.
Their practice is rooted in the belief that art shapes identity, fosters connection, and preserves culture. This perspective fuels their passion for conservation, where they aim to care for historic objects with the same respect and intentionality they bring to their own work.
Currently pursuing a BFA in Craft/Material Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, Ben finds meaning in the stories our objects tell—who we are, how we labored, and how we loved.
What Art Means to Me
“I feel within an impulse, perhaps that divine impulse which has moved all races in all ages and in all climes, to record in enduring form the emotions that stir within.
I may model these emotions in clay, carve them in wood, hew them in stone, or forge them in steel. I may weave them in textile, paint them on canvas or voice them in song: but whichever I do I must harken always to the song of the lark, and the melody of the forest and stream and respond to the color of the rose and the structure of the lily, so that my creation may be in accord with God’s laws and the universal laws of order, perfect fitness and harmony.
Moreover, I must make my creation good and honest and true, so that it may be a credit to me after I am dead, revealing to others something of the pleasure which I found in its making.
Then will my creation be Art whether I be poet or painter, blacksmith or cobbler, for I shall have labored honestly and lovingly in the realization of an ideal.”
— C. Valentine Kirby