I built a work in my voice, using the general form of William Rinehart's (1825-1874) "Sleeping Children". Through a three-dimensional photogrammetry scan, I imported his original "Sleeping Children" and envisioned my remix by adhering, loosely, to the lying forms.

locally-sourced hand-hewn wood, lumber, welded steel, plywood vinyl siding, rice paper, drywall, fabric, screws, paint

43" x 156" x 108"

I built a work in my voice, using the general form of William Rinehart's (1825-1874) "Sleeping Children". Through a three-dimensional photogrammetry scan, I imported his original "Sleeping Children" and envisioned my remix by adhering, loosely, to the lying forms.

locally-sourced hand-hewn wood, lumber, welded steel, plywood vinyl siding, rice paper, drywall, fabric, screws, paint

43" x 156" x 108"

I built a work in my voice, using the general form of William Rinehart's (1825-1874) "Sleeping Children". Through a three-dimensional photogrammetry scan, I imported his original "Sleeping Children" and envisioned my remix by adhering, loosely, to the lying forms.

locally-sourced hand-hewn wood, lumber, welded steel, plywood vinyl siding, rice paper, drywall, fabric, screws, paint

43" x 156" x 108"

Built of Rough-hewn red oak and poplar beams, local-sourced flagstone, ½” steel pins, aircraft cable & tensioning turnbuckles, "Midway" is the most brute of materials made elegant. It is visual poetry with a nod to traditional Japanese carpentry.

wood, stone, steel pegs

5.5’ x 6’ x 20’

Built of Rough-hewn red oak and poplar beams, local-sourced flagstone, ½” steel pins, aircraft cable & tensioning turnbuckles, "Midway" is the most brute of materials made elegant. It is visual poetry with a nod to traditional Japanese carpentry.

wood, stone, steel pegs

5.5’ x 6’ x 20’

This was a very quick, full-scale attempt at realizing my on-going "Smoke" project as a hanging amalgamation of polygons created by manipulating steel studs from the commercial construction trade.

3-5/8 in. x 25-Gauge Galvanized Steel Wall Framing Stud, self-tapping screws, aluminum cable, turnbuckles

12' x 20' x 8'

This is a scale model of a 3-dimensional laser scan of smoke.

birch wood, glue, rice paper

14” x 14” x 32”

An architectural meditation on the sport of boxing and the concept of failure.

locally-sourced hand-hewn timber: red oak and poplar; local fieldstone, steel pins

7.5'x10'x10'

An architectural meditation on the sport of boxing and the concept of failure.

locally-sourced hand-hewn timber: red oak and poplar; local fieldstone, steel pins

7.5'x10'x10'

The "Physical Manipulations" work was installed in the gallery then a group of professional skateboarders were invited to skate on it. In turn, the work was destroyed, changing it from an aesthetic object to a functional one, with all of the implications therein.

3/4” B/C plywood, Fibre-X brand masonite, 11 GA welded steel, 1/2” lag bolts, drywall screws

14’ x 14.25’ x 12.5’

Ben Ashworth flyin'
Photo: John Shinkle

Skaters, artists and curator Cynthia Connolly on the piece after the session.

“Physical Manipulations of Structural Surfaces - An Homage to Skating” was commissioned by Arlington County for the inaugural exhibition in their Artisphere Gallery, titled "Skateboard Side Effects". This is one of my favorite photos of the entire process and, really, one of my favorite photos ever as it embodies many of my loves in one single image.

3/4” B/C plywood, Fibre-X brand masonite, 11 GA welded steel, 1/2” lag bolts, drywall screws

14’ x 14.25’ x 12.5’

Great photo: Page Carr

This was a work built as a meditation on the life of a friend and mentor using the unrelenting conditions of the desert as a vehicle for the work's slow demise.

local-sourced stones, 1/8” Baltic birch plywood, glue, local-sorced fill dirt, heat, wind, time

temporal work: no longer exists

This was a work built as a meditation on the life of a friend and mentor using the unrelenting conditions of the desert as a vehicle for the work's slow demise.

locally-sourced stones, birch wood, glue, local fill dirt, wind, heat and time

3.5’ x 6’ x 20”

This was a work built as a meditation on the life of a friend and mentor using the unrelenting conditions of the desert as a vehicle for the work's slow demise.

A temporary work that re-built a piece of 1850s jail-cell from the gold-rush town of Goldwell, Nevada. It was a play on weight and scale - finishing the fortress of stone (destroyed by time) with paper and light.

architectural relic, ⅛” birch plywood, hot glue, rice paper, string, metal spikes, illumination, heat,
wind and time

64” x 30” x 62”

A temporary work that re-built a piece of 1850s jail-cell from the gold-rush town of Goldwell, Nevada. It was a play on weight and scale - finishing the fortress of stone (destroyed by time) with paper and light.

architectural relic, ⅛” birch plywood, hot glue, rice paper, string, metal spikes, illumination, heat,
wind and time

64” x 30” x 62”

This is a detail of the interior structure of the work "Rudder"

1/8” Baltic birch plywood, rice paper, glue

6’ x 3.6’ x 7’

"Winglet" is installed flush to the gallery wall. Although heavy, it appears very light ; shadows and highlights complete the work.

12 GA welded steel and rod, rice paper, glue

28” x 26” x 24”

Large objects that can be lifted with a single finger - a play on weight and scale viewed through my fascination with flight and duality; airplanes make the intangible (air) tangible (flight).

birch plywood, steel and rod, rice paper, glue

left to right: 6’ x 3.6’ x 7’, 8.5’ x 1’ x 34”, 28

Alternately titled "Monument to Failure", I made this work after extensive research into the nature of objects superseding their structural limits (I backed my car into old steel lockers). In Washington DC, there are a great many monuments to "winning" and "success" (mostly in the shape of stone phalluses), this was the idea of a monument to "losing".

12 GA welded Steel

5'8" x 2' x 2'

birch wood, glue

"Captain Ahab" was a way to give structure to failure using the voice of commercial construction. In terms of time, labor and money, my quest to make this object almost broke me.

dimensional lumber, 12 GA steel, lag-bolts, glue

16’ x 53’ x 12’

Photo: Page Carr

An architectural intervention weaving its way across Transformer's ceiling taking it's structure from poetry.

dimensional lumber, welded steel, sheetrock, screws, concrete anchors

12.5’ x 12.125’ x 8’

An architectural intervention weaving its way across Transformer's ceiling taking it's structure from poetry.

dimensional lumber, steel, sheetrock, screws, concrete anchors

dimensions variable

My conception of a monument to the great Washington, DC native, Marvin Gaye. Crafted from a locally-sourced 100+ year old cedar tree, it is inscribed on three sides with the words "taxes", "death" and "trouble". The fourth side is finished glassy smooth.

locally-sourced cedar, local fieldstone

5'7" x 16" x 20"