Ben started working wood as a small child, gluing blocks together and banging his fingers with a tiny hammer. Ben's dad is a long time professional woodworker so Ben was fortunate enough to grow up around the craft. Ben has worked at various times in cabinetry/furniture making and carpentry but took a hiatus while in graduate school. He rediscovered his love of woodworking when he became interested in old hand tools and building/rehabbing some of these wonderful classic devices. He has since expanded to incorporate a range of hand and power tools into his work but continues to be fascinated with the simple machines that enable us to create beautiful things. Ben worked for many years in ad hoc and shared spaces, carrying a small collection of tools and exploring much of the marquetry and kumiko that has been incorporated into his work in part as an adaptation to non traditional work spaces. Since the end of 2023, Ben has been fortunate enough to have a very small but well equipped studio space at his home in southeast Portland. This has enabled him to further expand and explore his design and building experience. Ben has had a piece and some of his process work accepted for publication in Fine Wood Working magazine and has participated in local woodworking guild shows in the Willamette Valley.
"I grew up on a small hill in rural Maine and spent most of my time wandering around in the woods. This focus on the natural world has pervaded much of my life and has inspired a lifelong fascination with forests and trees. Wood is an amazing medium to work with because it allows for such a wide range of shapes, techniques and imagination in its use. Although I have dabbled in 'pure' sculpture at various points, furniture, broadly defined, is my primary focus and first love in the arts. I am continuously motivated to design and create beautiful things that also serve a purpose in our daily lives. Woodworking and furniture making also allows for an amazing range of artistic expression but also a continual acquisition of knowledge in the pursuit of mastering new techniques and processes. I am certainly a design forward artist and I try to design unfettered by what can actually be built or makes sense, and then think about the practical aspects of construction. I like to incorporate elements of nature into my work but am otherwise interested in combining geometric shapes and patterns with tasteful ornamentation. As with many things in my life, I am motivated by a challenge and I am constantly thinking about new designs, difficult joinery and how to make interesting objects that I have not seen before. Following my interest in nature and my local environment, I focus my material choices on locally harvested, domestic North American hard and soft woods." |
Media: Wood
Studio Number: 51
Address: 3910 Southeast 74th Avenue Portland OR 97206
Community: SE Portland
Studio Number: Wheelchair accessible
Email: brobertspierel@gmail.com
Website: haystackmountainfurniture.com
