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Artist Spotlight:
A testament to his process
Ben Caldwell is a classically trained painter, copper and silver smith, musical instrument builder, and sculptor
Trained at the Studio School of New York under Charles Cajori, an abstract expressionist who exhibited with William de Kooning in the 1960s.
BFA from Tufts University and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston.
If you like the look of copper, especially hammered copper it’s best to start with the work of Ben Caldwell.
His one-of-a-kind creations are functional, beautiful and timeless.
The first thing to look for is the hammered pattern or really the lack thereof. Each facet, each angle that captures the light is a single hit of the hammer. It is perfectly placed to shape the metal but follows no discernible pattern like you would see from a machine.
Second you’ll notice the organic form that sprouts into the delicate venation of leaves or loops in the vine handle to provide that perfect fulcrum for a thumb or forefinger.
Third is what you can’t see in an image. The copper is work hardened by all of those hits of the hammer. It provides strength in what looks like a delicate handle. Heavier than you might expect but intuitively feels like the correct weight in your hand.
Ben Caldwell
His father, a doctor and patron of the arts, amassed a large collection of American and English silver tableware. It was always accessible. Caldwell took for granted that the family used silverware from the 17th and 19th centuries.
When Caldwell started handcrafting his own works from copper and silver many years later, he knew how to shape them by instinct.
“I know what a ladle’s supposed to look like,” he says. “I had all these forms in my head that I never knew were there. I had just absorbed it.”
He studied painting and sculpture, earning a fine arts degree from Tufts University and pursuing further studies at The Studio School of New York, Harvard University, and The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. For a decade, he made fine musical instruments.
His path shifted when a friend of Caldwell’s father, a nationally recognized metal artist named Terry Talley, invited Caldwell to be his apprentice. Talley learned to work with metal under the G.I. Bill after he returned from Vietnam and fashioned sculptures and housewares from copper and silver for the rest of his life. When he approached Caldwell, he was suffering from lymphoma and was eager to pass on his skill to a young person in order to preserve the art.
In 1999, Caldwell quit his job and spent the next year studying under Talley at his rural Tennessee studio. He delivered pizzas at night to pay the bills. The financial risk was worth it to Caldwell: The connection he felt to the medium was like nothing he’d experienced as an artist.
Today, Caldwell works out of his Nashville studio, where he creates housewares and sculpture made from extra-thick sheets of electrical-grade copper, the purest available. His silver-plated goods are fashioned from copper and quadruple plated with jeweler’s silver to last many generations.
Caldwell starts and finishes each piece by hand. Many of the tools he uses he fashioned himself, including a custom mechanical hammer that he connected to a slow, variable-speed motor.
His designs are a testament to his process. Many of Caldwell’s pieces are influenced by plant life, with florid lines atypical of most tableware, such as this set of gingko leaf salad tongs. The handle on his ice scoop may look delicate, but it feels substantial and comforting in your hand.
“When something is beautiful and it works well and it’s good quality, it really adds something to your life,” he says. “That’s the service that I offer.”
Ben Caldwell's designs are a testament to his process. Many of his pieces are influenced by plant life, with florid lines atypical of most tableware. The handle may look delicate, but it feels substantial and comforting in your hand.
Copper is hand hammered, worked, and handles riveted into the flowing organic design. Then the piece is quadruple silver plated.
It literally means that four times the amount of pure silver is used compared to a standard silver plate. It is a process that dates back to the later 19th century and was reserved for the highest quality pieces. Using four times the amount of silver is intrinsically more expensive but it also means that it is more durable.
The most important fact is that these pieces, however beautiful, were always intended to be used.
Please email or call us with any questions at (773) 830-4005.
