Ben Caldwell Ben Caldwell is an award winning artist. His work has been featured in many national publications including Southern Home magazine, Victoria magazine, Cottage Journal magazine, Garden & Gun magazine, Southern Lady magazine, and Oprah magazine as well as features and appearances on television and radio. His work has been in museums and shown in galleries. Ben has created commissioned work for the governor of Tennessee, and the Ellis Island Family Heritage awards for the The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation out of copper preserved from the Registry Building at Ellis Island. In his own words:
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“I love forming metal. Copper feels like a suspended liquid as I’m working it, as if it’s flowing & wants to work with me to take on whatever shape I envision. The natural world & its incomparable beauty are one of my main sources of inspiration. After hiking the Appalachian Trail, my love of nature became a central focus in my art. Sometimes I begin with the classical proportions & forms of the historic American silver that surrounded me growing up, other pieces begin with an idea rather than a fully formed picture & I feel it out as I work the metal. This allows, opportunities to arise that I didn’t anticipate; serendipity takes over, leading me on an exciting, unplanned journey. I use traditional metalsmithing techniques including hammering, raising, & chasing by hand with traditional tools, but also tools of my own design. All of my materials, the purest available copper, silver & naturally-shed antler, are sourced in the USA to create each one-of-a kind piece in my Kingston Springs studio.”
Jessica Crouch Jessica Crouch is an inquisitive, flexible visual artist stirred by the play between light and shadow and fueled by her love for the creative process itself. For Crouch, the act of creation is everything: “I am a creator— this work is the air I breathe. I could not imagine a life without the ability to express my experience this way.” A full-time artist for the past eight years,
her diverse practice includes traditional oil paintings of wildlife and natural imagery, moody, hyper-detailed figure studies in high-contrast lighting, and modern, expressive abstract works designed to infuse beauty into everyday spaces. The daughter of an artist, Crouch considers her practice as part of a tradition as well as an opportunity to experiment: “As a child I pretty much had two choices for playtime— find adventures outside or create art.” Now a mother of two, her creative discipline (she paints daily in her home studio) and fervent curiosity are tools she intends to pass on to her children. “I want them to see me working towards something. Art is what drives me, frustrates me, challenges me, uplifts me, and pushes me to do my best. I want them to see that.” With a Studio Art degree from Austin Peay State University, Crouch’s figural works reveal an aptitude for sensory depth and nuanced color inspired by the striking contrasts characteristic of traditional Dutch oil paintings. She loves the laborious, slow layering of the medium that creates realistic dimension in her figural oil paintings, and she loves to balance that agonizingly detailed, representational work with freer, more fast-paced abstract pieces. “I
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