With a deft twist of his hand, Benjamin Victor can bring a twinkle to someone's eye, a gentle curve to their hand, or a smile to their face.
The Boise sculptor is the only living artist with four works in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington, D.C., showcasing Sarah Winnemucca (Nevada), Norman Borlaug (Iowa), Standing Bear (Nebraska), and Daisy Bates (Arkansas).
“I love the human figure,” Victor said. “As humans, we relate to art. It inspires us.”
Victor won the national competition for Winnemucca’s statue in 2005.
“To enter, you needed three full-size sculptures, and I met the bare minimum, having only completed three at that point in my career.”
But after presenting his Winnemucca maquette to the committee, something resonated.
“And the rest is history. I got to do a sculpture for the U.S. Capitol while I was still in college, so it was a pretty amazing time.”
Following then-Nevada Governor Kenny Guinn’s guidance to ‘strike while the iron was hot’, Victor pursued his sculpting career immediately.
“It turned out to be really great advice,” he said. “I kept getting commission after commission.”
Form and Fashion
Before breaking out the clay, Victor researches extensively, like reading Bates’ memoir or walking a portion of the Trail of Tears Standing Bear traversed.
“I study their histories,” he said. “That’s how I decide on the design — how they’re posed, what they’re wearing, and what they’re doing.”
He also collaborates with historians, communities, and descendants.
“I just listen and try to hear what they want to see, how they feel,” he said. “With Daisy Bates, the Black community in Little Rock was so helpful. They just wanted to see (her) shown with the joy and beauty and dignity that she had. That's what I try to impart in the artwork.”
A Global Sensation
For original works, Victor has found inspiration in movement.
“I worked with these beautiful, amazing dancers,” he said. “And Dayna Marshall did this complex, beautiful pose all in the air. I was taken by it. When I was working on the sculpture and the design of it, I saw an angel. I could just visualize these wings on her and visualize her rising up.”
“The Angel” and “Bathsheba,” another sculpture, both went viral.
“I didn't intend or expect them to be such a sensation,” he said. “I mean, think of the media I use. It's not like a movie or something that you think, ‘Oh, millions of people are going to watch this movie that I make.’ When you're making a sculpture, it's like you're living in the Renaissance, or a long past time period. It’s an age-old trade, sculpting, and so you wouldn't think modern people would just latch onto it in that way. It's just crazy to me as an artist to think this image that I’ve made really hit people so powerfully over cultures all over the world.”
Studio Sweet Studio
Whether it’s a commission or his own piece, you’ll find Victor in his private Boise studio.
Teaming up with local artists, mold makers, wax experts, and metal workers, along with multiple foundries, Victor crafts clay sculptures that become bronze masterpieces.
“They always want to get everything just right up to my standard, because at the end of the day, it's artwork that I sign,” he said. “They understand it's got to be something I'm proud of. I love being here and doing my artwork here. We're always growing in the arts.”
For those wanting to pursue art themselves, Victor offered this: “I didn't know I was going to make it in sculpture when I started out, and that wasn't even the goal. The goal really is the journey. When you're creating art, you have to love and enjoy doing it. If you look at it that way, you'll always be a success because you'll enjoy it.”
To view more of Victor’s art, visit benjaminvictor.com.