Pinching pennies, molding metal

By Lauren M. Whaley, 2-18-07

	Caption: The four branches of Roth's "Silvercress" reach up to the sky from the patio entranceway to Jackson Hole's Muse Gallery

With big eyes that dart behind geeky glasses, blackened hands from metal shavings and a notebook filled with scribbled thoughts and sketches, artist Ben Roth is always on the go.

The 35-year-old tries to keep his idea notebook in his pocket, but often resorts to napkins, especially when out to breakfast with friends for the $4 Working Man’s Special at Bubba’s Bar-B-Que.

On the tables of the local greasy spoon, Roth invented the Trucker’s Latte by biting a pin-sized hole in a creamer and squirting it from 12 inches above his coffee to get a foamy, steamed effect. He comes up with many of his ideas for art there, too, over runny eggs and syrup-soaked pancakes.

One morning, he showed friends a photo of a face behind a burka, the woman’s dark eyes blazing

“Wouldn’t it be rad to carve this from the hood of a car?” He asked. Roth’s voice completes a hyper-energized portrait of the artist. When he asks the simple question, friends can’t help but get excited, even at the crumpled photo ripped from the pages of The Week.

And they’re right to follow Roth’s enthusiasm. In just a few days, the eyes from the magazine stare out from a navy blue hood mounted on Roth’s workshop walls.

Much of his art isn’t so political, he said. A lot of his creations are inspired by the natural world.

“I’m crazy about nature, so that’s where many of my ideas come from,” Roth said. “I really care about the environment, so I try to make it a point in my art, point it out, celebrate it.”

He makes these scenes and things come to life in sculptures like the seven-foot tall “Silvercress,” modeled after the miniscule pennycress plant, and the metal daddy longlegs.

“Sometimes the ideas are simple, like the daddy longlegs,” he said. “I just saw a daddy longlegs and thought, ‘oh my god what an incredible animal, what a beautiful shape.’ I don’t think people realize what a great creature this is.”

Local waterway Flat Creek comes alive on his two tables, one aluminum, one wood, with the river gauged along the tables’ spines.

He even does people, like the collarbone bookends and the stunning sculpture named after the moon.

“Luna,” made of welded circular metal pieces, depicts a pregnant woman’s belly and breasts. The way he’s sculpted her, it looks like she’s emerging from water, illuminated by moonlight.

Roth is manic, meticulous and mad … in a good way. And he is the news this month because 17 of his sculptures are on display and up for sale at the high-end Muse Gallery in Jackson.

“His work is fabulous,” said Sarah Lustfield, fine art consultant. “His craftsmanship is impeccable. … His work is unique for Jackson Hole.”

His show,Random Patterns: Design and Sculpture, which opened Feb. 9 found many meanderers wondering how he crafted the delicate metal spider and the plated sculpture “Sol Invictus” that casts shadows on the wall.

For starters, he spent at least 15 hours each day in his flourescent-lit workshop for the last six weeks.

“There’s a huge turnout,” said friend Jim Martin who attended the packed opening. “The surprise isn’t the people or the art, but how different the art looks on these walls. I’m super psyched for Ben.”

Gallery owner and director Tayloe Piggott said she is honored to have Roth’s sculptures in her gallery.

“I really respect Ben’s work,” Piggott said. “He’s such a true artist.”

Piggott enjoyed watching Roth think of ideas, make pieces and select his best work for his first gallery show, a process that began nearly six months ago.

“He loves what he does and he believes in what he’s doing 100 percent,” she said.


Despite this being Roth’s first gallery show, his work is all around town.

His silvery stingrays dance along the ceiling of the town pool, his metal signs grace the fronts of several upscale real estate offices and his metal work can be found in many town dining establishments.

He has an installation on display outside the Murie Center in Grand Teton National Park and his wood and metal dresser with swiveling drawers stands tall in the master suite of two Roth devotees.

Roth got his art start at an early age, constructing elaborate projects in elementary school.

One year for Valentine’s Day, he turned a box that had once held roses into an alligator. His classmates had to feed Roth’s Valentine’s cards into the alligator’s mouth.

Despite his early beginnings, Roth majored in hotel and restaurant management at college in Las Vegas. After graduating, he helped open a restaurant- for which he did all the metal work- in Jackson Hole, a favorite Roth family vacation spot.

When the owners eventually bought him out, he used that money to fund the first year of his full-time art career. That was in the fall of 2001.

“That money helped me get started with the art,” he said. “That money lasted for about a year and in a year I blew through that money and had to get a part-time job working at a restaurant. It’s just been a battle since then.”

Looking at his well-lit show, it seems like the battle has been worth it these last five years. And despite his long hours and scrupulous checkbook balancing, Roth still makes time for the occasional ski, climb and art lesson.

He spends two evenings a week teaching art to young people at Young Artists of Revolutionary Design (YARD art).

To his students and fellow aspiring artists, he says living the artist’s life is taxing, but it’s worth it. Sometimes the only meal he eats is breakfast. Sometimes he can splurge on a nice bottle of wine.

“I think it’s really hard,” he said. “You have to be wildly enthusiastic about it and confident and dogged. And, you have to be good.”

Roth, who hopes to sell his work from the Muse Gallery show, will continue to come up with ideas both creative and practical. And, like his unique art, will continue to break the mold.

“I’m an artist, I’m a sculptor, I’m a designer. I build furniture,” he said. “And it’s hard to fit that all on my business card.”

Check out more of Roth’s work on his personal Web site benrothdesign.com.