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A rectangular slab of black slate features the word “Smithsonian” carved in elegant font.

Photo by Zvonimir Bebek, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Image Description A long, rectangular slab of black slate carved with elegant calligraphy reads “Smithsonian” in the top left quadrant. The script features rounded letters that slant slightly to the right. The capital “S” extends above and below the rest of the letters. The top stem of the “h” extends to the right, and the final “n” features a long, curved swoop at the base of the letter extending to the right. A small signature block located below the inscription reads “Carved for the Folklife Festival 2001 Nicholas Benson” in lighter script.

Smithsonian Inscription

Stone carver and letterer Nick Benson designed an elegant new script for the hand-carved “Smithsonian” inscription he created during the Festival. Doing both the design and physical carving of the letters is a specialty of the John Stevens Shop.

Nick Benson: stone letter cutter and calligrapher

The Masters of the Building Arts program at the 2001 Folklife Festival celebrated the extraordinary artistry of craftspeople in the building arts: stone masons, brick layers, carpenters, blacksmiths, stained glass makers, and more. It also explored the many challenges they face as they work to preserve our nation’s past and build for the future. Dozens of master artisans and their apprentices—138 participants in all—spoke to visitors not only about their personal work and achievements, but how they learned their craft and what inspires them to excel. Collectively, they share a deep appreciation for the aesthetic value and expressive power of technical perfection and take pride in their ability to craft objects of beauty and strength through workmanship and skill. Their deep understanding of raw materials is crucial to their work, as is their careful selection and use of tools and mastery of technique.

Gallery
  • Nick Benson at the 2001 Masters of the Building Arts program.
    Photo by Jeff Tinsley, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives
  • Inscription detail
    Photo by Zvonimir Bebek, Ralph Rinzler Folklife Archives

Nick Benson designed a new script for “Smithsonian,” which he plotted out and carved during the Festival program. He participated in the Festival with two stone carvers from the John Stevens Shop, echoing the way he learned from his father to become the third generation of his family to master both letter design and carving. When Nick’s father retired in 1993, he took over the shop, where he continues to design and carve in the tradition of his father and grandfather with creative twists.

“My style is a combination of my father’s and my grandfather’s, and it’s constantly evolving,” Benson says. “That development is what keeps the passion alive.”

Since participating in the Masters of the Building Arts, Benson has received the highest public recognition for his work in the United States: a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in 2007 and a MacArthur Fellowship in 2010. His inscriptions and decorative reliefs can be seen on buildings and memorials throughout the country, including the National World War II Memorial, the National Gallery of Art, and the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, all in Washington, D.C.

—Marjorie Hunt, program curator
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