Art from a NewAngle
THERE WAS AN EXACT moment when Pete and Vicki Wood knew that their son, Ben, was different. In 2009, when 4-year-old Ben was drawing on his Magna Doodle on the family’s living room floor, the parents were shocked to find he had created a detailed image of the Taj Mahal. This was just the beginning of Ben’s oneof-a-kind artistic journey.
The Wood family adopted a 3-year-old Ben from Russia in 2008 and soon began to realize that his artistic abilities and architectural obsessions were more than just personality quirks. Ben was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at age 5. “He is really strong in specific areas,” Pete says. “A lot of people with high-functioning autism have special gifts.”
One such special gift that Ben possesses is an unparalleled level of spatial recognition. “Whenever I go into a building, I get a map of it in my head,” says Ben, now a junior at Steamboat Springs High School. “I look around places and I start forming a blueprint in my head. My mind basically works like Google Maps or Google Earth.”
“When we go to the store, he always remembers exactly where the car is,” Vicki adds. “When we’re driving somewhere and take a detour, he always knows the way back.”
The Wood family moved to Steamboat Springs in 2018—a difficult change for any adolescent but an especially difficult period for Ben, who was then in middle school. High-functioning autism often makes socializing and navigating change more difficult, and this move proved to be especially arduous. However, through a combination of hospital treatment, medication and behavioral adjustments, Ben is now thriving.
An indispensable element to Ben’s flourishing has been his art. “It’s a therapeutic skill, it settles the mind,” Ben says. “Mostly I like
how with art you can show a visual version of your imagination, because you can be creative and make your thoughts become a reality.” Ben’s art lies at the intersection between architecture and his own imagination.
“He loves structures and buildings,” Pete says. Ben’s fascination
with architecture often results in vacations that have more to do with the hotel itself than the typical tourist destinations. A recent family vacation to Las Vegas had the Woods visiting a hotel called the Aria, which features almost no right-angles in its design. “It makes it really unique,” Ben says. “It stands out from the rest.”
Ben’s artistic and architectural interests have sparked a prolific creative career in Steamboat, which led him to create an 8-foottall, colored-pencil Steamboat Sailors anchor mural for Steamboat Springs High School. Ben also created a futuristic concept drawing of the high school building, and many school staff members have enlisted him to create art for them. Using card stock paper and tape, Ben recently crafted a replica model of the new Sleeping Giant K-8 school, which was displayed in the school’s lobby. “A visiting architect saw it and actually got tears in his eyes,” Vicki says. Ben has displayed a number of works at the Steamboat Art Depot, including an intricate graphite drawing of the Depot itself.
Ben currently participates in the Architecture, Construction and Engineering Mentorship program, where he is collaborating with other high school students from all over Colorado to design a new addition to Concourse C at Denver International Airport. In light of the many challenges and obstacles that Ben has overcome using his talent and tenacity, it’s not hard to imagine that his creative designs will shape the skylines of the future. DG
ELEVATE THE ARTS: Visit the Depot Art Center to purchase one of Ben’s works. Support student art shows and purchase works from young artists.
