John Benson: A Man of Historic Talents
Natalia Minasi
Issue date: 5/10/09 Section: News
The John Stevens Shop, established in 1705 (seventy years before the signing of the Declaration of Independence), recently celebrated its 300 year anniversary in 2005. Its appearance and business are true to its founding father, John Stevens. Today the shop, with forest green paint siding mirroring the trim on Benson's studio, white trim and red windows and door, sustains the colonial tradition as the oldest continually operating business in the United States.
Born in 1939 and raised in Newport, Benson called Washington Street home as a child. He grew up on the Pier and found a passion for sailing and boating through his father. "It was Heaven on earth," Benson said, when showing me a picture of his father's boat with his home in the background and he and his two brothers scattered around on the boat. His father, John Howard Benson, lived for the water when he was not working. The senior Benson bought The John Stevens Shop from the last remaining Stevens relative in 1927. When he died in 1956, John Everett Benson's mother kept the place going before her son soon took over the business.
John, more commonly known as Fud to his friends and family, went to the local schools before attending Rhode Island School of Design. There he earned a degree in Sculpture and studied for a year in Rome under the Honors program senior year. "I graduated in 1961 with a wife, a baby, and a degree in the arts, which really wasn't any sort of stepping stone to economic success," said Benson. "So I came back to the shop and started working."
Benson first started working at the shop during the summer and after school when he was 15. He was learning letter carving from his father, who, according to Benson "had a huge natural talent for the arts." "I had to fight for it," Benson said. "I had no desire to get into the business at all. My father was a wonderful artist. I had to pull myself out from his shadow."
The reluctant stone carver pursued, though, and is now a renowned artist who has carved his way through the family business into success and distinction. "We are very well known in this narrow branch of applied arts, but rock stars we're not," Benson said. "We are definitely recognized. It feels great to be a part of that. Letter carving is what we do."
Born in 1939 and raised in Newport, Benson called Washington Street home as a child. He grew up on the Pier and found a passion for sailing and boating through his father. "It was Heaven on earth," Benson said, when showing me a picture of his father's boat with his home in the background and he and his two brothers scattered around on the boat. His father, John Howard Benson, lived for the water when he was not working. The senior Benson bought The John Stevens Shop from the last remaining Stevens relative in 1927. When he died in 1956, John Everett Benson's mother kept the place going before her son soon took over the business.
John, more commonly known as Fud to his friends and family, went to the local schools before attending Rhode Island School of Design. There he earned a degree in Sculpture and studied for a year in Rome under the Honors program senior year. "I graduated in 1961 with a wife, a baby, and a degree in the arts, which really wasn't any sort of stepping stone to economic success," said Benson. "So I came back to the shop and started working."
Benson first started working at the shop during the summer and after school when he was 15. He was learning letter carving from his father, who, according to Benson "had a huge natural talent for the arts." "I had to fight for it," Benson said. "I had no desire to get into the business at all. My father was a wonderful artist. I had to pull myself out from his shadow."
The reluctant stone carver pursued, though, and is now a renowned artist who has carved his way through the family business into success and distinction. "We are very well known in this narrow branch of applied arts, but rock stars we're not," Benson said. "We are definitely recognized. It feels great to be a part of that. Letter carving is what we do."
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