On Wednesday, October 28, 2020, the Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s University Honors Program hosted a Zoom discussion with practicing artist Benjamin Lowder. Lowder attended SIUC for a year before transferring to the University of Illinois Champaign Urbana to finish his schooling. While at SIU, Lowder was heavily impacted by the philosophies of Buckminster Fuller—an American architect and inventor who attended the university. While at UIUC, Lowder was heavily impacted by the study of natural geometry and spirituality—ideas that Fuller was also influenced by. After college, Lowder began implementing natural geometry into his work.
Currently, Lowder is working on the Buckminster Fuller Dome home in Carbondale, Illinois. The property was Fuller’s original home and it has now been purchased and transformed into a historical monument in honor of him. The house is being designed by Lowder because of his similar art practices and interests in nature.
Natural geometry refers to ratios and angles that occur organically in the world. There are philosophies of thought that believe natural geometry is evidence of a greater power enacting consequences on human endeavors. Buckminster Fuller was very interested in such teachings and implemented natural ratios into his work, like the Epcot Dome. Similar to Fuller, Lowder uses the same concepts in his own design work.
Lowder first gained attention from the art community by building his own sustainable home using the sun’s angles. Lowder stated that no sunlight would penetrate the home on the Summer Solstice because he had deliberately angled the house based on the sun’s location at that time. I find Lowder’s incorporation of nature into his work to be very beautiful and inspiring. Personally, I do not know enough about natural geometry to understand its spiritual elements, but I do find it highly worth researching on my own time.
Looking to my own work as an artist, I am extremely interested in incorporating more natural occurrences into my art. Regardless of religious affiliations, I believe the majority of people would interpret nature as serene and inspirational. I believe my work would greatly benefit from researching nature’s teachings and using them in tandem with the visual influences of art.
Alex Menke 