The Story Behind The New Temple Square Statues (with Ben Hammond)

The approvals were already signed. The First Presidency, the Presiding Bishopric, and the Relief Society general presidency had each reviewed the sculpture, and the plans set the Five Wise Virgins on Temple Square facing south. The artist sat alone in his studio, looking at a nearly finished monument, when a thought arrived that he describes as one of the few unmistakable promptings of his career. Turn it. Aim the virgins at the temple.

On installation day, Ben Hammond set the bronze facing the house of the Lord. In the parable, the wise virgins went out to meet the Bridegroom, who is Jesus Christ, so Ben decided they should be looking toward His house. When the Relief Society presidency arrived to see the finished monument, they told him they had hoped he would do exactly that. On a recent episode of Why We Believe, host Nathan Gwilliam sat down with the sculptor, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, whose bronzes now stand on Temple Square and whose statue of Martha Hughes Cannon stands in the United States Capitol.

Work Was Just What Everybody Did

Ben grew up in Pingree, Idaho, surrounded by potato farmers, dairy farmers, and a contractor father. Everyone moved pipe. Everyone worked. Because work sat at the center of the whole community, it carried no misery for him, and he has spent a lifetime unashamed of long hours. He tells Nathan that talent is the last thing that makes a great artist. Work ethic, time, and effort matter far more.

That conviction carried him through an unusual education. A scholarship took him to Ricks College after his mission to Brazil, where his first sculpture class hooked him for good. He later left BYU after three weeks because the professional sculptors passing through the foundry where he worked were teaching him more than the classroom could. His mother, a musician with famously high standards, agreed with the decision.

At that foundry, Ben kept begging a nationally known sculptor named Blair Buswell for any job at all, offering to sweep floors and clean bathrooms. Blair said no, then agreed to critique Ben's pieces and told him plainly how far he had to go. About a year and a half later, Blair took on a large project and offered him work. Ben spent almost ten years as his assistant and apprentice.

Finding Martha in the Living

When a committee set out to place a statue of Martha Hughes Cannon in the United States Capitol, Ben won the commission through the federal selection process, his first win after many times as a finalist. Then he faced a problem no reference photo could solve. He works with live models to breathe life into his portraits, and Martha had been gone for generations.

So he went looking for her in the living. He met with one of her great-grandsons and a family photo album, then studied the faces of her relatives. One carried Martha's ears and brow. Another had her nose. Another had a mouth very close to hers. He brought them in to model, pieced Martha together from life, and sculpted until the portrait breathed.

When the clay was finished, he invited the descendants to the studio. A granddaughter who had known Martha in life walked up to the statue, got emotional, and said, that's grandma. Then she asked him how. For Ben, that moment is the reason to go the extra mile, so that a monument feels like a person rather than a statue.

Four Insane Years

The Temple Square commissions came in a season Ben calls the most insane four years of his family's life. His wife fought an autoimmune illness that baffled her doctors until the family discovered a mold allergy and stripped their house to the inside to remove it. Four children from Fiji came to live with them during the same stretch. The work still had to get done.

Ben told Nathan he rarely feels dramatic spiritual direction in his work. His pattern is quieter. He reads his scriptures daily, attends the temple regularly, says his morning prayers, and then walks to the studio and works. He loves the account of Brigham Young walking toward a river where a wagon was stuck and telling the men he had already prayed that morning, so it was time to get it unstuck. Pray first, then push.

He credits Heavenly Father and the Savior for carrying his family through, not by doing the work for him, but by giving him confidence as he kept working. One of his favorite scriptures is Mosiah 2:41, which asks us to consider the blessed state of those who keep the commandments, blessed both temporally and spiritually. Things worked out, and he is grateful.

Four Sculptures and a Year Behind

Ben has now completed four sculptures for Temple Square: the Five Wise Virgins, Christ calling Peter and Andrew at their nets, Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery receiving the sealing keys, and Christ appearing to Mary at the tomb, the final piece now being cast in bronze. For a sculptor who once assumed the Church would not commission three-dimensional work in his lifetime, the assignment still feels like a wonder.

The fourth piece nearly did not happen. When Church leaders asked for a sculpture of the restoration of the sealing keys, Ben said he did not have time, then prayed about it anyway. That evening, a dinner guest who knew the construction schedule told him the Temple Square project was running a year behind. Ben went forward with faith and finished the work himself. It became one of his favorite pieces, with the pulpit of the Kirtland Temple carved into the back.

Good, Not Perfect

When Nathan asks the show's closing question, Ben goes straight to his hero, Peter. Where else would he go? Good things in his life have come through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Book of Mormon makes him love the Bible, love his Heavenly Father and his Savior, love his wife and children, and keep the Spirit close.

Then he offers the image that stays with you. God looked at the earth He created through His Son and called it good. He did not call it perfect. The earth will be perfected because of Jesus Christ, and Ben sees himself the same way. He looks in the mirror and sees a person who is good, not yet perfected, and at peace with that, because the finishing work belongs to the Savior.

It is a sculptor's testimony, and a fitting one. The Master keeps working the clay, patiently, until it breathes.

Key Takeaways

Ben's witness offers a pattern anyone can follow. Talent is the last thing that makes an artist, because work offered back to God bears the lasting fruit. Prayer and daily effort belong together, and God expects us to push the wagon after we say amen. When a prompting finally comes, act on it since the Lord can turn even finished work toward His house. Like Peter reaching for Christ, imperfect faith that gets back up outlasts cautious perfection. And God called His creation good, not perfect, knowing that through Jesus Christ, what is good will one day be perfected.

If Ben's story stirred something in you, listen to the full conversation on Why We Believe and offer your own work back to God. Visit WhyWeBelieve.com to download Your FREE guide on 13 Strategies to Increase Faith in Jesus Christ, to support you as you strengthen your own testimony of Jesus Christ.

Thank you for reading this week's blog post inspired by the Why We Believe show. If you are interested in more stories like this, you can check out our other blog posts and episodes at WhyWeBelieve.com, or listen on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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