The Stone City Art Colony and School 1932-1933
Ben Polk

Home - The Project - The Colony - The Artists - Resources - Credits

Ben Polk (1916 - ?) -- student

A longtime resident of Des Moines, Ben Polk was born in the city (May 1916) and academically trained as a civil engineer and architect. Polk's formal studies included two years at Amherst College (MA), one year at the University of Chicago, and two years at Iowa State College [Iowa State University] in Ames, Iowa. Truly a self-taught artist, he received a half-time scholarship to study at Stone City's art colony during its 1932 session. Polk's major showings of the 1930s featured a limestone sculpture called "Prayer" at the Iowa Art Salon (1937) and four paintings at the 1938 Des Moines Women's Club Exhibit. The Iowa State College art gallery at the Great Hall displayed Polk's works in 1937; a one-man window display in Chicago occurred in August 1938. His endeavors after 1940 are being been documented.

 



When Tillage Begins: The Stone City Art Colony and School
Published online October 2003 by the
Busse Library,
Mount Mercy University
Cedar Rapids, Iowa
Telephone: 319-368-6465
Fax: 319-363-9060
Email: library@mtmercy.edu

Researcher & Author: Kristy Raine
Library Director: Marilyn Murphy
Editor & Web Designer: Linda Scarth
©Busse Library 2003-2012