Benjamin C. Swaner

cool group!!! super excited to be a member here!!! thanks!!

The Illinois chapter of ASLA is looking for a landscape sketch artist to teach a sketch / rendering class in Chicago in the Spring of 2013.  Any artist / designer who is interested in teaching a class please contact me at mbarcelos@valleycrest.com and we can discuss fees and travel accomodations. 

For me mentoring is a lot to do with conversation, and whenever I get the chance I like nothing better than to sit down and chat.
There are however many people whom I admire that I have not yet met, and one of those would be Zaha Hadid.
Of those I am unlikely to meet I would have to name Francis Bacon. I really love his work, but I also like wha…[Read more]

This is my 5th recession, it took me years to recover from the savings & loan crash. i thought i had a safe niche, no more developer or commercial work. i have focused on high-end high design residential and cultural projects which i was sure was recession proof. what do i know? the last few years i could have used a mentor.
i started a blog…[Read more]

Who would you love to have as a mentor for your design career if you could pick anyone in the world, living or dead?