Stephen Benwell (born 1953) is a

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

-based artist working predominantly in the medium of

ceramic A ceramic is any of the various hard, brittle, heat-resistant and corrosion-resistant materials made by shaping and then firing an inorganic, nonmetallic material, such as clay, at a high temperature. Common examples are earthenware, porcelai ...

Education

Benwell trained as an artist in Melbourne, Australia, receiving a Diploma of Art from the

Victorian College of the Arts The Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) is the arts school at the University of Melbourne in Australia. It is part of the university's Faculty of Fine Arts and Music. It is located near the Melbourne city centre on the Southbank campus of the ...

in 1974. He went on to study ceramics under Professor Noel John Flood, attaining a Diploma of Education from Melbourne State College in 1976. In 2005, he completed his formal education with a Masters of Fine Arts from

Monash University Monash University () is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Named for prominent World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. The university h ...

Art practice

Through the medium of ceramics, Stephen Benwell seeks to challenge local and international pottery traditions and art-craft context. Aesthetically, his work marries studio-based investigations of the ceramicist with the painterly and sculptural concerns of the contemporary artist. It manifests in how he couples high art with low art or

low culture In sociology, the term Low culture identifies the forms of popular culture that have mass appeal, which is in contrast to High culture, which has a limited appeal to a smaller proportion of the populace. Culture theory proposes that both high ...

Exhibitions and collections

Stephen Benwell has exhibited consistently since 1975. His work has been exhibited in over 30 solo and over 60 group shows. He exhibits regularly at

Niagara Galleries Niagara Galleries shows contemporary and Modernist Australian art in Richmond, an inner suburb of Melbourne, from a terrace which has been substantially remodelled in a postmodern style. History The gallery was established by Kyneton High Sch ...

in Melbourne, as well as throughout Australia and overseas, in both commercial and public galleries. His work was exhibited as part of ''Australian Contemporary'' at SOFA Art & Design, in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

, ''Craft from Scratch: 8th Triennale (Australia and Germany)'' at the Museum of Applied Art, Frankfurt, ''Australian Glass and Ceramic Art'' at Galerie Ursula Rosenhauer in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

, and ''A Secret History of Blue and White,'' which travelled throughout Asia between 2006 and 2009 through funding from

Asialink Asialink is Australia's leading centre for creative engagement with Asia. Asialink works with diverse communities in Australia and Asia for mutual understanding and prosperity. Asialink develops insights, capabilities and connections through p ...

. In 2013, Benwell's ceramic work from 1970 onwards was exhibited in a major retrospective entitled ''Stephen Benwell: Beauty, Anarchy, Desire – A Retrospective'' at the

Heide Museum of Modern Art The Heide Museum of Modern Art, also known as Heide, is an art museum in Bulleen, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established in 1981, the museum houses modern and contemporary art across three distinct exhibition buildings and is ...

. Benwell's work is also represented in a number of prolific permanent collections, including the

National Gallery of Australia The National Gallery of Australia (NGA), formerly the Australian National Gallery, is the national art museum of Australia as well as one of the largest art museums in Australia, holding more than 166,000 works of art. Located in Canberra in t ...

, Canberra; the

National Gallery of Victoria The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and list of most visited art museums in the world, most visited ar ...

, Melbourne; the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

, Adelaide; the

Art Gallery of Western Australia The Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) is a public art gallery that is part of the Perth Cultural Centre, in Perth. It is located near the Western Australian Museum and State Library of Western Australia and is supported and managed by the ...

, Perth; the

Queensland Art Gallery The Queensland Art Gallery (QAG) is an art museum located in South Bank, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The gallery is part of QAGOMA. It complements the Gallery of Modern Art (GOMA) building, situated only away. The Queensland Art Galler ...

, Brisbane; the

Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery (TMAG) is a museum located in Hobart, Tasmania. The museum was established in 1846, by the Royal Society of Tasmania, the oldest Royal Society outside England. The TMAG receives 400,000 visitors annually. ...

, Hobart; and the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and ...

, London.

Awards

Throughout his career, Stephen Benwell has been the recipient of numerous awards, grants and residencies. Examples of his accomplishments include the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, awarded by the Shepparton Art Gallery, in 1992, 1994, 1995, 1996 and 2010. In 2009 he received the inaugural Deakin University Contemporary Small Sculpture Award. Benwell has received several Australian Council grants, which have allowed him to travel extensively. Between 1984 and 1985 he undertook a studio residency at the

Cité internationale des arts The Cité internationale des arts is an artist-in-residence building complex which accommodates artists of all specialities and nationalities in Paris. It comprises two sites, one located in the Marais and the other in Montmartre. Approximatel ...

in Paris. In 2008 he traveled again, this time on a study tour of Greece.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benwell, Stephen 1953 births Living people Australian ceramicists Monash University alumni