Dr. Benjamin Sheppard

Benjamin is a multi-disciplinary Melbourne based artist and art educator. He is the founding member of Ways and Means, an experimental collaborative drawing project and the instigator of The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins (BOO) project. His work sits within contemporary drawing practice around themes of contemporary social, political and identity issues. Currently Associate Lecturer in the Bachelor of Fine Art - Drawing at RMIT, he has been working in art education alongside his practice for over 17 years.

Benjamin is currently 0.5 FTE and is available anytime via email.

• PHD RMIT School of Art 2020
• Bachelor of Fine Art (Hons) – Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) Melbourne Australia 2006
• Bachelor of Fine Art - Drawing – (VCA) Melbourne Australia 2005
• Diploma of Vocational Education and Training (VET) - Box Hill Institute 2014
• Certificate IV in Training and Assessment TAE (and TAA) CAE Melbourne Australia 2012
• Diploma of Visual Art – Holmesglen College of TAFE Melbourne Australia 2002-

Projects:

• Out of Office, The BOO at Fitzroy Gardens Pavilion, Melbourne  Feb 2023 
• Hand Festival,  Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre Melbourne. Aug 2019
• Political Poster Open Call, The BOO AAANZ Conference at RMIT Melbourne. Dec 2018
• Inaugural The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins (BOO) Blindside ARI January 2017 
• Following [Ways and Means collaborative ‘Workshop Series’] Drawing International Brisbane (DIB) Conference at Griffith University Oct 2015 
• The Red and The Blue [Ways and Means collaborative project] Westspace Melbourne Jan 2013
• Made any Swans (?) [Ways and Means collaborative project] West Wing project space Melbourne Central August 2010 
• The edge of the line Utopian Slumps Collingwood October/November 2009
• Pleasantries Alliance Française St Kilda May 2006

 

Exhibitions and awards:

• Future Tense with The BOOreaucrats, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick November 2022
• ArtBOX Commission with The BOOreaucrats Oct 2022
• Powerpoint by The BOOreaucrats, Bargoonga Nganjin North Fitzroy Library Feb 2022 
• Scribble Me This… FIVEWALLS Gallery Footscray November 2021
• History and Heritage, Counihan Gallery, Brunswick November 2021
• Lightscapes Lighboxes Knox Pl Melbourne Central 2021
• Scribble Me This… Rey Area Cabinets RMIT 2021
• Scribble Me This… Site 8 Gallery RMIT February 2021
• HELL ‘N’ BACK, Caves Gallery December 2020
• Blindside B—side exhibition, Blindside ARI November 2020
• Shortlisted for Incinerator Art Award 2020, Change Division with The BOO (Dr Peter Burke) 
• The New (ab)normal RMIT Gallery, RMIT School of Art 2020
• Art Schools for Fire Relief Margaret Lawrence Gallery VCA Jan. 2020
• Language and Liberty Counihan Gallery Brunswick 2019
• Museum of Platitudes and Aphorisms - #5 Rubicon Melbourne 2019
• Museum of Platitudes and Aphorisms - #4 c3 Contemporary Art Space 2019
• The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins at the AAANZ Conference at RMIT Melbourne. 2018
• BOO at the Biennale of Australian Art Ballarat Ballarat (Hit me with your best shot) 2018
• Double Bind, Testing Grounds Feb 2018 
• Cattle and Cane, Dirty Dozen art space Melbourne 2018
• Open House, True Estate, Brunswick 2017 
• Bluestonia, Brunswick laneways Melbourne 2017
• Anthropocene, Firstsite Gallery RMIT Melbourne  February 2017
• The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins (BOO), Blindside ARI January 2017 
• Factivisim, Counihan Gallery Brunswick November 2016
• The Carousel, The Abbottsford Convent, Melbourne Sept 2016
• And how happy a time it is -, (solo) The Alderman, Melbourne June  2016 
• FINALIST (highly commended) - Waterhouse prize, South Australian Museum, Adelaide 2016 
•  “Following” [Ways and Means collaborative ‘Workshop Series’] as above.
• Doodle this… (solo) Firstsite Gallery RMIT Melbourne February studio residency 2015
• Speak Out, Counihan Gallery Brunswick December 2014
• The Crown in the Jewell, (solo) MoreART Brunswick November-December 2014
• Tools of the Trade, Jugglers Art Space Fortitude Valley, Brisbane Oct 2014
• FINALIST Whyalla art prize, Whyalla, South Australia 2013 
• FINALIST Mortimore art prize, Toured Australia 2012-13 
• The Red and The Blue, [Ways and Means collaborative project] Westspace Melbourne 2013
• Le Coq (solo) Counihan Gallery Brunswick August 2012 (solo)
• Ginestrelle Group Exhibition, Gallery Le Logge, Assisi Italy, October 2011
• Le Coq, (solo) DRAWInternational Gallery Caylus, France April 2011 (solo)
• Shelved, Dear Patti Smith Melbourne March 2011
• Things I’d Wished I’d Known, Westspace Melbourne October/November 2010 
• Spring Salon and Sculpture Prize, Lot 19 Castlemaine October 2010 
• Made any Swans(?), [Ways and Means collaborative project] West Wing project space Melbourne Central August 2010 
• Structural Integrity, Next Wave Festival Meat Market North Melbourne May 2010
• The edge of the line, group exhibition at Utopian Slumps Collingwood October 2009
• Slide Space, Gertrude Contemporary Art Spaces Fitzroy May/June 2009
• Resist Collaborate Destroy, group exhibition at Michael Koro Galleries Melbourne 2008
• Group Exhibition - inaugural opening of the new Alliance Française building St Kilda 2007
• WINNER of the Casama Group Award Margaret Lawrence Gallery VCA 2006
• FINALIST Athenaeum Prize at The Athenaeum Club Melbourne October 2006
• Pleasantries, Alliance Française St Kilda May 2006
• Shades of Now, solo exhibition at 24seven Art Space Melbourne May 2006
• Flags, installation Next Wave Festival at Arts Centre Undercroft Melbourne March 2006
• WINNER of Lowenstein Arts Management Award -Graduate Exhibition at VCA 2005

 

Professional - selected teaching and arts related

• Associate Lecturer at RMIT School of Art, Bachelor of Fine Art - Drawing – ongoing
  
• Industry benchmarking consultation with Melbourne Polytechnic’s Bachelor of Illustration 2018
• Coordinator of Concepts of Representation - Fine Art Conceptual Development course RMIT Specialist Lecturer at RMIT School of Art in Expanded Studio Practice 2015 - 2018
• Specialist Lecturer at Melbourne Polytechnic in Bachelor of Illustration 2016- 2018
• Sculpture, drawing and art theory lecturer for DVA at the CAE Melbourne 2012-2017
• Specialist Lecturer at Melbourne Polytechnic in Horticulture, Floristry drawing 2016
• Arts consultant for City of Hume 2014
• Researcher - Broadmeadows Town Hall redevelopment for City of Hume
• Hume Art Prize judge Gee Wik Doleen Gallery, Craigieburn  2014/15
• Community consultation on public art commission 2014
• Mentor for Advanced Diploma students at the CAE Melbourne 2014-2015
• Facilitator of Mumgu dhal tyama tyit Certificate I, II and III Swinburne University of Technology 2010
• Short course Drawing and Life Drawing Teacher at CAE  Melbourne 2007-current 
• Transport and Display Coordinator at Deutscher-Menzies art auctioneers and valuers 2007-9
• Drawing Lecturer for Summer / Winter School and After Hours Programs VCA Southbank 2005 - 7
• Technician in the Drawing Department at VCA Southbank 2005 - 6
• Sculptural Fabrication for various artists including:
  • Angela Di Fronzo - Interior Design at Alliance Française St Kilda October 2006
  • Daniel Dewar and Gregory Giquel FR - Strike a Pose at Margaret Lawrence Gallery Southbank July 2006
• Matthew Shannon - 17.04.10-15.05.10 at Conical Inc April 2010

 

Selected arts community work:

• Opening remarks (video) for Princes Hill Secondary Graduate Exhibition Nov, 2021
• Reconciliation Action Group member RMIT 2019-
• Panel member Sandbox Studios discussion series ‘Should I go back to Uni’ Sept 2019
• Hand Festival Peter MacCallum Hospital with Keely Macarow and Becky Hilton Aug 2019
• Research Exchange Coordinator Peer to peer program for HDR candidates at RMIT 2016 - 2018
• Thinking Through Practice Coordinator Peer to peer program for HDR candidates at RMIT 2018
• School of Art Research (HDR) Committee member at RMIT Melbourne 2016
• Programming Committee Member at Westspace ARI Melbourne 2009-10 2012-14
• Next Wave festival volunteer Structural Integrity -Meat Market Arts Complex North Melbourne 2010

 

Selected residences:

• City of Melbourne Creative Spaces – Fitzroy gardens Pavilion with The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins – (upcoming Feb 2023)
  
• Princes Hill Primary School studio residency April/May, 2015
• Firstsite Gallery February studio residency RMIT Melbourne 2015
• Artstudio Ginestrelle, Perugia, Italy August-September 2011
• DRAWInternational, Caylus, France March-April 2011

 

Research funding:

• City of Yarra Grant for Powerpoint by The BOOreaucrats, 2022
  
• Australian post graduate award for Post Graduate Research, 2016 - 2018
• RMIT School of Art travel grant for AAANZ Art and its directions 2017
• RMIT School of Art travel grant for Drawing International Brisbane 2015
• New work grant Victorian College of the Arts 2005

 

Selected publications/talks::

Authored/edited:

• Doodling the National Self Writing and Concepts Lecture Series hosted by Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery. October 2020 https://vimeo.com/466093933
• For the Fun of it. Research paper presented at Drawing International Brisbane: Queensland College of Art, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 01 - 02 October. Griffith Centre for Creative Arts Research 
• BOOklet with Dr Peter Burke for The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins (BOO) 
• Held in Vancouver Library & Archive, Vancouver, Canada 
• and Franklin Furnace Artists’ Books Collection, Pratt Institute, Brooklyn
• The Bureau for the Organisation of Origins with Dr Peter Burke for journal: Art in the Public Sphere
• UK 2020

Featured in:

• Sporting Colours- Fleidner, Kelly Available online at http://www.bensheppard.com.au/media/
• Le Coq Motif- Murray, Phip Available online at Available online at http://www.bensheppard.com.au/media/
• From Nothingness to the Infinite - Fleidner Kelly Available online at http://www.bensheppard.com.au/media/
• Utopian Slumps: The Collingwood years Chase and Galley Published 2011
• Making Space: Artist Run Initiatives in Victoria Published by VIA-N 2007

 

Collections:

• DRAWInternational, France
  
• Joyce Nissan AU 
• The Casama Group AU  
• Various private AU, UK, FR, IT, USA, DE