The work of Stephen Benwell encompasses ceramics, drawings, works on paper and paintings. Although he has no formal training in ceramics, this medium forms the basis of his artistic practice. His ceramics are often figurative or depict mostly figurative images on vessels. In his work, he combines the ceramic with the painterly and sculptural concerns of the contemporary artist. His works blend art-historical influences and his love for the countries of the Mediterranean region, especially Italy.
Born in Melbourne in 1953, Stephen Benwell is amongst Australia’s most distinguished ceramicists and was honoured with a retrospective survey of his work at Heide Museum of Modern Art in 2013. In the same year, Benwell was selected to exhibit in Melbourne Now, the National Gallery of Victoria’s survey of contemporary creative practice. Benwell has been the recipient of the Sidney Myer Fund Australian Ceramic Award, has been a finalist in the Hobart Art Prize, the Fletcher Jones Art Prize and in 2009 was awarded the Inaugural Deakin University Small Sculpture Award and an Australia Council Visual Arts Board New Work Grant.
Stephen Benwell received a Diploma of Art from the Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne in 1974, a Diploma of Education from the Melbourne State College in 1976 and received a MFA from Monash University in 2005. The artist has travelled extensively and undertook a studio residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts, Paris in 1984–1985. His work is regularly exhibited in Australia and overseas and is held in a large number of private and public collections including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Gallery of Australia, The National Gallery of Victoria, The Art Gallery of South Australia and The Art Gallery of Western Australia.