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BEN FENNESSY BIOGRAPHY
Bio: Bio
EDUCATION
1971
1976
1982
Diploma of Fine Arts – National Gallery Art School
Diploma of Education – Hawthorn Teachers’ College
Bachelor of Arts, Fine Art – Victorian College of the Arts
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
1980
1982
1987
2007
2008
2014
2015
2020
2024
Old Bank Gallery, Bunninyong; Hawthorn City Art Gallery
Iceberg Gallery, Melbourne
Warrnambool Art Gallery; Deakin House, Deakin University, Geelong
‘Recent paintings and prints’, Geelong Gallery
‘Landscape’, Upstairs Flinders Gallery, Melbourne
‘Rosebrook – New paintings’, The Artery, Warrnambool
‘Impressions of Deen Maar’, Boom Art, Geelong
‘Tower Hill’, Big Boom, Geelong
'Out of the Blue', F Project Gallery, Warrnambool
SELECTED TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS
1972
1986
2006
Ewing Gallery, The University of Melbourne (Lisa Roberts)
Joan Gough Studio Gallery, South Yarra (Trevor Sault)
‘Cutting Remarks’, Little Malop Street Gallery, Geelong (Jiri Tibor Novak)
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
1976
1979
1983
1984
1986
1987
1988
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1996
1997
1998
2002
2003
2005
2006
2008
2009
2012
2013
2014
2016
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2023
‘Money’, Ewing Gallery, The University of Melbourne
‘Recent paintings and drawings’, Hawthorn City Art Gallery
Print Awards, Warrnambool Art Gallery; ‘For Freedom’, Genoa, Italy
‘Middle Earth’, Warrnambool Art Gallery; Works Gallery, Geelong
Victorian College of the Arts Foundation, Hyatt on Collins, Melbourne
‘R.A.R.E.’, Artery Gallery, Geelong; ‘10th Anniversary’, Deakin University, Geelong
‘Survey 9’, Geelong Gallery; ‘R.A.R.E. 2’, Artery Gallery, Geelong; QDOS, Lorne; ‘Watercolour Australia’, Swan Hill Gallery;
‘9 x 5 x Mail’, The Centre Gallery, Gold Coast
QDOS, Lorne; ‘Drawing’, Swan Hill Gallery
'Six artists at work', Studio tours, Geelong region
‘Survey 12’, Geelong Gallery
‘Fired Up’, Connewarre 5, Mildura Art Centre; Target Art Exhibition, Geelong
Barwon Wetlands Project, Connewarre; Target Art Exhibition, Geelong – Winner
‘Still Photography’, The University of Melbourne; ‘BitMap 101’, Next Wave Festival
‘Digital Art’, Pirra Arts Centre; ‘Summer Selection’, Essex Fine Art, Ocean Grove
‘Encounter – Confrontation’ Dialogues in Contemporary Art, Australia – Italy, Geelong Art Gallery, Gabriel Gallery, Footscray Community Arts Centre
‘Incontro- Confronto’, Galleria San Filippo, Torino, Italy
On-Shore Art Gallery, Barwon Heads
‘Skin’, The Art Company of Australia, Ocean Grove
Geelong Gallery acquisitive print awards; Contemporary Art School, Belmont, ‘The Panel’, Visual Art Staff, Gordon Gallery, Geelong
‘Staff Show’, Gordon Gallery, Geelong; QDOS, Lorne
A5 08, Gordon Gallery, Geelong; ‘Australian landscape – Real and Imagined’, Greenwood Gallery, Lorne
‘Icons’, Whalebone Gallery, Port Fairy; ‘Home is where the hall is’, Old School, Rosebrook
Boom Art, Geelong;‘Resident In …’, Moyne Shire, Blarney Books and Art, Port Fairy
‘Merang’, Boom Art, Geelong
‘30 x30’, Big Boom, Geelong
‘What just happened?’, 45 Downstairs, Melbourne
‘Impact’ Print Exhibition, The Artery, Warrnambool
‘Where Were We? An exhibition by Rock Granite & the Profiles’, Brightspace, St Kilda; Geelong Gallery acquisitive print awards
‘Sou West Expeditions’, Boom Art, Geelong; ‘Across the Waves’, The F Project Art Gallery, Warrnambool
‘Volcano’, Print Exhibition The F Project Art Gallery, Warrnambool
‘Water’, Print Exhibition, The F Project Art Gallery, Warrnambool
‘Trees’, Print Exhibition, The F Project Art Gallery, Warrnambool
'South West', Big Boom, Geelong
COLLECTIONS
Ewing Gallery, Melbourne
Queensland University of Technology Art Museum
Art Bank
Gordon Gallery, Geelong
Target Head Office
Private collections in Australia and overseas
PRIZES
1992
1993
2005
2017
2021
2023
Target Art Exhibition, Geelong – Honourable Mention
Target Art Exhibition, Geelong – Winner Acquisitive Award
Selected for Geelong acquisitive print awards, Geelong Gallery
Selected for Geelong acquisitive print awards, Geelong Gallery
Selected for 21 Tatiara Art Prize, Walkway Gallery, Bordertown, SA
Selected for Geelong acquisitive print awards, Geelong Gallery
THEATRE SETS, MURALS & COMMUNITY ART PROJECTS
1971
1972
1978
1981
1983
1986 - 1991
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1999
2009 - 2019
2011
2014
2021
2021
Melbourne Theatre Company & Australian Ballet Company
New Zealand Ballet Company & Reparatory Companies
Colac Players
Country Kitchen, Colac, mural
Murals in schools
Community based and private murals:
Wool Exchange Night Club, Geelong; Portarlington Swimming Pool; Mexican Graffiti, Geelong; Geelong Goal (Gordon TAFE Geelong Training Prison Programs); City of South Barwon, Murals on Bridges Project; Geelong Hospital Medimine Production; ‘Surf Coast’, Mural, Youth Council Barrabool Shire; Tassle Designs, Geelong West
Creative Arts Workshops, Geelong Grammar School
‘Confined Creativity’, teacher and curator of Geelong Jail art students’ entries, Access Gallery, NGV, Melbourne
Wintergarden, Geelong, Mural
Presenter, ‘The Next Wave festival’ Artech Symposium, Melbourne
Curator of ‘Solitary refinement’, HMP Barwon, Volartile Gallery
‘Killing and Chilling of Annabelle Lee’, Playbox/Chameleon
Judge of art shows Annual Port Fairy Lions Club exhibition; Warrnambool Rotary Art Show, Birregurra Festival
‘Resident In’, Moyne Shire
Port Fairy Folk Festival posters
Judged Biblio Art Prize
Warrnambool Art Gallery’s Tower Hill en plein air weekend (below).
EMPLOYMENT
Art Educator from 1985 – 2008 at Colac Technical School, Trinity College Colac, Barwon Prison and GordonTAFE.
Taught painting, drawing, food art, fashion and computer graphics in a range of TAFE settings including Geelong Jail and Barwon Prison Art Program, Koorie Unit and developed curriculum across a range of courses- screen printing; design; visual arts; theatre; hospitality; fashion; computer aided art and design.
Field Officer, TAFE Frontiers
Employee of the Year, Gordon TAFE, 1999
Bio: Education
Bio: Group Ex
Collections
Murals Community
Employment
This CV was last updated in March, 2024.
Please contact Ben directly for updated information.
Photo Credits
Images on this page by Carli Wilson Photography
thanks to Boom Gallery. Featuring artworks from the 'Tower Hill' exhibition in 2020 at Big Boom Geelong.
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