Ben Sanderson
Working across painting, drawing, printmaking, papermaking making and textiles, my practice develops slowly, embracing cyclical processes of growth and decay. I often transform or recycle existing works treating the archive as an open space that can be reshaped and reimagined through making.
Over the past eight years, my work has extended into schools, universities, gardens, care homes, galleries, museums, shops, and domestic spaces - anywhere that allows ideas to progress. I am interested in how art can act as a tool or navigator for experiencing life, and how shared engagement with practice can create spaces for growth and understanding. Alongside my studio work, I run workshops and teach part-time as an Associate Lecturer at Falmouth University and truly value the reciprocal exchange of learning and dialogue.
In 2021 I made Green at an Angle, an exhibition at Kestle Barton, which developed through a three-year relationship with Trebah Gardens. Through garden walks with specialists from different disciplines, I explored the space between people and plants, questioning what happens at the garden’s edge. This thinking later led to Ouroboros, an exhibition at MIRROR gallery in Plymouth, where I made a series of wall-like works from reactivated paintings; cropped, quilted, dyed, and pulped to form temporary rooms within the gallery. More recently, during a period of personal loss, I made small, intimate paintings which were exhibited alongside collaborative wall murals painted by young people in Lilies and Illusions at Harbour House, Kingsbridge.
My practice is lived-in and intuitive which is what prompts me towards anew.
EDUCATION
Syllabus III, Wysing Arts Centre, Eastside Projects, New Contemporaries, S1 Artspace, Spike Island, Studio Voltaire, 2017-2018
University College Falmouth, BA (hons) Fine Art, 2006-2009
Foundation in Art and Design, Coventry University, 2005-2006
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
Lilies and Illusions, Harbour House, Kingsbridge, 2025
The future is Today, Mead Gallery, Coventry, 2025
Ouroboros, MIRROR gallery, Plymouth, 2024
In Flower Beds, Hweg, Cornwall, 2023
Bridge the Tamar, Mirror, Plymouth, 2023
Exeter Contemporary Open, Exeter Phoenix Gallery, Exeter, 2022
Thanks For the Apples, Falmouth Art Gallery, Cornwall, 2021
Your Foot in my Face, Kingsgate Project Space, London, 2021
Green at an Angle, Kestle Barton, Cornwall, 2021 (solo)
Glade, Potager Garden, curated by Luke Frost, Cornwall, 2020
Chicken Nuggets, Pool School Gallery, Cornwall, 2019
Unbounded, Eden Project, Cornwall, 2019
Scenes, Curated by Naomi Frears, Newlyn Art Gallery Picture Room, Cornwall, 2019
Equinoxy, Sam Bassett’s Studio, St Ives, Cornwall, 2019
Where it is, there it is, Auction House, Redruth, Cornwall2018
Can we Still Be Friends?, Guest Projects, London, 2018
These Fingers Read Sideways, Monomatic, Fetes College, Edinburgh, 2018
What is this Place?, Newlyn Art Gallery, Cornwall, 2017
Smile Orange, Cubitt Gallery, London, 2015
Adam Collier, Aimée Parrott, & Ben Sanderson, Naomi Frears Studio, St Ives, Cornwall, 2015
Testing Tropes, Kestle Barton, Cornwall, 2015
Strepitus, Crepitus, Fragor, curated by Naomi Frears, Penwith Gallery, Cornwall, 2015
First Eleven, CAST, Cornwall, 2013
The Dark Rooms, CAST, Cornwall, 2013
COMMISSIONS
Warwick University Art Collection, 2024
Hospital Rooms, Cove ward Redruth, 2024
Hospital Rooms, Bethlem Mother and Baby Unit, London, 2021
The Six Pillars of Modernism, collaboration with Ella Frears, Tate St Ives, Cornwall, 2017
RESIDENCIES
Pool School Gallery, Cornwall, 2019-2020
Trebah Gardens, Cornwall, 2019/2021
The Cornwall Workshop led by Christina Mackie, Kestle Barton, Cornwall, 2017
Home Service Project, Newlyn Art Gallery and Crossroads Care Home, Cornwall, 2016/2017 Retreat, Cornwall, 2016/17/18
AWARDS
Southwest Showcase, 2023
Arts Council DYCP, 2023
Syllabus III Bursary Fenton Arts Trust - 2017
Helping Artists Keep Going
Axis is an artist-led charity supporting contemporary visual artists with resources, connection, and visibility.