Benjamin Lee Sperry
Benjamin Lee Sperry is an interdisciplinary artist working in the traditions of Photography, Painting, Printmaking, Installation, and Performance. He studied photography at Harrisburg Area Community College before completing a BFA in Visual and Critical Studies at the School of Visual Arts in New York. While there he was given The Chairman’s Merit Award and was the recipient of an Alumni Scholarship Award. He then went on to University of Delaware completing an MFA in Painting and Printmaking and was awarded a solo exhibition at The Delaware Contemporary.
He has participated in artist talks at The Church Foundation in Sag Harbor, University of Delaware’s Colloquium program, and has been a featured guest on the ArtShow podcast with Craig Stover.
His work has been shown at the Sheen Center for Thought and Culture in NY, Heit Gallery in Berlin, Divisible Projects, James Oliver Gallery, The Delaware Contemporary, Project Gallery, The Brink Gallery, and was included in Shifting Forms: 5 Decades of Abstraction at the Susquehanna Art Museum alongside Hellen Frankenthaler, Chakaia Booker, and Sol Lewitt. Benjamin has participated in residency programs such as Pedvāle Artist Residency in Sabile, Latvia, the McCanna House with North Dakota Museum of Art, and is currently a 2025-2026 resident with Project 14C in Jersey City. He teaches at Anne Arundel Community College and Pennsylvania College of Art and Design and has previously taught at Lincoln University and Massachusetts College of Art and Design.
Education
2019 MFA Painting and Printmaking University of Delaware, Newark, DE
2016 BFA Visual and Critical Studies, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
2006 H.A.C.C. Photography Department Harrisburg , PA
Awards / Residencies
2025 - 26 Project 14C Residency, Jersey City, NJ 2025 McCanna House Residency, North Dakota Museum of Art, ND 2024 Pedvāle Artist Residency, Sabile, Latvia 2019 MFA Solo Exhibition Award, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 2016 Alumni Scholarship Award, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 2014 Chairman’s Merit Award, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
Solo / Two Person Exhibitions
2025 Primarily Paperwhite (and I whisper back to you), Divisible Projects, Dayton, OH 2023 Car (yellow) and other recent work, Cottey College, Nevada, MO 2023 Strange Bruises (the mailings works), Divisible Projects, Dayton, OH 2022 PVD-NA-OS-ETC, Recitation Gallery, University of Delaware, Newark DE 2019 Nothing Series and Pooka up close, Delaware Contemporary Museum,Wilmington, DE 2016 Strange Bruises/Ghosts Emerging, University of Dayton, Dayton OH 2014 The Predecessor: an exploration in tradition, Fenetre Gallery, Harrisburg, PA 2012 I Pass By, The Brink Gallery, Missoula, MT 2011 Offshore, Moving, The Mantis Collective, Harrisburg, PA 2008 The Feeling in Your Chest, Project Gallery, Stillwater, OK Artist
Talks / Guest Lectures
2024 Visiting Artist / Guest Lecturer, University of North Dakota, ND 2023 Artist Talk with Tim McFarlane and Jonathan VanDyke, Susquehanna Art Museum, PA 2023 Roundtable Discussion with Rico Gatson and Dianne Smith, The Church Sag Harbor, NY 2022 Visiting Artist / Guest Lecturer, University of Delaware, Newark, DE
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026 ART (Official) Intelligence, The Human Hand in an Algorithmic World, Gallery 14C, NJ 2025 Riverview Reading For Swamp Rd. Readymades & Market St. Mimesis, Project 14C, NJ 2025 A Short Lived Torture of Cacophony, HIERRO, Astoria, NY 2024 Closer - Still, Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH 2024 Residency Exhibition, Pedvāle Art Museum, Sabile, Latvia 2024 Faculty Exhibition, Cade Gallery, AACC, Arnold, MD 2023 Shifting Forms, 5 Decades of Abstraction, Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA 2021 Autumn Art Auction, North Dakota Museum of Art, Grand Forks, ND 2021 Connected: New Printmakers, Second State Press, Philadelphia, PA 2020 In Manual Mode, AREA Gallery, At The Yard, Boston, MA 2019 Roadside Picnic, Heit Gallery, Berlin, Germany 2019 CUSP, MFA Thesis Exhibition, Delaware Contemporary Museum of Art, Wilmington,DE 2018 SABA IV, Delaware Contemporary Museum of Art, Newark DE 2018 DIY ethics we don’t embody, 32 Prospect, Newark,DE 2017 Jekyll Grand Dining,Sea Mist, We Too Lived, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 2016 SUBTERRANEAN: An Unsolicited, Unsanctioned, Undocumented Sculpture Exhibition Curated by Julia Stoddard in the rooftop garden of MoMA PS1, Long Island City, NY 2016 Temporarily Imbued, Open Studios, School of Visual Arts, New York, NY 2016 Planting Season, Curated by Suzanne Joelson, Flatiron Gallery, New York, NY 2016 Sincerity (The Post-Americans), Curated by Devon Watson, DEP ART, Brooklyn, NY 2016 Thank Heaven for Boys and Girls, Curated by Jovana Stokic, SVA, New York, NY
