Joan Benefiel has worked as a professional sculptor for 13 years. Her training, experience and education are rooted in hands-on traditional sculpture studio techniques. She uses this background as a springboard to create vital work that is relevant to a contemporary audience.

With her unique training and experience she is able to create work that is energized by powerful forms and seductive materials; timeless techniques and modern technology. An example is these large-scale glowing monumental surfboard resin sculptures. The combination of strength and vibrant translucency of the material allows great freedom in scale while heightening the dramatic impact of the human form.

Benefiel’s education began by working as sculptor’s apprentice and as a bronze sculpture technician in 1997 at a Kansas City foundry. She has since earned an MFA from the New York Academy of Art and established her sculpture studio, Figuration LLC, with Partner Jeremy Leichman in the burgeoning Bushwick, Brooklyn neighborhood in NYC.

Benefiel believes that public art is a vehicle for the cross-cultural communication of ideas and the creation of shared experience. Her practice is dedicated to a vision that carefully considers the effects of scale, placement and perception for the purpose of encouraging viewers to engage and interact with the art and its environment.