Advertise on podcast: SAM Talks

In this episode of In the Studio, SAM Artistic Director, Danny Lacy, visits multidisciplinary artist Richard Lewer at his temporary studio at Melbourne’s Abbotsford Convent. Working across painting, drawing, animation and ceramics, Lewer reflects on a practice shaped by everyday encounters, personal relationships and the stories people share. He speaks about allowing the story to determine the form of an artwork, and his interest in materials that already carry a history—from found classroom maps to Formica tables. Lewer shares the stories behind works in the SAM Collection, alongside his collaboration with Felicity Law, creating ceramic urns that become deeply personal expressions of remembrance. Through these projects, he considers how art can connect with people’s lives, making space for experiences of vulnerability, loss and belonging. The conversation also explores his Archibald Prize-winning portrait of Iluwanti Ken, from their first meeting over breakfast to time spent watching her paint on Country, and the experience of sharing that recognition. Recorded in the artist’s studio, this conversation offers an insight into the relationships, materials and moments that shape Lewer’s work, and the many forms a story can take. Richard Lewer’s portrait of Iluwanti Ken is on display in the Archibald Prize 2026 at SAM, the exhibition’s only Victorian venue, until 1 November. The Archibald Prize 2026 is an Art Gallery of New South Wales touring exhibition.  Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In this episode of In the Studio, SAM Curator – Exhibitions & Collections, Caroline Esbenshade, visits artist Fran O’Neill at her home and studio. Surrounded by the landscape that informs the light, movement and atmosphere of her work, O’Neill reflects on her journey as a painter, from growing up in Wangaratta and studying in Melbourne, to a seven-week painting course in New York that became a twenty-year chapter of her life. O’Neill shares how wiping paint from a canvas led her towards the fluid, physical mark-making that now defines her practice. She speaks about building layers, chasing luminosity, responding intuitively to the surface, and embracing the moments when a painting gets “into trouble.” Recorded in the artist’s studio, this conversation explores colour as a relationship, the importance of risk and experimentation, and the determination required to continue making work in the face of criticism and self-doubt. O’Neill also reflects on the joy of looking slowly, inviting audiences to approach painting with a sense of play, wonder and childlike curiosity. Fran O’Neill: On The Move is currently on display at SAM until 9 August.  Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In this episode of In the Studio, SAM’s Communications Officer Mikela Guseli visits ceramic artist Prue Venables in her Castlemaine studio. Known for her refined porcelain forms, Venables reflects on a practice shaped by discipline, repetition, and a deep sensitivity to materials. Originally trained in science and music, Venables speaks about the moment she encountered clay, and how its tactile, responsive nature offered a new way of thinking and making — and how learning metalsmithing has amplified her practice. Recorded in the artist’s studio, this conversation offers a quiet insight into the processes, ideas, and philosophies that sit behind Venables’ work, and the enduring influence of music — where rhythm, structure and expression continue to inform her approach. Prue Venables: Sempre is currently on display at SAM until 16 August 2026. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

What does it mean to create a memorial for animals we no longer share the world with? This episode of SAM Talks was recorded live at Shepparton Art Museum during Lament — A memorial of Australian extinction by emerging artist Kat Parker, SAM’s 2025 Spotlight Artist. In conversation with SAM Curator Caroline Esbenshade, Parker discusses her printmaking practice, her use of linocut and paper, and the research underpinning the exhibition, which focuses on extinct Australian animals. The discussion also covers her process, things she's learned along the way, and the development of both two-dimensional prints and her intricate layered paper sculptures featured in the exhibition. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

What does it mean to paint the landscape — not as a view, but as a living, breathing network of care? In this episode, SAM Curator Caroline Esbenshade sits down with artist Anthea Kemp, recipient of the 2025 Theodore Urbach Landscape Painting Scholarship, to reflect on her time in Shepparton. From volunteering at the Euroa Arboretum and the Goulburn Broken Indigenous Seed Bank to transforming field observations into large-scale abstract paintings, Anthea shares how immersion, attention, and patience have reshaped her understanding of both art and conservation. Together, they explore the links between creativity and ecology — how care for the smallest seed can inspire new ways of seeing the world around us. Recorded live at Shepparton Art Museum, this conversation traces the delicate balance between artmaking, place, and the quiet power of connection. Hosted by Caroline Esbenshade Recorded live at Shepparton Art Museum Learn more about the Theodore Urbach Landscape Painting here. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

What does it mean to preserve the past — and prepare it for the future? In this episode, SAM Exhibitions Manager Nick Baylart sits down with conservator Robyn Ho, founder of c/o Studios, to unpack the art and science of conservation. From repairing holes in century-old canvases to restoring intent, meaning, and cultural significance, Robyn shares her journey from architecture to art conservation and reveals how global partnerships and delicate micro-surgery techniques are helping safeguard artworks for generations to come. Recorded live at Shepparton Art Museum, this conversation offers a rare glimpse behind the scenes of a profession that bridges creativity, chemistry, and care. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In this episode, artist Locust Jones joins SAM Artistic Director Danny Lacy for a thoughtful conversation about The Bird Agents — a monumental drawing made in response to the chaos of global politics and media. Together, they explore Jones’s evolving creative practice, how sound and news cycles fuel his work, and why drawing remains his most immediate way of processing a world in constant motion. The Bird Agents is a part of the SAM Collection and was recently on show for the first time in the exhibition The Shape of Things to Come.  Locust Jones (b. 1963, Christchurch, New Zealand) currently lives and works in the Blue Mountains, Australia.In 2010 Locust completed a Masters of Visual Arts at Sydney College of the Arts (Sydney University) where earlier in 1993 he completed an undergraduate degree in Print Media.    Since graduating Locust has held over 25 solo exhibitions within Australia and internationally, including: Burn Freeze, David Krut Projects, New York (2014); Descent into the Mass Media Maelstrom, Galerie Patrick Ebensperger, Berlin (2014); 24HR News Feed, Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch, New Zealand (2013) and Some Mistakes were Perhaps Made, Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW (2012)   Locust has participated in numerous museum exhibitions including: Art Gallery of South Australia, Heidi Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne and Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney. His work is held in major public collections including: Art Gallery of New South Wales; Art Gallery of South Australia; Artbank; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery; National Gallery of Victoria; Australian War Memorial; Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand; James Wallace Trust, Auckland, New Zealand; National Gallery of Australia; Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery; Kunstwerk Museum; Collection of Peter W. and Alison Klein, Stuttgart, Germany and the Shepparton Art Museum. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In this episode, join us for an insightful conversation between this year’s SAM Selects exhibitor, Dore Stockhausen, and SAM Curator, Caroline Esbenshade. Together, they explore Stockhausen’s formative years, her artistic evolution, and the creative inspirations that have shaped her journey. Delve into the compelling themes and stories behind her current exhibition, echoes of a new eden, now on view in our Community Gallery until 29 June 2025. Dore Stockhausen (b. 1966 Mainz, Germany) is a mid-career artist with a rich creative practice, having shifted her focus over the last decade from jewellery-making to painting. Originally from Germany, Stockhausen migrated to Australia in 1992 and now lives and works in Beechworth, Victoria. Stockhausen has exhibited regularly since the mid-90s, and her work is represented in regional and national collections including the National Gallery of Australia. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In October 2024, multi-disciplinary artist Brendan Huntley joined SAM Communications Officer Mikela Guseli for a conversation exploring Huntley's diverse creative practice. Known best for his clay and painting practice, the conversation spans from Huntley's early DIY art exhibitions with his parents to fronting Melbourne-based punk band Eddy Suppression Ring, and how the act of creating has been a constant form of self-discovery and self-expression through the past two decades.  Brendan Huntley is a prolific artist who works across music, painting and sculpture. His work is currently on display at SAM in Ceramics in Focus, where he playfully references historic ceramic forms to explore the human psyche and what it means to be human, instilling each of his works with individual sensibilities. Huntley approaches his ceramic practice with a belief that the transformative process of sculpting and firing clay involves a transfer of energy, giving each sculpture its own personality. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

Late last year, our 2024 Theodore Urbach Landscape Prize and Studio Scholarship recipient Ellen Lee joined SAM Curator Caroline Esbenshade to discuss Lee's three-month experience at SAM and the growth she experienced in her creative practice both during and since her time in the SAM Artist Studio. In addition to discussing Lee’s experience, Caroline Esbenshade introduces the Urbach 2025 program and information on how artists can apply for the prize and scholarship opportunity. Ellen Lee is an Australian artist who works from her home studio in regional Victoria. Working with watercolour, natural pigmentation and graphite, her experiences in nature and her surroundings provide an abundance of inspiration for her large scale works on paper. Derived from the mappings and collection of marks from blind contour studies and observations of the environment; Ellen’s works centre around an exploration into the changes occurring within the landscape, and the observational nature of documenting, and drawing, in accordance to a natural response to the surrounding stimuli. Her work aims to create an immersive and sensory experience, bringing the viewer into a landscape of time, change and movement. Ellen Lee is the recipient of the 2024 The Theodore Urbach Landscape Painting Prize & Studio Scholarship. During the 3 month studio scholarship at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), Ellen’s work will focus on the surrounding wetlands and bird life of Victoria Lake. Read more about Ellen’s experience here. Ellen Lee was the 2023 Spotlight Artist at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM). Her solo exhibition ‘Landscape; of sight, of sound’, focused on her time in local bushland of Banyula State Forest, with the scale of her works immersing the viewer in a meditative, visual landscape. Ellen Lee was awarded the DM Myers University Medal for the highest achiever of academic excellence for the College of Arts, Social Science and Commerce at La Trobe University, Australia. The Urbach program is generously supported by the Theodore Urbach Landscape Painting Scholarship and Prize Charitable Trust. The trust, established through the will of philanthropist and arts patron Theodore Urbach, was designed to provide prizes and scholarship opportunities to benefit artists and students working in the field of Australian landscape painting.  Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In July 2024, artist Stewart Russell joined SAM Digital Content Coordinator Kati Hogarth for a conversation exploring the creation of his new installation Peter, Tommie, & John / reliving the dream.  Stewart Russell’s large-scale textile installation Peter, Tommie & John / reliving the dream explores one of the most influential political actions of the 20th century through the eyes of Australian Olympic silver medallist Peter Norman. In this episode Stewart talks about the history behind the artwork, meeting Peter Norman, his practice and inspiration behind this series.  Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

In April 2024, SAM Selects artist Jen Valender joined SAM Curator - Community Caroline Esbenshade for a fascinating live conversation exploring the creation of her exhibition Field. Created during Valender’s time on the University of Melbourne’s Dookie Agricultural Campus for her CoVA Art + Ecology residency, the body of moving image works explore the relationship between art and the natural world through a series of video works featuring the wildlife and lush, fluorescent canola fields of Dookie. In this episode, the pair discuss working with animals, performance art, and connecting with farm life. Field was on display in SAM's Hugh D.T Williamson Community Gallery from 3 February to 5 May 2024. About the artist: Jen Valender is a multidisciplinary artist who creates performative encounters on and with the landscape that raises questions about the relationship between art and the natural world. Through moving image, she explores the ways in which art may be used as a navigational tool to investigate human and nonhuman connections. Valender has exhibited widely in galleries and museums in Australia, France, Germany, South Africa, and Portugal and holds a Master of Fine Arts (Research) from the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

SAM Curator Jessica O'Farrell sits down with multidisciplinary artist Jason Phu to discuss his recent Art Wall commission for SAM, Some of the things that have come and gone with the waters. The pair dive into Phu's creative practice, the research he undertook for his site-responsive work, and the process of depicting a landscape following the devastation of recent flooding. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

Australian Melting Pot (2018) examines the complexity of living between multiple cultures in Australia. Join artist Moorina Bonini and SAM Curator Belinda Briggs as they discuss the artwork and the multifaceted perspectives that contribute to the construction of Australian identity. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.

Join Yorta Yorta artist Troy Firebrace and SAM Curator Belinda Briggs as they discuss the dual contexts of Troy's Drawing Wall installation, Induction. Troy uses layers of meaning within his work, encouraging his audience to look again. At a first glance, we might recognise the familiar imagery of a dry riverbed in the summer sun—upon closer inspection, however, we discover some of the complexities of living in the modern world.  Discover more about Troy's practice, Induction, and how Troy uses art as a tool to educate students and audiences about Aboriginal culture in this episode of SAM Talks. Stay in touch with SAM on socials: Instagram / www.instagram.com/sam_shepparton Facebook / www.facebook.com/sheppartonartmuseum Sign up to our monthly newsletter via Mailchimp Visit the SAM website to discover our exhibitions and programs: www.sheppartonartmuseum.com.au About SAM: Shepparton Art Museum (SAM) is located on Yorta Yorta Country, Shepparton, Victoria. As a leading Australian regional art museum, SAM showcases its exhibitions and collections in new and exciting ways to create a welcoming, inclusive, and engaging space for all visitors. Recognised for its significant Australian ceramics collection and nationally significant collection of Indigenous art, SAM’s programming is designed to be locally relevant and engages with global contemporary ideas. Through its exhibitions, collection, programs and events, SAM creates a place where art helps us to better understand the ancient culture of this country and contemporary multicultural Australia.