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Caroline
Esbenshade

Artist

About 
    artist statement
    c.v.

Projects:
    Feminist Mythologies
        Danaë
        Odyssey in Neon
    Still life / material culture
        Repoussoir
        Are you still watching?
        Still life
    Portraits
       
Exhibitions:
  Things that shouldn’t last
  Repoussoir

Curator
Selected curatorial projects

Contact



I acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the country on which I live and work and their connections to the land. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Indigenous peoples today.
©2026 Caroline Esbenshade
Caroline 
Esbenshade

Curation

Zen embedded in craft and clay in Stories from the SAM Collection, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2025. Photo:Leon Schoots Zen embedded in craft and clay & Rustic Reverie in Stories from the SAM Collection, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2025. Photo:Leon Schoots Once upon a time, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2025. Photo: Leon Schoots Jen Valender, Field, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2024.Photo: Leon Schoots Face in the Frame, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2024. Photo:Leon Schoots Carmel Robertson:Wish you were here, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2024. Photo: Leon Schoots Aleisa Miksad: Between Scylla and Charybdis | Amphora, 2022, installation view. Shepparton Art Museum, 2023. Photo by Leon Schoots. Aleisa Miksad: Between Scylla and Charybdis | Amphora, 2022, installation view. Shepparton Art Museum, 2023. Photo by Leon Schoots. Beci Orpin,MUSH/ROOM, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2023. Photo:Leon Schoots Ellen Lee, Landscape; of sight, of sound, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2023.Photo: Leon Schoots Little big, Big little, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2022.Photo: Leon Schoots Little big, Big little, installation view, Shepparton Art Museum 2022.Photo: Leon Schoots Ponch Hawkes: 500 Strong, 2022, installation view. Shepparton Art Museum, 2022. Photo by Cam Matheson. Maja Malou Lyse & Arvida Bystrom 'Selfie Stick Aerobics' (2016), installation view from PINK, 2021, Wyndham Art Gallery. Anastasia Klose 'Miss Spring 1883' (2016), installation view from PINK, 2021, Wyndham Art Gallery.
Esbenshade’s curatorial practice draws on over fifteen years of experience in museums and galleries. She has worked across collection-based exhibitions, acquisitions, and community-focused programs, with a curatorial approach that prioritises rigorous research, artist and object-led storytelling, and feminist and cross-cultural perspectives.

She is currently a curator at Shepparton Art Museum (SAM), where she contributes to collection exhibitions, artist development initiatives, and public-facing programs including the development and managemnet of The Urbach. Learn more about her work at SAM [here].

selected curation:
The crafted image (Stories from the SAM Collection) - Shepparton Art Museum, from 2 May 2026.
Fran O’Neill: On The Move - Shepparton Art Museum, from 21 Mar - 9 Aug 2026.
Aleisa Miksad: Pareidolia - Shepparton Art Museum, from 21 Feb 2026.
Scroll, consume, repeat (Stories from the SAM Collection) - Shepparton Art Museum, from 19 Jan 2026.
Rustic Reverie (Stories from the SAM Collection) - Shepparton Art Museum, from 25 Mar - 10 Nov 2025.
Zen embedded in craft and clay (Stories from the SAM Collection) - Shepparton Art Musuem, from 2 Mar 2025.
Bare paper (Stories from the SAM Collection) - Shepparton Art Museum, from 21 Sep 2024.
Jen Valender: Field - Shepparton Art Museum, 3 Feb - 5 May 2024.
Ellen Lee: Landscape; of sight, of sound - Shepparton Art Museum, 21 Oct 2023 - 28 Jan 2024.  
Aleisa Miksad: Between Scylla and Charybdis | Amphora - Shepparton Art Museum, Dec 2022 - Feb 2023.
Ponch Hawkes: 500 Strong - Shepparton Art Museum, Sep - Nov 2022.
PINK - Wyndham Art Gallery, Feb - Mar 2021.


selected writings, interviews, presentations, and videos:
“A wabi-sabi way through the bush” – MASS: Shepparton Art Museum Journal, Issue 1 (Feb 2025): 4 - 15.
“Where is here?” - Catalogue essay for Carmel Robertson: Wish you were here, Shepparton Art Museum, 2024-25.
“Mapping the land - moments of meditation,” Catalogue essay for Ellen Lee: Landscape; of sight, of sound, 2023-24.
“Aleisa Miksad - Ancient Forms Echoing,” Journal of Australian Ceramics, 62 no. 1 (April 2023): 77 - 81.
“Curator’s Note” and narration for the PINK exhibition online tour, Wyndham Art Gallery, 2021.
“Curiouser and curiouser: How objects we’ve collected reflect on us,” Catalogue essay for REVEAL, Wyndham Art Gallery, 2020.
Video production and interview with artist Alex Bay for Sawhill Gallery, 2011.

Download full curatorial cv [here].