Art+Design: Bio

Benjamin B. Olshin was born in the United States, but he spent much of his life abroad. He began with a university trip to Sri Lanka for a program in indigenous development, and then a stay in Italy, where he took courses in archaeology and history. He later attended the Rhode Island School of Design programme in Rome, doing a series of watercolour paintings and drawings there. Following graduation from Williams College, he went to Surrey, England, where he taught watercolour painting, calligraphy, and crafts. Later, while living in Portugal, the American Cultural Center in Lisbon put on an exhibit of his watercolour paintings and pen-and-ink sketches. He returned to Portugal some years later on a Fulbright grant, doing research and attending AR.CO (Centro de Arte e Comunicaçâo Visual), taking courses in abstract sculpture and design. During this period, he conducted studies in the history of cartography and exploration, and did a series of drawings and paintings in Lisbon and along the Portuguese coast.

He completed his M.A. and Ph.D. in the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology (I.H.P.S.T.), at the University of Toronto. His dissertation involved the history of cartography, examining early maps and sea charts. During these years, he also completed a series of watercolours in Toronto, did design and drafting work for an architecture firm in São Paulo, Brazil, and worked for an architecture atelier in Tokyo, Japan, designing, drafting, building architectural models, and doing restoration work. He also travelled through other parts of Japan during this period, and then journeyed to Hong Kong and Tahiti, doing numerous sketches, watercolours, and oil paintings.

During this time, Dr. Olshin received a grant to travel through western Turkey, where he did a number of sketches, finished drawings, and paintings. Under an NEH grant, Dr. Olshin studied history, indigenous art, and craft traditions in Ghana, West Africa. There, he completed an extensive illustrated journal, as well as a watercolour series. Three years later, he won a second NEH grant, and studied Chinese philosophy at the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii. While there, he again put together a journal and a series of watercolour sketches. Other recent travels have included Singapore, Indonesia, Iceland, and a return to Brazil, all trips that have led to new series of sketches, drawings and paintings.

In his position as a professor of Fine Arts and Design at Ming Chuan University in Taipei, Taiwan, Dr. Olshin developed and taught a variety of courses in the area of fine arts and design, including drawing, painting, model-making, and the history of design. Upon his return to the U.S., Dr. Olshin taught courses in model-making, painting and drawing, Renaissance design and engineering, Asian art history, and a number of other areas at various schools in San Francisco and Philadelphia. More recently, Dr. Olshin served as a Professor of Philosophy, History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, and Industrial Design at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, as well as an instructor in the Architectural Design program and the graduate program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). The current focus of his own artwork is watercolour and pencil drawing, particularly what he calls "imaginary landscapes", miniature experimental pieces, and two series of digital works.