Simon Benepe
simonbenepe@yahoo.com
Bachelor Of Fine Arts - New York University
DOB: 10/14/66
(Most recent work and personal information towards end.)
Resume
Childhood: Born in New York City October 14th 1966
- Grew up on a dairy farm in Washingtonville, New York 69' - 78
- Spent two years living near Edinburgh, Scotland with family '79-'81
Moved to New York City Summer '81
Wilderness Bound Summer '81
Backpacking in the Grand Tetons in Colorado and canoeing in Minnesota.
Elisabeth Irwin High School: '81 - '83
Majored in photography and studio art, received awards of merit in those subjects.
Pratt University in Brooklyn: '83 - '85
Foundation Art: Courses in drawing, painting, sculpture, art history, welding, printmaking.
Major in Photography: Courses in theory, history, and criticism of photography.
Travel In Indonesia: Summer '84
For one month, visiting Jakarta, Jogyakarta, Solo and a small island called Pulai-Putri.
New York University
Bachelor Of Fine Arts Majoring in Photography
- Photography: Courses in theory, history, criticism as well as photographic chemistry and photo journalism. - Worked on promoting a photographic chemistry recycling program for the department - Created a 4'x4' photo-montage on a wood panel called the Water Wheel, depicting the hydrologic cycle and man's involvement in it. Later created a second version of the water wheel as well as a series of digital montages on the same theme.
Council on The Environment of New York City '85-'88
Worked on annual reports and public relations for the Council as a freelance photographer.
New York City Department of Parks and Recreation May '87 - Dec '89 also May '92 - Oct '94
Public relations photography - press events, annual reports, also did extensive series on monuments and historic houses. - Photographic Chemistry Recycling Project: continued research into methods of recycling spent chemistry. Researched environmental impacts, costs and potential benefits of the program. Attended meetings of the Citizen's Advisory Committee on Industrial Pre-Treatment. - Created a slide show called the Water-Wheel depicting the cycle of water in upstate New York.
Freelance Photography in New York City 89'-'90
Including: The Vincent Astor Foundation, The JM Kaplan Fund and Colgate Palmolive.
The Coalition for the Homeless NYC Dec 87' - Feb. '89
Volunteered feeding homeless from a mobile food van, as volunteer, van driver, and team leader.
Travel in Europe, Winter '89
For three months: Portugal, Spain, France, Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Italy.
Freelance photography in Seattle, Washington. Aug'91 - Dec'91
Architecture, Newspaper photography.
Museum of Natural History: Internship Summer '96
Digital photography of objects from the Northwest Coast American Indians collection.
The Trust for Public Land: Summer '96
Did photography for grant applications, including garden spaces for grade schools and small farm for developmentally disabled teenagers.
United Nations Development Program: Summer '96
Worked as a volunteer helping to organize a slide library which depicts humanitarian, social, and environmental projects.
Hudson River Sloop Clearwater: Summer '96
Volunteer crew for one week, helped educate the public about Hudson River ecology.
Earth Celebrations: Jan - June'96
This group works to protect the gardens of the lower east side in NYC. I photographed their winter and spring pageants and helped prepare for these events.
Camphill Village, Copake N. Y. Sept '96 - Sept '97
Volunteered working with the developmentally disabled in a community setting including farm, garden, house, and many workshops. Camphill is a Rudolph Steiner community which integrates home, work and spiritual life in a rich, nurturing and caring environment. - Learned about bio-dynamic gardening, and worked with the villagers in the garden four days a week. Created a web page for Camphill with photographs of seasonal activities. Made links to other Anthroposophical sites. Did photography for the "Village View," a quarterly publication about the village.
Biodiversity Project : Brazil, American Museum of Natural History : July '97
Photographed project to collect and identify species of ants and wasps in the Brazilian Coastal Rainforest. The goal of the project was to train students in cataloging species of a given area for the purpose of preservation of that environment. The photographs are for educational materials, magazine articles, and the internet. The project took place for one week in Urucuca, near Ilheus. Also visited the city of Salvador .
Antioch, New England: Sept'97 - Jan-'98
Took a semester in Environmental Education. - Foundations in Environmental Education, Tree Species Identification, Multiculturalism in Environmental Education.
Camphill Soltane, Paoli, Pennsylvania: Jan - June '98
A living, working community for young adults(18-24) with developmental disabilities. Worked as a visiting co-worker doing land work and caring for orchards.
Camphill Triform, Hudson NY: June - Sept 98
Worked as a visiting co-worker doing land work and gardening.
Family of Woodstock: Sept'98 - April'99
35 hrs training in crisis phone line counseling. Worked as a part time volunteer on a crisis hotline, dealing with issues like housing & homelessness, domestic violence, mental illness, alcohol and substance abuse, or people that just want to talk. Their slogan was "any problem under the sun.
Camphill Copake April - June 99
Returned to Copake for three months intending to stay longer, but found there was too little time to pursue my other interests.
New Horizons: June - Sept 99
Worked for one term as a director of a farm program for youth with behavioral difficulties.
Ulster Green Association for Retarded Citizens: At-Home Services: Sept 99 - June 2000
Care of people with disabilities in a one-to-one, at-home setting. Driving to various locations and taking the person out into the community, or socializing with them at home.
Ulster Green Association for Retarded Citizens: Habilitation Specialist May 2000 - Sept 2000
Joseph Pecora Day Treatment Center
I was responsible for two rooms with a total of 25 consumers and five staff, doing paper work and payroll, as well as putting together parties for the whole wing (100 people). The job was a combination of direct care and administration. Part of my time I spent in the rooms and part of it I spent in the office, writing programming, attending annual and bi-annual meetings for each of the consumers, solving numerous daily-care issues, payroll, employee evaluations, monthly monitoring sheets, trip logs and cash reports. I also worked on finding interesting activities for these older consumers while they were in the rooms. Generally we had a good atmosphere, and the consumers were happy and often did not want to leave at the end of the day.
Ulster Green Association for Retarded Citizens: Habilitation Specialist Sept 2000 - Dec 2000
Palmer House
Similar to the job at the Pecora Center but without a staff and with more consumers. I worked on a project at Palmer to rewrite the consumer's log books.
Volunteer Hudson Valley Dec 2000 - May 2005
I worked on a home-spun web site, which became a literary reaction to the events of 9-11-2000. I lived in Woodstock and wrote the site, loading images and text almost daily, and occasionally made trips to NYC during which I promoted the site. The site also included photomontages I've done.
Woodstock Artist's Association
Showed a digitally montaged photograph in June 2000 and another in July.
The Good Neigbor Food Pantry
I worked as the coordinator of this food pantry as a parishoner of St Gregory's Church in Woodstock.
The pantry's operation was shared within the Council of Five Churches.
Northeast Center for Special Care: Nov 2005 - Sept 2007
I volunteered one day a week, as an assistant to the art therapy Department, assisting residents with brain and spinal cord injuries to create paintings, sometimes hand-over-hand.
Hudson River Maritime Museum : June 2006 - Dec 2010
I volunteered one day a week, photographing the collections for the museum, as well as scanning photographs from their archive. Starting in 2008 I volunteered as the webmaster for the museum's website.
Ulster County Tourism
I worked on photos for Ulster County Tourism from summer 2006 to summer 2010, and sold them a disk of my work.
Since Feb 2008, I have been assembling and working on my website, Volunteer Hudson Valley.
It has links to many organisations that involve volunteering, and the site also has many of my photos of Ulster County and the Hudson Valley.
I attend St John's Episcopal Church, Parishoner since 2008
I have been involved with the Episcopal Church since the age of 21.