Anne Kirker :: Art Consultant, Curator and Writer

Curriculum Vitae: Anne Kirker

Born in Auckland, New Zealand, moved to Brisbane, Australia in 1988.

Academic Qualifications

University of Auckland Diploma in Fine Arts with Honours:(majored in printmaking; thesis on ‘The History of Printmaking in New Zealand’)

Courtauld Institute of Art, London Master of Arts in the History of Art: (course work covered 19th and 20th Century art movements; thesis on 1920s and 30s British avant-garde, namely, ‘The last Years of the Seven and Five Society’)

Doctor of Philosophy, at Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology (Thesis: ‘Printmaking as an Expanding Field in Contemporary Art Practice: A case study of Japan, Australia and Thailand’).

Awards include

Arts Queensland exhibition development grant 2011
Arts Queensland research development Grant 2009
Gordon Darling Foundation Grant 2000
British Council Travel Award, 1997
Australia-Japan Foundation Grant 1991
Anzac Fellowship to take up Scholar-in-Residency, The Power Institute of Fine Arts, University of Sydney 1988
William Holmes Scholarship to study in British Museum Print Room for one year 1973

Current Employment

Freelance Art Consultant, Curator and Writer

Previous Employment

Senior Curator (Special Projects) for GOMA, The Queensland Gallery of Modern Art 2003-06
Head of International Art, The Queensland Art Gallery 2001-03
Curator of Prints, Drawings and Photographs, The Queensland Art Gallery 1988-2001
Curator of Prints and Drawings at the National Art Gallery, Wellington 1979-1986; Senior Curator (New Zealand Art) 1987-1988
Curator of Prints and Drawings at the Auckland City Art Gallery 1970-76

Professional Membership

Industry Advisor for Arts Queensland 2009–
Queensland representative of AAANZ (art historians association) 2008–
Board member of the Queensland Centre for Photography 2004–08
Member of the Editorial Committee of Museums Australia Magazine 2000–
Member of Museums Australia Visual Arts and Craft Special Interest Group 1999–
Member of AICA: International Association of Art Critics 1994–
Member of the Faculty Advisory Committee for the Academy of the Arts, Queensland University of Technology 1991–95
Member of the Art Association of Australia and New Zealand 1988–
Curatorial Adviser for New Zealand Art Gallery Directors' Council 1984–87

Curator of Exhibitions

Responsible for choice of exhibits, publication texts, and supervision of installation and education component at the Auckland City Art Gallery of more than ten exhibitions including:

Australian Prints, arranged in collaboration with Crossley Gallery, Melbourne 1971
Fashion and Follies (1500-1900), European prints from the Dr Walter Auburn Collection 1975
New Zealand Drawing 1976 (national touring exhibition) 1976

Responsible for more than twelve exhibitions at the National Art Gallery, Wellington, including:

Prints of the 70's by Six British Artists, arranged in collaboration with Waddington Graphics, London (national touring exhibition) 1980
John Walker Drawings 1981, arranged in collaboration with Nigel Greenwood, London 1981
The First Fifty Years: British Art of the 20th Century works in all media drawn from the permanent collection, 1981
Bea Maddock Prints 1960-1982 (national touring exhibition) 1982
Denys Watkins/Printed Images (national touring exhibition) 1984
Davida Allen (national touring exhibition), arranged in collaboration with Ray Hughes, Brisbane 1986
Face to Face: A Survey of Artists' Prints works drawn from the permanent collection (national touring exhibition) 1986
Mimmo Paladino: Etchings, woodcuts, linocuts 1982-86 arranged in collaboration with Waddington Graphics, London (national touring exhibition) 1987
Natalia Gontcharova works in all media drawn from the permanent collection and the NGA, Canberra (national touring exhibition) 1987
Rodchenko as Photographer arranged in collaboration with MOMA, Oxford (touring exhibition in NZ and Australia) 1988-89

Curated and wrote for over twenty exhibitions for The Queensland Art Gallery, including:

Looking Eastwards: the Intricate Art of Japanese Prints, drawn from the permanent collection and private sources, 1989
Shifting Parameters: Australian Artists who employ Photographic Images and Techniques in their Prints, drawn from the permanent collection, 1990
Instant Imaging: Seven Queensland Artists using Electronic Media to Create Works on Paper, especially commissioned exhibits, 1991
Being and Nothingness: Bea Maddock - Work from Three Decades, joint initiative with National Gallery of Australia, co-curated with Roger Butler, 1992
6 x 6: A Selection of Contemporary Australian Prints, joint initiative with Asialink, Melbourne, touring exhibition to Thailand 1992-93
FLUXUS and after..., drawn from the permanent collection and private sources, 1993-94
‘The Power to Move': Aspects of Australian Photography, drawn from the permanent collection, co-curated with Clare Williamson, 1996
Francesco Conz and the Intermedia Avant-Garde, co-curated with Nicholas Zurbrugg, 1997
‘The Art of Inclusion: Recent Australian Photography, drawn from the permanent collection, Queensland regional tour, 1999
Erich Buchholz: the restless avant-gardist, 2000
Paperworks: Australian artists exploring drawing and the printed image, drawn from the permanent collection, 2001
Max Gimblett: the language of drawing, 2002

Co-ordinated projects for Gallery 14, experimental art space at The Queensland Art Gallery:

Natural Science, an installation by Merilyn Fairskye, 1989
Supports for Falling Limbs and Articles for an Ongoing Nature, an installation by Andrew Drummond, 1990
Resistance, an installation by Julie Brown-Rrap, 1991
Beyond the Everyday, an installation by Elizabeth Gower, 1991
oneWORLD, an installation by Ian Howard, 1992
Lineareading, an installation by Joe Felber, 1994
A Shadow in Our Tree, an installation by Tony Twigg, 1995

Selected works on paper for a series of rotational displays (every three to four months) from the permanent collection for the Australian and International galleries. Rotations comprised approx 120 items at any given time (commenced December 1988, until new position in 2003)

Had an active input into special projects initiated by the Manager of International Programs, specifically Toulouse-Lautrec Prints and Posters, joint initiative with the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; and the Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002.

Publications

Books:

New Zealand Women Artists, Reed-Methuen, Auckland, 1986, finalist in the Watties Book Award 1987; revised edition, Craftsman House, Sydney 1993
British Painting 1800-1990 in Australian and New Zealand Public Collections, co-authored with Peter Tomory, The Beagle Press, Sydney 1997
Bruno Leti: The Matrix, co-authored with Sasha Grishin, Alan Loney and Chris Wallace-Crabbe, Macmillan Publishers, Melbourne 2010.

Ten articles published in Art New Zealand including:

‘Len Lye: The Early Years in London’ (Issue 17, 1980)
‘Rhona Haszard: A Painter of the Twenties’ (Issue 34, 1985)
‘An Appraisal of Rosalie Gascoigne's Assemblages’ (Issue 50, 1989)
‘On Collecting: Carole Shepheard’s Museum of Cultural Anxiety’ (Issue 111, Winter 2004)
‘A New Zealander at the Pacific Rim: Philippa Blair in Venice’ [L.A.] (Issue 113, Summer 2004)

Chapters and entries in books and exhibition catalogues (not including those published by The Queensland Art Gallery) including:

Australian/New Zealand entries in Mitchell Beazley Encyclopaedia of Painting and Sculpture 1980
‘Raymond McIntyre: A European Context’, essay in Raymond McIntyre: a New Zealand Painter, Heinemann 1984
‘Lithography in New Zealand - A Coming of Age’, chapter in Lasting Impressions, ed. Pat Gilmour, National Gallery of Australia 1988

Four essays contributed to The Book of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa, Bridget Williams Books 1991
Print Portfolio essay in The Readymade Boomerang published documentation accompanying The Eighth Biennale of Sydney, daadgalerie, Berlin 1992
Two essays contributed to The Dictionary of Art (Macmillan) 1995
One essay contributed to Heritage - the National Women's Art Book (ed. Joan Kerr) 1995
‘An artist of social commitment’, in Toi Ata-Robyn Kahukiwa, Bowen Galleries, Wellington 1995
Introductory essay (with Juliette Peers) and co-ordination of Australian and New Zealand entries
Dictionary of Women Artists, Fitzroy Dearborn 1997
Essay on Judith Kentish in Viewpoints: Visual Arts Case Studies, Heinemann 1998
Text to Gretchen Albrecht, Crossing the Divide: a painter makes prints, Sarjeant Gallery, Wanganui 1999
‘Printmaking Shifts’ in No Muttering, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, The University of New South Wales 2001
‘The Print Installations of Prawat Laucharoen in The Proverbs My Brother Taught Me, The Art Center, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 2001
‘Double Bond: The Paris Etchings 1993-1999’, in Nature / Culture: Raymond Arnold Prints 1983-2004, Australian Galleries, Melbourne 2005
‘The Extended Matrix: New dimensions in Thai printmaking’, in ed. Caroline Turner, Art and Social Change: Contemporary Art in Asia and the Pacific, Pandanus Books 2005
‘Turning the camera inwards: Marian Drew’s mysteries of the everyday’ in Marian Drew Photographs and Video Works, artist’s monograph, Queensland Centre for Photography 2006
‘Collaborative ventures from Tokyo’, essay for Master Grafika: The Satoru Itazu Workshop, Dell Gallery, Queensland College of Art 2006
‘A Humanistic Commitment’, essay in Cross/Section: The documentary photography of Charles Page, A Horsham Regional Art Gallery touring exhibition 2007
Four essays in Modern Britain, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne 2007
‘The Seven & Five Society’ plus individual essays on Frances Hodgkins, David Jones and Christopher Wood for Modern Britain, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2007
‘Drawing as an expanding field’, essay for 2008 Jacaranda Acquisitive Drawing Award, Grafton Regional Gallery, 2008
‘Di ffrench: Activating Ideas’, A Survey of Selected Works 1977–1997), Dunedin Public Art Gallery, New Zealand (2009)
‘Recurring undercurrents’, central essay for Provocations: The work of Christine Webster, Christchurch Art Gallery, New Zealand (2010)
‘Reflecting on G.W.Bot’, catalogue essay in ‘G.W.Bot Australian Glyphs’, Hart Gallery, London 2011
Curated ‘THRESHOLDS: Images from Music, Reverie and Place, A Margaret Wilson Retrospective’, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville 2012
‘Making Connections: Recent work of Jun Chen, Joe Furlonger and Pamela See’ catalogue essay for ‘Transience’ exhibition, Redcliffe City Art Gallery, 2012
‘Ian Friend, Matter and memory: The Brisbane Years 1997-2012’, catalogue essay, Andrew Baker Art Dealer, Brisbane 2012
'Introduction' to Prawat Laucharoen's Print Installation: temporary residency 1 & 2, Sept. 2010 and April 2011.
'Leti's Matrices', central essay in Bruno Leti: The Matrix, Macmillan, Melbourne 2010.
'Reflecting on G.W. Bot', essay in G.W. Bot Australian Glyphs, Hart Gallery, London 2011.

Over eighty articles and interviews published in Australian Journals including:

‘Lyndall Milani’, Art and Australia Vol. 28, No.3, Autumn 1991
‘Curating Prints - A field of Expanding Interpretation’ Imprint Vol. 26, No. 2, Winter 1991
Interview with Ian Howard Eyeline No. 18, Autumn 1992
‘Dialogue with Thailand’, an interview with Apinan Poshyananda, Artlink Vol. 12, No. 3, Spring 1992
‘Tradition and Innovation from Hong Kong’, TAASA Review Vol. 2, No. 3, Aug. 1993
‘Poised in Equilibrium: Introducing the work of Irene Chou’, Art and Asia Pacific Vol.1, No. 2, April 1994
‘Print USA - Interview with June Wayne’, Imprint Vol.29, No. 2, Winter 1994
‘Bashir Baraki and Pat Hoffie: Extending the Vernacular of Prints’, Continuum Vol.8, No. 1, 1994
‘Eidetic Experiences - Contemporary Queensland Photography’, Eyeline No. 25, Spring 1994
‘Taxi art in Thailand - Navin Rawanchaikul's social research’, ART Asia Pacific Vol.3, No.4, 1996
“The Politics of Spirituality”, Anne Kirker speaking with Shirin Neshat Photofile Vol.49, Nov. 1996
“... A kind of running cultural commentary” - Interview with Pat Hoffie, Eyeline No.32, Summer 1996
‘Politics/Poetics : reflections on documenta X’, Artlink Vol.18, No.2, 1998
‘Reciprocal Terrains - Ray Arnold in the 1990s’, Art & Australia Vol.36, No.1, 1998
‘Madonna Staunton: On clothing and other matters’, Eyeline No.42, Autumn/Winter 2000
‘Postscript on Te Papa’ in Museum National May 2002
‘Documenta II : Serious Stuff’, Eyeline No. 49, Spring 2002
‘Art for Social Change: Kamin Lerchaiprasert’, Eyeline No.51, Autumn/Winter 2003
‘Over my dead body: Mona Hatoum’, Eyeline, No.57, Winter 2005
‘Colors:Viktor & Rolf and KCI’, Object, No.47, 2005
‘A Gracious Iconoclast’, profile on Arline Fisch, Craft Arts International, No.65, 2005
‘Helen Ennis, Margaret Michaelis’, book review, Photofile No.76, Summer 2006
‘Bill Viola: The Passions”, exhibition review NGA Eyeline No.59, 2006
‘David Stephenson: Visions of Heaven’ book review, Photofile No.77, Autumn 2006
‘In the Public Domain: Vietnamese Resistance Lithographs’, TAASA Review Vol.15, No.2, June 2006
‘Dude Ranch Dada: William T. Wiley comes to Australia’, Art Monthly Australia, No.195, Nov.2006
‘Decentralisation Works: Singapore Biennale 2006’, Eyeline, No.62, 2006
‘Michael Riley: Sights Unseen’, book review, Photofile, No.79, Summer 2007
‘Fluxus and after...’, Artlink, Vol.27, No.1, Mar. 2007
‘Zero’ at Dunedin Public Art Gallery, exhibition review, Photofile, No.80, Winter 2007
‘Sounding: Margaret Wilson’, Eyeline No.63, 2007
‘Our Way: Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Lockhart River’, book review, Imprint Vol.42, No.3, Spring 2007
‘New Modalities in Print: Normana Wight’, Craft Arts International, Issue 71, Oct. 2007
“The Hours: Visual Arts of Contemporary Latin America’, exhibition review, Eyeline No.64, Spring 2007
‘Dadang Christanto interview’, Art World issue 4, Aug/Sept 2008
‘The Centre Culturel Tjibaou – Ten Years On’, Museums Australia Magazine, November 2008
‘Diena Georgetti: Scoping two decades’, Eyeline, No. 68, 2009
‘Anne Ferran: The ground, the air’, book review, Photofile, No.87, August 2009
‘I Walk the Line: New Australian Drawing’, Eyeline, No. 69, 2009
‘Jenny Holzer: Protect Protect’, Eyeline, No. 70, 2010
‘Bill Culbert Making Light Work’, Photofile, No. 89, 2010
‘Feminism Never Happened’, Artlink, Vol. 30, 2010
‘Shadow play: Neil Emerson's recent installations’, Art Monthly Australia, Issue 231, July 2010
‘Last Ride in a Hot Air Balloon: The Fourth Auckland Triennial’, exh. Review, Eyeline, No. 72, 2010
‘The Promised Land: The Art of Lawrence Daws’, exh. Review, Eyeline, No.72, 2010
‘New concepts in design...’, Museums Australia Magazine, Vol. 19 (2), Nov. 2010
‘The Art of Judith Wright and Ian Friend’, Eyeline, No. 73, 2011
‘Michael Schlitz: New Woodblocks’, Eyeline No.73, 2011
‘Singapore Biennale 2011: Open House’ review Eyeline No.75, 2012
‘Threads: Contemporary Textiles and the Social Fabric’, review Artlink Vol.32 No. 1 2012
‘Perilous paths: Life in Your Hands: Art from Solastalgia & Janet Laurence: After Eden’, Art Monthly No.254, 2012

Texts published Online, including:

‘Miriam Stannage Photographer’, ABC Arts Online – Out of Sight, March 2003
‘Anne Kirker – The 33rd Alice Prize 2004’, State of the Arts Newsletter, 10 Nov. 2004
Grove Art Online, OUP. Individual essays on Destiny Deacon, Fiona Hall and Emily Kngwarreye 2006
‘Collecting works on paper in Australia: Specialisation at risk?’, in Understanding Museums, National Museum of Australia, June 2011

Lectures and Broadcasts

In New Zealand, many illustrated lectures were delivered on exhibitions mounted at the National Art Gallery, Wellington. Interviews and radio talks were conducted in associated with the publication of the book New Zealand Women Artists. Critical response to this standard text was uniformly positive.

In Australia, continued to provide talks in conjunction with exhibitions while at The Queensland Art Gallery and to regularly conduct lectures and workshops for tertiary students and special interest groups throughout the country.

In addition, presented the keynote address at the White Camellias Art History Conference, Christchurch on ‘Revising New Zealand Women Artists, 1993 and ‘Asian Women Artists and the Impact of Feminism’, a paper delivered at the 34th AICA Congress, Tate Modern, London 2000.

Introduced and later edited the Women’s Forum papers to ‘Beyond the Future’, from the conference accompanying the Third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, 2000.

As a Harold Wright Alumnus, gave a PowerPoint presentation on ‘Photographic Interventions: the prints of Noda Tetsuya and Shamada Yoshiko’, University of Melbourne, 2005.

Other university-focus presentations include:‘Whistler’s influence on etching in Australia’, the ‘Internationalism of Australian art: networks of modernity’ symposium at The University of Queensland, 2006;‘Printmaking as an Expanding Field’, presentation to students at Lassalle SIA (Singapore) 2007 and a paper on Japanese artists Noda and Shimada at ‘Thresholds of Tolerance’ workshop, Australian National University, Canberra 2007.

Regular lectures given to ADFAS members in Australia. For example, in 2007 Brisbane, Rockhampton and Cairns hosted PowerPoint presentations on ‘Printmaking’ and ‘The links between Australian and New Zealand Women Artists’.

University Examiner

Since 1988, has regularly acted as external examiner for both art history and theory students and studio practitioners at tertiary institutions throughout Australia and New Zealand. These include The Power Institute of Fine Arts, University of Sydney; Queensland College of Art; Queensland University of Technology; Southern Cross University; University of Auckland; University of Canterbury; University of Tasmania; University of Technology, Perth; Otago Polytechnic School of Art.

Judge of Art Exhibitions

Appointed to the judging panel of the Möet & Chandon Fellowship and Touring Exhibition 1990

Co-judge of Inaugural Cansons Student Print Award, Melbourne 1990. Selector for Australia and New Zealand, Machida -Tokyo International Print Exhibition 1993 [3 of the 5 chosen artists received awards]. Judge of Comalco Martin Hanson Art Award, Gladstone Regional Gallery 2006.

Co-selector for the Thai, Hong Kong and New Zealand component of The First Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art exhibition 1993; co-selector for the Thai component of The Second Asia-Pacific Triennial 1996, co-selector for the Korean component of The Third Asia-Pacific Triennial 1999 and co-curator for The Fourth Asia-Pacific Triennial 2002.

External judge for 5th Sapporo International Print Biennale, Japan 1999

Advisor for the 60th Anniversary Print and Drawing Exhibition, Silpakorn University, Bangkok, Thailand 2003

Appointed Judge for the Alice Prize [Contemporary Australian Art] 2004

Appointed Judge for the 2008 Dobell Drawing Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Advisor and Workshop facilitator with John Massy for regional gallery and library, Dogwood Cross@ Miles, Queensland, 2007–

Judge of Sarina Art Extravaganza, (near Mackay) North Queensland, 2011

Valuer for the Cultural Gifts Program, Australian Government

Since 2007 institutions throughout Australia have commissioned this service from Anne Kirker.