17 March 2006
The Monash Art and Design Faculty will welcome Lisa Byrne as its new Gallery Director next week (Tuesday March 21).
Ms Byrne comes to Monash from the Canberra Contemporary Art Space (CCAS) where she was Director for four years, overseeing an annual program of 45 exhibitions across three galleries.
Describing the Monash Faculty Gallery as a fantastic showcase space, Ms Byrne said she was enthused at the prospect of working at the university and working in Victoria -- which, as a state, was a great supporter of the arts.
"Monash has a very good reputation within the art and design community for being dynamic and striving for excellence," she said.
Ms Byrne said she would draw inspiration from the academic and research interests of art and design in developing the gallery program. "This will make sure that the gallery program really is an intrinsic part of all the fantastic academic work that's done at Monash," she said.
The gallery could expand upon the faculty's key research issues through its already established residency program, talks and exhibition program, she said.
"Fertilising and augmenting that will be a program that brings in leading artists from around Victoria, Australia and internationally and mixing that with earlier career artists so there's a network of activity developed and people are sharing information and expertise," Ms Byrne said.
Art and Design Foundation Dean Professor John Redmond said the faculty was delighted to have secured someone of Ms Byrne's calibre to drive the vision for the gallery.
"Her achievements at the Canberra Contemporary Art Space were considerable and I am confident that she will make a strong contribution in continuing to build the Gallery's profile locally and internationally," he said.
Ms Byrne oversaw major renovations and established a studio residency program at CCAS. She said she was interested in bringing her experience from working in a not-for-profit dynamic contemporary arts space to a larger institution where she could oversee bigger projects with a greater diversity of artists. "Hopefully from very early in their careers as students and then right through until when they're practicing local, national and international levels," she said.
For more information contact Melissa Marino, Media Communications, on + 61 3 9905 2085 or 0437 121 978.
| 
