Staff & Advisory Board

STAFF

Christina Barton
Director
With more than 20 years’ experience Christina Barton has a formidable reputation in New Zealand as a writer, curator and art historian. She has held positions at Auckland Art Gallery (1987-1992) and the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1992-1994) and as Senior Lecturer in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington (1995-2007). Key exhibitions she has curated include After McCahon: Some Recent Configurations in Contemporary Art (Auckland Art Gallery, 1989); Art Now: The First Biennial Review of Contemporary Art (MoNZ, 1994); Close Quarters: Contemporary Artists from Australia and New Zealand (touring Australia and NZ, 1995); Joseph Kosuth: Guests and Foreigners, Rules and Meanings (Te Kore) (Adam Art Gallery (AAG), 2000);  The Expatriates: Frances Hodgkins and Barrie Bates (AAG and Gus Fisher Gallery, 2004-5); Four Times Painting (AAG, 2007);  Hydraulics of Solids: João Maria Gusmão & Pedro Paiva (AAG, 2008); The Subject Now (AAG, 2008); I, HERE, NOW Vivian Lynn (AAG, 2008-9); Billy Apple New York 1969-1973 (AAG, 2009) .
Art History Programme Staff Page

Email: christina.barton@vuw.ac.nz

Laura Preston
Assistant Curator
Laura Preston has worked in various public institutions, artist run galleries and collectives. After undertaking the curatorial internship at ARTSPACE, Auckland, Preston worked as a curatorial assistant for the German Pavilion exhibition project with artist Isa Genzken for the 2007 Venice Biennale, while being based at Witte de With, Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Preston is interested in projects that engage in the spatial dynamics of visual language to re-consider ideas of time and the event. Recent projects include a curatorial residency at Enjoy Public Art Gallery, Wellington, an exhibition project at Gambia Castle, Auckland and residency project with Dutch collective Bik van der Pol in association with Elam School of Fine Arts, University of Auckland and One Day Sculpture, a nationwide commissioning series of temporary, place-based public artworks initiated by Litmus, Massey University, Wellington. Preston has a Master of Arts in Art History from the University of Auckland. Her thesis examined the philosophy of space and its relationship to the histories of time-based media.

Email: laura.preston@vuw.ac.nz

Anton Berndt
Collections Officer
Anton Berndt is a sculptor by training and a philosopher by nature. He currently works part time at the Adam Art Gallery, managing the Victoria University Art Collection. Anton is interested in the liminal experience of space and the event, and makes enquiries into how they occur within and are related to the gallery and museum environment. Anton is undertaking study into the nature of play within galleries and museums to further an understanding of how people receive and accept information differently, particularly when information is presented in playful forms.

Email: anton.berndt@vuw.ac.nz

Andy Cummins
Exhibitions Officer
Andy Cummins (aka Andy Hummel) is a musician and closet sound artist with a curiosity and appreciation for most things creative. When not slinging his guitar and voice around the country as one half of indie-folk/alt-country duo Rosy Tin Teacaddy he can be found scratching his head at the Adam Art Gallery trying to work out how best to facilitate the installation of the next exhibition. In short, he’s a jack-of-all-trades with a sunny sensibility. Andy is currently filling Anton Berndt’s role as Exhibitions Officer whilst Anton both takes a years leave to do his masters studies and continues to maintain the Victoria University of Wellington’s Art Collection.

Email: andy.cummins@vuw.ac.nz

Thomasin Sleigh
Gallery Administrator
Thomasin Sleigh comes to work at the Adam Art Gallery after spending a year coordinating the artist-run space High Street Project in Christchurch. Alongside her part-time work at the Adam, she is writing her Masters thesis in Art History. This considers the writings of eminent New Zealand art critic Wystan Curnow, specifically his criticism of post-object practice in the 1970s. She is interested in the intersection of the visual arts and language and the experimental possibilities of art criticism. Thomasin Sleigh is currently Visual Arts Editor for the Lumiere Reader and writes regularly on art for other publications in New Zealand and Australia.

Email: thomasin.sleigh@vuw.ac.nz

ADVISORY BOARD

Neil Quigley
Chair
Neil Quigley is Deputy Vice Chancellor Research. He is also Professor of Economics and maintains an ongoing research programme through the New Zealand Institute for the Study of Competition and Regulation and his roles as a Research Associate of the Institute for Policy Analysis at the University of Toronto and the International Fellow at the C D Howe Institute in Toronto. He has undertaken research on a wide range of issues in applied microeconomics and is the author of papers in journals such as the Journal of Law and Economics, the Journal of Money Credit and Banking, and the Journal of Labour Economics.

Deborah Willis
Deborah Willis, is Pro-Vice Chancellor and Dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. She has a PhD in Education and lectured in the School of Education for over 10 years, specialising in curriculum, assessment and evaluation issues. In 1998, following a period of teaching and research in the Pacific, she was appointed Director of the Victoria University Teaching Development Centre. More recently she spent two years as Assistant Vice-Chancellor (Academic) with responsibility for academic policy and all aspects of teaching and learning quality.

Elizabeth Caldwell
Elizabeth Caldwell is Director of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery. She has an MA in Art History from University of Canterbury and has worked for many years in museums and galleries, most recently as Senior Curator Visual Art and Collection Services at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa, and for Creative New Zealand as a Visual Arts Advisor.

Sandy Callister
Sandy Callister is currently Managing Director Colmar Brunton Ltd Wellington and one of three directors of The Providence Report, a specialist market research company based in Auckland. With experience working as Research Director for Saatchi & Saatchi, General Manager of Marketing and Research at Television New Zealand, and Strategic Planning Director for Bates Generator, Sandy is one of New Zealand’s leading brand and communication strategists. She has also recently completed a PhD at Auckland University with a thesis on the visual account of New Zealand in World War One. This is published by Auckland University Press as The Face of War: New Zealand’s Great War Photography.

Priscilla Pitts
Priscilla Pitts is General Manager Heritage Destinations for the New Zealand Historic Places Trust Pouhere Taonga. Previously she was Director of the Dunedin Public Art Gallery and Otago Settlers Museum (1998-2007), the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, New Plymouth (1993-1998) and Artspace, Auckland (1989-1993). She is well known as a commentator on contemporary art and has served at a national level on a wide variety of visual arts panels and committees.

Conal McCarthy
Conal McCarthy is Director of Museum and Heritage Studies at Victoria University of Wellington. He has many years’ experience working in the museum sector as an art educator, curator and lecturer. He is also an active researcher having published widely on topics including New Zealand art and architecture, museum history and theory, visitor research and heritage issues. His PhD thesis, Exhibiting Maori, is published by Berg, Oxford and Te Papa Press, Wellington.

David Maskill
David Maskill is Senior Lecturer and Programme Director in Art History. David’s teaching and research interests focus on the art of 18th-century France and the history of prints and print collecting. He is standing in as Art History representative for Conal McCarthy while Conal is on study leave.

James Young-Drew
Student Representative
James Young-Drew is a second-year BA student majoring in Art History. He has a keen interest in the subject and is a volunteer at the Adam Art Gallery.

VOLUNTEERS
The Adam Art Gallery relies on the work of volunteers to provide support and assistance in the administration of the gallery and in the co-ordination of projects and events. We are extremely grateful to our volunteers for the valuable contribution they make to gallery operations.

If you are interested in volunteer opportunities at the gallery, please contact: adamartgallery@vuw.ac.nz