Adam Art Gallery Internship

The Adam Art Gallery Internship enables a recent graduate, postgraduate student or early-career art professional to work with the Gallery to develop knowledge of collecting, curatorial practice, and exhibition making through their involvement in the planning and delivery of aspects of the Gallery’s work programme.

The Internship is made possible with the generous support of local philanthropist Barbara Blake. Please read our 2017 media release to learn more about the background of the internship: Adam Art Gallery receives generous donation for new curatorial internship programme.pdf


Louie Zalk-Neale in the Adam Art Gallery. Photo: Robert Cross, Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington.

ADAM ART GALLERY’S 2021/2022 INTERN ANNOUNCED

Louie Zalk-Neale takes up their role as Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery’s fourth intern, thanks to the generosity of funder Barbara Blake. The Gallery team are excited to have Louie on board to learn the ropes and to contribute their ideas to the development of the Gallery’s public programmes. They will be working with the Gallery on a part-time basis until May 2022.

Louie graduated last year with a BFA from Whiti O Rehua School of Art, Massey University, Wellington, and their creative work in performance, drawing, and moving image has already gained exposure at venues in Dunedin, Auckland and Wellington. You can see their latest work in Bling Ring, a group exhibition at Enjoy Contemporary Art Space in Te Whanganui-a-Tara until 4 December.

Louie is interested in honing their research skills and learning about devising and delivering exhibitions and events. They are keen to bring their interests in queer theory, performance art and fashion, and mātauranga Maori to bear in helping develop the Gallery’s programmes. They have already gained experience as a facilitator of the artist-run space MEANWHILE and as a gallery supervisor at Te Pūkenga Whakaata New Zealand Portrait Gallery, as well as working as an assistant to several artists invited to take up the Te Whare Hēra Artist Residency hosted by Massey University and Wellington City Council, with support from Athfield Architects.

Adam Art Gallery is delighted to be able to offer Louie the internship, despite uncertainties caused by the pandemic.

Adam Art Gallery director Christina Barton says: ‘our experience in running the internship is deepening, and we are proud of the achievements of the previous interns, Lachlan Taylor (2018), Nina Dyer (2019), and Millie Riddell (2020–21). We look forward to hosting Louie, who is the first practising artist to have been offered the opportunity.’


ADAM ART GALLERY INTERNS

2020-21
Millie Riddell
Although the outbreak of COVID-19 forced Millie to cut short her time in London where she was undertaking her MA in Art History at the Courtauld Institute, and the Adam Art Gallery had to delay the start of the internship due to the lockdowns, the pandemic did mean that Millie was forced to stay in New Zealand and we could enjoy working with her between September 2020 and February 2021. Millie worked on various tasks, helping with our public programmes and learning about the contents of the New Zealand Art Archive. She has since seen through the delivery of Crossings (a group show about intimacies and distances) as a valued co-curator. After February 2021, we were able to employ her as a temporary part-time curatorial assistant and now she is embarking on her PhD in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington, for which she has been awarded a scholarship.

2019
Nina Dyer
Nina’s focus during her time at the Gallery was on developing public programmes to accompany our exhibition programme. A highlight for her was the series of talks she organised to accompany On the Last Afternoon: Disrupted Ecologies and the Work of Joyce Campbell. She also worked with gallery director Christina Barton and Collection Officer Sophie Thorn on the ‘one-work’ exhibition ‘A way through’ – Colin McCahon’s Gate III, which toured to Te Uru Waitākere Contemporary Gallery in 2019. Nina was responsible for exploring McCahon’s strongly anti-nuclear views and the iconography he drew upon to convey them in his mural-scaled painting. Nina now has a full-time curatorial role at The Depot in Devonport, Auckland.

2018
Lachlan Taylor
Lachlan was an intern for the Adam while he pursued his Masters degree in Art History at Victoria University Wellington. While working at the Gallery he undertook research towards the first exhibition dedicated to the New Zealand works of British artist Christopher Perkins, who spent four important years working here between 1929 and 1934. Lachlan will be writing an essay for the publication that accompanies the exhibition ‘Looking for a new country’ – Christopher Perkins in New Zealand on view at the Adam Art Gallery 6 November 2019 – 22 March 2020. After receiving his MA and completing the Adam Art Gallery internship, Lachlan received a one-year position as Curatorial Assistant at Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland.