Art Gallery of SA appoints first female director Rhana Devenport
THE first female director in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s 137-year history has built contemporary art venues in New Zealand — and her appointment here coincides with record exhibition attendances.
THE first female director in the Art Gallery of South Australia’s 137-year history has built contemporary art venues in New Zealand — and her appointment here coincides with record exhibition attendances.
Brisbane-born Rhana Devenport, 57, director of the Auckland Art Gallery, will start her new role in October.
While the Art Gallery’s plan to build an Adelaide Contemporary space and the Liberal’s alternative proposal for a national indigenous gallery have been on hold since the March state election, Ms Devenport said such a project was still very much on her agenda.
“The actual nature of what that space might be is still obviously under discussion at the moment,’’ she said.
“That would be foremost in the kind of conversations I’ll be having from day one.”
In her previous role as director of the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery in New Plymouth, Ms Devenport led the fundraising for construction of the Len Lye Centre, NZ’s first museum devoted to a single artist.
Her appointment at Auckland Art Gallery also followed a major expansion, for which it was named 2013 World Building of the Year.
Gallery chair Tracey Whiting, who led the selection process, said Ms Devenport shared its objectives.
“These ambitions include a new building with a global impact, working closely with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities, and developing and presenting with innovation and verve, a billion-dollar art collection,” Ms Whiting said.
The Art Gallery’s current show Colours of Impressionism will close on Sunday but has already broken its all-time record for a ticketed exhibition.
The previous record of 124,000 attendances was set by The Chinese Exhibition in 1977. Touring exhibitions will continue to be high among Ms Devenport’s priorities.
“We had seven international touring shows throughout New Zealand last year, working with museums in Tokyo, in San Francisco, with the Biennale of Sydney, and Florence with the Corsini Collection.
“That’s something that I think I can bring in an energised way, building on the success that already exists at the Art Gallery of SA.’’
Ms Devenport’s husband, multimedia artist Tim Gruchy, is a professor of digital arts at Shanghai University in China, where she will visit before taking up the Adelaide role.