Dame Quentin Bryce gets her own art gallery in Washington

She’s an art lover, been the subject of numerous portraits and even curated a major exhibition, and now Dame Quentin Bryce has had an art gallery in Washington DC named after her.

Former Governor-general of Australia and former Governor of Queensland Dame Quentin Bryce is a great lover of art so it seems only fitting that she should have an art gallery named after her. And this morning Australian time she got just that during a virtual dedication ceremony to announce the Dame Quentin Bryce Art Gallery in the Australian embassy in Washington DC.

On a virtual hook-up Dame Quentin virtually attended from Brisbane. The ceremony was attended by our Ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos and the deputy head of mission, Katrina Cooper.

Dame Quentin said she was “deeply touched by the compliment of having the Art Gallery in our Embassy in Washington DC named in my honour”.

Quentin Bryce 2016 by Michael Zavros is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra Commissioned with funds provided by Tim Fairfax AC in 2016

“It means more to me than you might know bringing together so many themes of enormous significance, important across my personal, professional and political life,” Dame Quentin said.

Katrina Cooper said that advancing women was a key aim of hers and that the embassy was “naming our meeting rooms and public spaces after trailblazing women”.

“And we are particularly keen to honour those breakthrough women who were the first to hold significant public positions,” she said. “We would like to honour you by naming a room after you.”

Dame Quentin now has a standing invitation to travel to the US to speak as part of the Embassy Speakers Series. In her virtual address this morning Dame Quentin, who lives in Brisbane’s leafy west, told a little of her life story and how a girl from the Queensland Outback made it despite sex discrimination and other outdated attitudes in the past.

Dame Quentin Bryce with her friend, renowned landscape artist William Robinson at the William Robinson Gallery, at QUT, Gardens Point, Brisbane.

She praised a Women in Leadership program instigated and driven by deputy head of mission Katrina Cooper and also praised the advancement of women in the world of the Diplomatic Corps.

“I am thrilled that my embassy room is the art gallery,” Dame Quentin said.

She is well known as an art lover and in recent years curated an exhibition of the work of her great friend, Brisbane painter William Robinson.
Dame Quentin is a regular at art exhibition openings. A beautiful portrait of her by Brisbane artist Michael Zavros is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra. The embassy promotes Australian artists and holds exhibitions in what was will now be The Quentin Bryce Art Gallery.