Jonathan McBurnie new director at Rockhampton Museum of Art

A Townsville man has been appointed as the new director of the $35 million Rockhampton Museum of Art ahead of the opening in 2022. Find out who he is and what his plans are.

With artwork being hung on the walls, decor being installed in the restaurant space and all of the final touches being carried out, one of the last pieces of the Rockhampton Museum of Art puzzle has been filled.

Townsville man Jonathan McBurnie was appointed the role of director last month.

Despite being in the role for a couple of weeks now, he is still pinching himself that he gets to oversee the $35 million art gallery on Rockhampton’s historic Quay Street.

Former Rockhampton Art Gallery director Bianca Acimovic

Mr McBurnie fills the position after the sudden departure of Bianca Acimovic in May, who had been with council for six years and was integral in pushing for the move of the art gallery at Pilbeam Theatre to a new larger facility.

He selflessly admitted it was a hard act to follow Ms Acimovic, but he assured he was up for the challenge.

“There’s so many really amazing legacy projects we will be seeing through,” he said.

“I’m not here to cut programs and what other people have done, I am here to build on that stuff.

“(It is) absolutely big shoes to fill but that is a good thing because it gives me something to aspire to and work toward.”

Art is in Mr McBurnie’s blood and legacy, with both of his parents artists.

His Dad, Ron, is a printmaker and painter and his Mum, Jane Hawkins, is a sculptor, known for her sculpture of Jonathan Thurston at the Townsville Queensland Country Bank Stadium.

His brother is also creative, and is a video editor based in Sydney, working on short films and reality television.

“It was just normal, it just seemed normal to me,” Mr McBurnie said of his childhood growing up with artistic parents.

Going into the arts industry wasn’t something he was pushed into by his parents, it was of Mr McBurnie’s own passion and volition.

“The vocational aspect of it was encouraged, having something that you are really focused and dedicated to,” he said.

He went on to study at and has a Bachelor of Fine Arts (first class) with Queensland College of Art and a PHD from the Sydney College of the Arts, University of Sydney, based on Collisions: Drawing in the Digital Age.

As an artist, he has had residencies in Broken Hill, Finland and France and solo exhibitions in Townsville, Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Finland, Broken Hill and Mackay, along with a list of curatorial history, books and monographs.

His professional background includes time as an editor of an arts magazine, Sneaky, and the director of Umbrella Studio Contemporary Art, which was co-founded by his dad and five other artists in the 80s.

“That was a really lovely thing, I started up with them in their 30th year, it was a lot of fun,” he said.

Most recently, Mr McBurnie was the creative director of Townsville City Galleries.

Applying for the Rockhampton role was something Mr McBurnie initially fobbed off.

“I had a feeling that being the big ticket item that it is, they may be looking for a rock star, big city type to run it and I don’t really go in for that sort of thing,” he said.

“I am much more grassroots, I like to stay quite close with the community and see what’s actually going on here.

“We want to bring big ticket stuff here and make sure people are visiting Rockhampton but not at the expense of the local artists and community here, I want to make sure they are happy as well.

“I thought in the end I would give it a try, see what happens and I got an interview and that made me think maybe they are interested in what I can offer.”

To his surprise and excitement, he snagged the role and has now been in the job for two weeks.

“I am still pinching myself, I am still walking in going ‘wow, this is amazing’,” he said.

Rockhampton holds a rich and illustrious art collection, hand picked by former Mayor Rex Pilbeam.

A main contributing factor to building the new art gallery was to build somewhere to display the collection, which for decades has been in storage as there was nowhere for it.

Mr Pilbeam was mayor for a record 30 years, from 1952 to 1982 and during this time, he was also the Liberal MP for Rockhampton South from 1960 to 1969.

In 1976, Mr Pilbeam established an Art Acquisition Fund with other community leaders including Bishop John Bayton, architect Neil McKendry (who designed the Pilbeam Theatre) and director of the Rockhampton Art Gallery, Don Taylor.

A new Federal Government scheme legislated that galleries were provided with a 70 per cent subsidy for each piece of art, in a bid to assist contemporary Australian artists.

Mr Pilbeam wanted to take advantage of this, and he and the committee selected a variety of art, totalling $350,000.

The 1500-piece permanent collection of works was worth $14 million in 2018.

In 1979, Mr Pilbeam told residents it was their responsibility to “maintain and advance this gallery in years to come”.

“This is the least that we can expect of the citizens of tomorrow in return for the splendid contribution made by the citizens of today,” he said.

Rockhampton Art Gallery Trust past chair Merilyn Luck OAM with Rockhampton MP Bill Byrne and Rockhampton Mayor Margaret Strelow and the portrait of former Rockhampton mayor Rex Pilbeam inside the gallery's collection vault in 2017.

The first thing Mr McBurnie wanted to see when he started in the new job was Mr Pilbeam’s collection.

“I can honestly say there is nowhere else in regional Queensland that has a gallery like this, it’s marvellous,” he said.

“It’s the most amazing collection possibly even in the state … Perhaps the state galleries collection is understandably more comprehensive, but it (Rockhampton’s collection) is wonderful.”

Scoring the role of a new multimillion-dollar art gallery director was quite the coup that many in the art world would be jealous of – but it was not without its challenges, Mr McBurnie said.

“It’s very, very exciting but on the other side, there is a lot of work we have to do, particularly in the lead up to the launch but I really enjoy that,” he said.

Still getting a handle on things and meeting everyone, Mr McBurnie’s days are quite varied, which he loves.

“Usually the day is peppered with all sorts of things, meetings with the team or external parties, phone calls with artists or Skype meetings,” he said.

“There is a lot of programming to do for the next couple of years so a lot of my day to day is quite focused on getting that happening so we can fill the amazing space.”

Local artists will be a main focus in the new museum and Mr McBurnie already has some ideas for what he will be implementing.

“I am very excited to get the local artists working in the collection space, I really want to see some shows that focus on our wonderful collection but for example we could bring artists in to work in response to some of their artistic heroes and show them side-by-side,” he said.

“There is the awards, the Gold and the Bayton, that will be continuing.

“One thing I have always been really passionate about is promoting regional talent.

“The sad thing is there is a metropolitan focus a lot of the time because of proximity and resources.

“It’s a sad thing when you can’t get a look in based on where you live.

“I think this new gallery is a great opportunity to build a platform for these artists.”

The building, while it might look modern and high end, was for everyone, Mr McBurnie said.

“As an artist myself, I would be intimidated by particularly the downstairs space, the ceilings are quite high and it’s a very big space,” he said.

“You could look at it that way but I also think we will be able to do so much with it, we will be able to divide the space up …. Some shows just won’t be big enough for the whole space, so we could do two or three shows at the same time.

“That is what we are there for, we will discuss these things with people, go through some strategies to figure out the best way forward.”

The Rockhampton Museum of Art is due to open in early 2022, with a final date yet to be announced.