Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington
Gate 3, Kelburn Parade
Wellington 6140
New Zealand

Staff

Sophie Thorn, Manutaki | Acting Director

+64 4 463 5504

sophie.thorn@vuw.ac.nz

Sophie is currently on secondment from her position of Kaiwhakarākei Curator Collections to the role of Manutaki Director until the end of 2024. She holds a Master of Arts in Art History and Theory from the University of Canterbury and a Diploma in Law and Collections Management through the London Institute of Art Law. She studied Heritage Materials Science through the Physical Sciences department at Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington and Metallurgy at the Chemical Institute of Technology in Prague, Czech Republic. She has held positions at the Canterbury Museum, Experience Wellington, and Te Manawa Museums Trust. She has been with Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery since 2014.

Kate Lepper, Kaitaupua Kaupapa Tūmatawhānui | Public Programmes and Communications Coordinator

+64 4 886 5455 or 022 010 8248

kate.lepper@vuw.ac.nz

Kate holds a Master of Fine Art (Distinction) from the Slade School of Fine Art, London, and is a practising artist with a broad range of experience in art galleries and cultural institutions in Aotearoa and the UK. Kate joins Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery from Te Kōkī New Zealand School of Music, having previously worked for Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision, Sarjeant Gallery Te Whare o Rehua, and in London, for Somerset House, Chisenhale Gallery, The Showroom, Gasworks, and The White Building.

Ann Gale, Mata Ahupae | Gallery Administrator

+64 4 463 5229

ann.gale@vuw.ac.nz

Ann holds a BFA degree from the University of Montana and has a professional background in registration and archiving with previous work experience at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis as well as assisting several artists based in New York City. She has been living in Wellington since 2012.

Martin Kelly, Kaitaupua Whakatū Whakaaturanga | Head Technician & Production Co-ordinator

+64 4 887 4275

martin.kelly@vuw.ac.nz

Martin has over 35 years’ experience in exhibition design for the gallery and museum sector. Prior to joining Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery in 2023 Martin worked for Te Papa Tongarewa and operated two production start-ups, Workshop.e and Te Mahi Ltd, delivering exhibitions nationally and internationally. Martin was also part of the original technician team preparing the Adam Art Gallery to open in 1999, and since then has gone on to work on a variety of exhibition displays, particular highlights include SOUTH and Nga Tahu both at Te Papa, Blue Water Black Magic A Tribute To Sir Peter Blake, and Whales Tohoraa touring exhibition installed in Pittsburgh, USA.

Camus Wyatt, Kaiāwhina Nahanaha Taonga | Collections Assistant

camus.wyatt@vuw.ac.nz

Camus holds a BA in History and International Relations from Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington. He has worked previously for Alexander Turnbull Library and Suite Gallery Wellington. He is currently completing his Master of Museum and Heritage Practice program here at Te Herenga Waka–Victoria University of Wellington. Camus is a practicing photographic artist, and has exhibited and published works reimagining photographic archives and histories for contemporary audiences.

Rosalie Koko, Pia Nahanaha Taonga | Adam Art Gallery Intern

rosalie.koko@vuw.ac.nz

He uri tēnei nō Ngāti Kahungunu ki Heretaunga, Taranaki, Olosega hoki.

Rosalie is an emerging artist who completed her bachelor's degree in Māori Visual Arts in 2023 through Te Pūtahi a Toi, Te Kunenga ki Pūrehuroa Massey University. She is deeply interested in the ways in which knowledge is embedded in the traditional arts of tangata whenua and tagata moana, and how this knowledge is carried into the future in adapted forms by contemporary art practitioners. In the past year she has been learning how to beat and paint bark cloth, a shared taonga across Te Moana Nui a Kiwa. Rosalie will dedicate her internship to further research into bark cloth and the relationships they hold.

Serafima Mzhachikh, Kaiāwhina | Gallery Attendant

Serafima is currently in the final year of earning a BA in Art History at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. She is an aspiring arts writer with an interest in The New Zealand Gothic and the exploration of Diaspora in relation to Art.

Maddie Gillespie, Kaiāwhina | Gallery Attendant

Maddie is a postgraduate student at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington currently undertaking her Honours year in Art History. She is a writer and creative practitioner whose work centres around the environmental humanities, alongside explorations of memory and history.

Christina Barton, | Adjunct Professor and Researcher-at-large

christina.barton@vuw.ac.nz

Christina Barton (DLitt, MNZM) was Associate Professor and Director of Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery (2007-2023). She has contributed to the Gallery’s establishment in 1999, from her position as a senior lecturer in Art History at Victoria University of Wellington (she joined the University in 1995). She is recognised as one of New Zealand’s leading art historians, curators, and writers, having previously worked at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (1992-1994) and Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki (1987-1991). She has published extensively on New Zealand art and artists, as well as co-editing Antic magazine (1986–1990) and Reading Room, a journal of contemporary art and culture published by the E. H. McCormick Research Library at Auckland Art Gallery (2007–2018). Notable exhibitions since 2000 include: Joseph Kosuth: Guests and Foreigners, Rules and Meanings (Te Kore) (Adam Art Gallery 2000); Anthony McCall: Drawing with Light (Adam Art Gallery 2010); what is a life? kim pieters (Adam Art Gallery, 2014); Simon Denny: The Personal Effects of Kim Dotcom (Adam Art Gallery, 2014); Billy Apple®: The Artist Has to Live Like Everybody Else (Auckland Art Gallery, 2015); Bad Visual Systems: Ruth Buchanan, Judith Hopf, Marianne Wex (Adam Art Gallery, 2016); and Kate Newby: YES TOMORROW (Adam Art Gallery 2021).

Volunteers

Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery is supported by a team of dedicated volunteers, who assist with administration and hosting during events and exhibitions. We are extremely grateful to our volunteers for the valuable contribution they make to gallery operations.

Learn more about volunteering here.

Board & Trustees

Jenny Harper, Chair
Jenny is the former director of Christchurch Art Gallery, and founding Associate Professor, Art History, Victoria University of Wellington (1995-2005). Jenny Harper was instrumental in the establishment of Art History at Victoria University of Wellington and led the Adam Art Gallery project to its successful opening in 1999. Now retired from her leadership role at the Christchurch Art Gallery, she is offering independent consultancy services to the art museum profession and cultural sector. She is a long-standing patron of the Adam Art Gallery and one of its keenest advocates, who brings her experience, knowledge and fundraising skills to see the Gallery and the Art Collection through the next phases of their history.

Susan Ballard, Board member and Trustee
Susan is Associate Professor of Art History at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington where she teaches courses on art writing and the environment. Recent essays have appeared in OctoberEnvironmental Humanities, GeoHumanities, Cultural Geographies, and the Sydney Review of Books. Her books include 100 Atmospheres: Studies in Scale and Wonder (with the MECO network, Open Humanities Press 2019); Alliances in the Anthropocene (with Christine Eriksen, Palgrave 2020) and Art and Nature in the Anthropocene: Planetary Aesthetics (Routledge 2021). Art and Nature in the Anthropocene was awarded the best book in the AAANZ Arts Writing and Publishing Awards 2022. Su curated Listening Stones Jumping Rocks for Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery, Wellington in 2021, and is currently co-authoring Shift Work: Art and Life in the Third Millennium with Liz Linden to be published by Punctum Press in 2024.

Claire Carruthers, Board member and Trustee
Claire (B.A, P.G.C, M.A) has always had a passion for the Arts, her Master’s in Art History specialised in Twentieth Century French Art and in particular Picasso’s Les Demoiselles D’Avignon. She moved to New Zealand from the UK twenty years ago. Claire's current role at Wellington Free Ambulance is as the General Manager Fundraising and Communications which sits at governance level reporting directly to the CE and Board. She has a track record of success in advising iconic organisations on their strategic priorities and vision by implementing fundraising and communications strategies to support the overall success of an organisation. Previous roles were in higher education and before Wellington Free, she was the Campaign Manager for Te Herenga Waka Victoria University of Wellington with the Adam Art Gallery in her portfolio. Her professional life includes being a Director on the Board of Freedom Medical Alarms and a Board of Governor at Queen Margaret College. In 2021 Claire won the Fundraising Institute of New Zealand’s (FINZ) Fundraising Leader of the year award.

Errol Clark, Trustee
Errol is Chairman of International Capital Corporation, a specialist corporate financier. He has a 40-year career as an investment banker in Sydney, New York and Wellington. Errol has an extensive history of involvement in the art, culture and heritage sectors in New Zealand and Europe. Among his many roles, he is on the Council of the Attingham Trust, a London based educational foundation, training art and heritage curators and specialists. He is a former government appointed board member of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust; director of the Museum Directors Federation / Museums Aotearoa; and former Chairman of auction house Webb’s. He is a recognised art and historical New Zealand furniture collector who frequently lends or donates art works to public collections.

Catherine Marks, Board member
Catherine is a public law specialist currently working with Dentons Kensington Swan. She is a keen art lover and has a particular interest in not-for-profit and public good. She also has a personal commitment to support interns, staying in touch with emerging generations as they move from the education system into the workforce.

Robin Skinner, Board member
Robin is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Architecture and Design at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. He teaches Pacific architecture and design and researches New Zealand architectural history.

Carey Young, Board member and Trustee
Carey began her working career in an advertising production role in Wellington New Zealand. She travelled to London in 1998 to continue working in this field whilst supporting herself through an undergraduate Fine Art degree at Goldsmiths College, University of London. On return to New Zealand in 2001 she worked for ten years with Hamish McKay and his stable of artists. She has run her own Gallery, The Young, and worked for leading auction house Webb’s and brings her knowledge of art and artists and the collectors who support them to her role on the board and as a trustee.

Jessica Bothwell, Student Representative, Adam Art Gallery Board
Jessica (Ngāti Kuia, Ngāti Apa ki te Rā Tō, Rangatāne, Ngāti Toa) is currently studying towards a double major in Art History and Cultural Anthropology, with a minor in Te Reo Māori at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. In 2023 she was included in the Dean's List. Jessica has been a volunteer with Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery since February 2023. She is interested in art and heritage with a focus on the preservation of Māori history, stories and taonga.

Previous Adam Art Gallery Interns

2023

Sally McMath

During Sally’s time at Te Pātaka Toi, she facilitated Work In Progress a live archiving project which was part of the exhibition Back of House. She spent time working with the files in the NZ Art Research & Study Centre (NZARSC), in particular assessing and consolidating the archive of Luit Bieringa for a special collection deposit as well as material to be added to the artist files. Sally continues to work in various capacities within the arts ecology of Auckland, most recently at Coastal Signs, Artspace Aotearoa and RM Gallery and Project Space.

2022

Louie Zalk-Neale

Louie Zalk-Neale

Louie’s internship at the Adam culminated organising in a workshop titled D&D&Kaputī exploring the potential of weaving Māori perspectives into the game of dungeons and dragons. This workshop was in association with the exhibitions Megan Dunn: The Mermaid Chronicles and Lucien Rizos: Everything. They also contributed to Bingo, the publication resulting from the 2022 Aotearoa Art Fair writers’ workshop run by Christina Barton. They also delivered a performative lecture during the workshop 'Reflecting on Practice' in conjunction with the exhibition Energy Work: Kathy Barry / Sarah Smuts-Kennedy exhibition. During their time with us they brought a new emphasis on the Kaupapa Māori of the gallery arranging staff Te Reo lessons in the gallery. Since finishing up with the gallery Louie’s mahi toi continues to go from strength to strength. In 2023 they attended their first international residency in Taiwan.

2020–21

Millie Riddell

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 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 part-time curatorial assistant.

2019

Nina Dyer

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 Curator Collections 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 and CoCA Centre of Contemporary Art Toi Moroki in Christchurch in 2020. 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 went on to a full-time curatorial role at The Depot in Devonport, Auckland. She is now the Exhibitions Manager at the Gus Fisher Gallery, Auckland.

2018

Lachlan Taylor

Lachlan Taylor

Lachlan was an intern for the Adam while he pursued his Masters degree in Art History at Victoria University of 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 in New Zealand between 1929 and 1934. Lachlan contributed an essay for the publication that accompanied the exhibition Looking for a new country: Christopher Perkins in New Zealand. After receiving his MA and completing the Adam Art Gallery internship, Lachlan received a one-year position as Curatorial Assistant at Artspace Aotearoa, Auckland, he then worked at Michael Lett, Auckland before returning to Te Whanganui-a-Tara in 2021 to undertake a Masters in Creative Writing at the University’s International Institute of Modern Letters.