Art gallery curation gets Smart

THE Art Gallery of Ballarat is filled with many familiar faces, most of these painted and hanging on the wall.

But one face plenty of visitors will recognise is that of staff member, and art-lover, Kiri Smart.

Smart has worked in various capacities at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, initially as an installer in 2010.

She first arrived in Ballarat in the 1990s to study, and stayed, gaining work in the community art space.

Following that she dove into art history at the University of Melbourne, and a practical museum studies course at Deakin University.

However, throughout these periods at the Art Gallery of Ballarat, Smart has worked in the functions space, has digitised the ceramics collection, and most recognisably to the public, has been a friendly front-of-house staff member.

Her latest 12-month role, though, is that of Gallery curator while Julie McLaren is on leave.

“It’s an interesting position to be in. I’ll be working on managing what’s currently happening, projects pre-programmed for this year and 2023, and looking towards the 2024 calendar,” she said.

“As someone who has a great love of the collection, I’m really enjoying current exhibition Call and response, looking at works you’ve seen before in new ways, alongside a lot of new works in the collection.

“I’m really looking forward to working with Backspace artists. I have a long history with working with local artists in the community. There’s so much talent in the region and it’s great to have a space where we can promote and celebrate that.”

Smart sees the Gallery as a space where people can find “solace, joy and peace.” Its collection is an asset with so much valuable “depth” – and plenty of conversation starters – that there’s at least one work each person will enjoy engaging with.

“There really is something for everybody, and it’s such an amazing community resource. It doesn’t matter what your job is, what your socioeconomic background is, it’s here for you every day.

“I think it’s the essence of good society. We’ve lost so many services over the years that were there to enrich the public, like public galleries and libraries,” she said.

“When you look at the original idea of the Gallery being set up to promote cultural life in the new City of Ballarat, it’s still as relevant today as it was then.”

During the pandemic while the Gallery was closed, Ms Smart was able to complete lots of collection management work. Following this, she had a role with the Shepparton Art Museum ceramics collection.