CHAIR – EX OFFICIO
MR STEVEN ALDERTON – DIRECTOR AND CEO
Steven Alderton has gained 25 years’ experience in the visual arts and education. Previous roles have included Director, Programs, Exhibitions and Cultural Collections at the Australian Museum, Director Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Director Lismore Regional Gallery, Manager Bundaberg Arts Centre, Director Redland Art Gallery, and Curator Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery. Steven has worked closely with many leading Australian visual artists including Ricky Swallow, Margaret Olley, Nicholas Harding, Janet Laurence and Tracey Moffatt.
MEMBER – EX OFFICIO, CHAIR – ACADEMIC STANDARDS AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE
MR SIMON COOPER – DEPUTY DIRECTOR
Simon Cooper has practiced and exhibited extensively throughout Australia and internationally. His work is held in numerous private and public collections throughout the world including the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra; and the Seoul Metropolitan Museum of Art, South Korea. He completed his undergraduate studies in Printmaking at Prahran College, Victoria and his post-graduate studies at Victorian College of the Arts in Melbourne. Simon has taught with a range of institutions in Australia including Victorian College of the Arts, Melbourne; RMIT University, Melbourne; University of Southern Queensland; and Chisholm Institute, Melbourne. Since joining NAS in 2001 as Head of Printmaking, he has held other academic positions within the school including Acting Director, and is currently Deputy Director.
SENIOR ACADEMIC STAFF NOMINEE
DR MICHAEL HILL – SENIOR LECTURER, HEAD OF ART HISTORY & THEORY
Dr. Michael Hill lectures on modern, contemporary, and Australian art, as well as conducting specialist electives on subjects such as architecture and 17th century painting. His research interests include Baroque art, portraiture, classical architecture, and art historical methodology. Michael is also a curator and advisor to Sculpture by the Sea in Bondi, Cottesloe, and Denmark. He has been Head of Art History & Theory at NAS since 2011.
SENIOR ACADEMIC STAFF NOMINEE
DR STEPHEN LITTLE – HEAD OF PAINTING
Dr Stephen Little is an artist and educator and he has taught progressive, creative higher education courses since the early 1990s. Prior to his current role as Subject Leader for Painting with Australia’s National Art School he has held lecturing posts at a range of other creative arts institutions. These have included Goldsmiths College in London, Sydney College of the Arts (University of Sydney), the University of Western Sydney (Nepean), the Australian Catholic University and Penrith College of TAFE. Aside from academic posts Stephen has spent many years working in different capacities with a range of galleries in Australia and overseas. These have included, but are not limited to, the Museum of Contemporary Art (Sydney), the Alan Cristea Gallery (London), White Cube (London), and the Lisson Gallery (London) where he held the position of Technical Manager for five years. The wealth of accrued experience that he now brings to his current post, in conjunction with his arts practice and his professional associations across a range of educational institutions, has provided him with a valuable and varied set of competencies that draw on theory, practice based research, and first hand experience with some of the art industry’s most reputable galleries and international art organisations.
ACADEMIC STAFF REPRESENTATIVE
DR GEORGINA COLE
Georgina is an art historian specialising in the art and ideas of eighteenth-century Europe. Her research focuses on the senses and sensory deprivation, and she has published articles and book chapters on representations of blindness in French and British art as well as the nature and uses of ambergris.She is currently a member of the International Advisory Board of the journalBritish Art Studies.As Lecturer in Art History and Theory at the National Art School, Georgina coordinates the first-year program, teaches electives on The Age of Enlightenment and the Artist in Art History, and contributes lectures to third- and fourth-year core programs.
SESSIONAL ACADEMIC REPRESENTATIVE
LESLIE RICE
Leslie Rice was a professional tattooer for more than 10 years before visiting art school and realising that everything he once loved was awful. Completing his BFA with Honours at the National Art School in 2006, Leslie Rice began to make paintings that exploited, mocked and critically examined his own questionable taste. Winning the Doug Moran National Portrait prize in 2007 (and again in 2012), he was featured in a smattering of group shows, prizes and solo shows over the next ten years. As an actor, Rice has appeared in several feature films and nationally syndicated television programs and has contributed regularly as a presenter on ABC’s arts program, The Mix. Rice has taught students studying across all levels at the National Art School since 2008. He is currently studying his Doctorate.
EXTERNAL – HIGHER EDUCATION MANAGEMENT REPRESENTATIVES
DR MELISSA LAIRD – DIRECTOR, LEARNING AND TEACHING, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF DRAMATIC ART (NIDA)
Dr Melissa Laird is a material culture practitioner-scholar whose research blends academic inquiry with creative practice; she has a particular devotion to writing and scholarship in the creative arts. Her research frames ephemeral, transient and fragmentary artefacts as significant models for historical study and object-based artwork. As Director, Education and Graduate Studies at the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) Melissa nurtures a culture of practice-based scholarship across the organisation and is actively engaged in learning and teaching, course development and academic governance which reflects contemporary attitudes and policy. She champions the development of unique communities of creative practice through partnerships in which staff and students from diverse backgrounds can flourish. Melissa has presented at academic conferences in Australia and overseas, and won awards for her drawing and sculpture. Recently published in Doctoral Writing in the Creative and Performing Arts (2014 Libri UK), the text utilises one of her artworks on the cover. Melissa received the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Australian Council of Art and Design Schools (ACUADS) in 2014.
EXTERNAL – ARTS INDUSTRY REPRESENTATIVE
MS ALEXIE GLASS-KANTOR – EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, ARTSPACE
Alexie Glass-Kantor is the Executive Director of Artspace, Sydney, which supports the commissioning of contemporary art, exhibitions, publishing initiatives, and research residencies for artists and curators. Prior to her appointment to Artspace in November 2013, Glass-Kantor was Director, Senior Curator, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne, an independent art space that was well regarded for its outreach and curatorial engagement with the Asia-Pacific under her leadership. As curator or co-curator of over one hundred exhibitions and biennials, Glass-Kantor has worked extensively with Australian and International artists across generations and instigated ambitious international exchanges and collaborative projects in Singapore, Malaysia, China, South Korea, Indonesia, New Zealand, Italy, France, UK and USA. Selected highlights include Parallel Collisions: 12th Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art, Art Gallery of South Australia (2012); City Within the City, Art Sonje Centre, Seoul (2011/12); Dying In Spite of the Miraculous, Melbourne Festival (2010); No Name Station, Iberia Centre for Contemporary Art, Beijing, Warmun Art Centre, WA and Gertrude Contemporary (2010/12); 21:100:100 – one hundred sound works by one hundred artists from the twenty-first century, Melbourne Festival and MONA MOFO (2008/09); and Australian curator for Lucky Number Seven: SITE Santa Fe Seventh International Biennial, SITE Santa Fe New Mexico (2008). Glass-Kantor was previously a Curator at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image and has held programming positions in state art institutions, museums, independent spaces and festivals. She has authored artist monographs and regularly contributes to catalogues, symposiums and journals internationally. Glass-Kantor is currently the Curator, Encounters, Art Basel | Hong Kong (2015-2017).
