An Inventive Magic: Donald Friend and his Diaries

About the Speakers

Adrian Vickers - paperAdrian Vickers

Adrian Vickers is Associate Professor of History at the University of Wollongong. He teaches Southeast Asian history in the History and Politics Program and coordinates the Labour Research Program in the Centre for Asia Pacific Social Transformations. He is author of many books and articles on Indonesia, including Bali:A Paradise Created (1989) and his most recent publication To Change Bali:Essays in Honour of I Gusti Ngurah Bagus (2000), which he co-edited with I Nyoman Darma Putra.

John Moyle - paperJohn Moyle

John Moyle is a successful writer and documentary producer. He is currently working on the third film in a series of natural history projects. Titled ‘Watery Creatures’ it deals with the ocean environment and how this affects the development and adaptation of marine animals. Other projects are in development. He is also a regular contributor to a national daily paper.

 

Ian Stocks - paperIAN STOCKS

Ian Stocks has been making documentaries since 1971. ‘Tamu ’ was his first television documentary and was made in collaboration with Jane Oehr. Since then, apart from teaching film and television, he has made numerous video documentaries on artists and arts events. He lives in Brisbane.

 

Robin Wallace-Crabbe - paperROBIN WALLACE-CRABBE

Robin Wallace-Crabbe, artist and writer, sometimes works on artist’s books with the founders of Finlay Press, now in Braidwood, New South Wales. He has published 12 non-artist books and exhibited paintings from time-to-time over the past 40 years. He also lectures on Australian art for Christies, the art auction house.

 

 

Anna GrayANNA GRAY

Until recently Anna Gray was the Director and Senior Curator of the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery of the University of Western Australia and she is the former Head of Art at the Australian War Memorial. She has published several books including A. Henry Fullwood:War Paintings (1983); Letters from Smike: The Letters of Arthur Streeton (1989) which she compiled and edited with Ann Galbally; and Art and Artifice: George Lambert 1873–1930 (1996). She has also curated exhibitions of the work of Russell Drysdale and Donald Friend. As Editor of the Donald Friend Diaries she has been selecting text and images from the 44 diaries held by the Library. She was recently appointed Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia.

Barry Pearce - paper BARRY PEARCE

Barry Pearce is the Head Curator of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, where he has been since 1978. Previously Curator of Paintings at the Art Gallery of Western Australia and Curator of Prints and Drawings, Art Gallery of South Australia, he studied at the South Australian School of Art and University of Adelaide during the early 1960s. He has produced numerous texts and exhibitions on Australian art and curated many artist retrospectives including the major retrospective on Donald Friend at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Christine France - paperCHRISTINE FRANCE

Christine France is a freelance art historian and curator. She is a graduate of Sydney University where she majored in Fine Arts. She was a part-time tutor in Contemporary Art in the Department of General Studies at the University of New South Wales for 10 years. Her publications include Justin O’Brien: Image and Icon (1987, rev. ed. 1997), Margaret Olley (1990) and Marea Gazzard: Form and Clay (1994). She has a particular interest in Sydney art since 1940.

Gavin Wilson - paperGAVIN WILSON

Gavin Wilson is a Sydney-based independent curator, author and landscape architect. In 1993 he was commissioned by the Art Gallery of New South Wales to research and curate a major Australian exhibition, ‘The Artists of Hill End ’. He is author of John Firth-Smith: A Voyage That Never Ends (1999) and is the curator/manager of the Hill End Artists-in-Residence Program in conjunction with NSW National Parks & Wildlife Service and the Bathurst Regional Art Gallery.

John McDonaldJOHN MCDONALD

John McDonald studied literature and philosophy at the University of Sydney, and began writing for newspapers soon after graduation. He was senior art critic for the Sydney Morning Herald 1985–90 and 1994–98. John has written monographs on several Australian artists, including Jeffrey Smart: Paintings of the 70s and 80s (1990). He was Head of Australian Art at the National Gallery of Australia from 1999–2000, and curator of the ‘Federation’ exhibition. He is currently working on a new history of Australian Art.

Sasha Grishin - paperSASHA GRISHIN

Sasha Grishin studied art history at the universities of Melbourne, Moscow, London and Oxford and has served several terms as visiting scholar at the Australian National University and now is a Reader in Art History and Head of Art History and Film Studies at that university. He has published extensively in contemporary and medieval art. His books include The Art of John Brack, 2 vols (1990), S.T.Gill: Dr Doyle’s Sketches in Australia (1993), and John Wolseley: Land Marks (1998). Dr Grishin has worked for many years as an art critic for the Australian and international press.

Lou Klepac - paperLOU KLEPAC

Lou Klepac was Curator of Paintings at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (1964–66) and at the Art Gallery of South Australia (1966–70); also Senior Curator and then Deputy Director at the Art Gallery of Western Australia (1974–80). He has organised many exhibitions including ‘Sickert Paintings’; ‘The Drawings of Russell Drysdale’; and ‘Nora Heysen’. His most recent books are Australian Painters of the Twentieth Century (2000) and The Genius of Donald Friend: Drawings from the Diaries 1942–89 (2001), published by the National Library. In 1980 he moved to Sydney where he established The Beagle Press.

John Thompson - paperJOHN THOMPSON

John Thompson worked at the National Library of Australia from 1979 to 1999. He is at present a PhD scholar in the History Program, Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University. His publications include Faces of Mandurama (1998) and Hurley’s Australia: Myth, Dream, Reality (1999). With Brenda Niall he edited The Oxford Book of Australian Letters (1998). During the 1980s and 1990s, he was one of a number of staff who played a part in the acquisition by the National Library of the diaries of Donald Friend.

Paul Hetherington - paperPAUL HETHERINGTON

Paul Hetherington is Director of the National Library ’s publishing program, which will produce a multi-volume edition of the 44 Donald Friend diaries held in the Library's Manuscripts Collection. The first volume of this publication is due for release in late 2001. He has published five collections of poetry, including the award-winning Shadow Swimmer (1995) and, most recently, Canvas Light (Molonglo Press, 1998).

 

Don BennettsDON BENNETTS

Don Bennetts s a veteran Australian television filmmaker.His film biographies on artists include 'Sydney Nolan: An Australian Dream', 'Lloyd Rees: Reflections of Australia', 'John Olsen: Journey through You Beaut Country', 'Arthur Boyd: Testament of a Painter' and the 1990 film on Donald Friend, 'The Prodigal Australian'. His current work-in-progress is a play entitled Tom's Big Picture, for production in 2002. The two main characters in this play are Tom Roberts and Nellie Melba and the action takes place in the three years it took Roberts to complete The Big Picture and Nellie Melba's visit to Roberts' studio in 1902 on her first return visit to Melbourne.

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