Committee Member

When you think about Friends, what first made you want to be involved?  I joined the Friends because I enjoy visiting the gallery to view the interesting and diverse range of exhibitions on show. Art is an important part of society, and we are very lucky in to have a gallery with such an amazing permanent collection which includes local and nationally important artists. Being part of the committee means supporting the gallery and enjoying the company of other people who also enjoy art. The Friends has a legacy of supporters who saw a need in the community and then worked as a group to ensure that need was met. The projects supported by the Friends that I am most proud of are the ones that get art from the gallery out into the community so that people who don’t think that art galleries are for them can see the reproduced art in our public spaces and hopefully be encouraged to visit the gallery, after all the collection is there for the community to enjoy!

What do you enjoy about being part of the Friends and the Aigantighe Art Gallery? Our family live close to the gallery and visiting the Aigantighe on a weekend day was something we did with our children. We bought a painting by local artist Migde McMillan when I was pregnant with our first child, I’ve promised it to her for her 21st birthday!

Is there a Friends-supported project, activity, or contribution that makes you feel especially proud? The projects supported by the Friends that I am most proud of are the ones that get art from the gallery out into the community, for example the coastal walkway art signs, so that people who don’t think that art galleries are for them can see the reproduced art in our public spaces and hopefully be encouraged to visit the gallery, after all the collection is there for the community to enjoy!

What would you like more people to understand about the Friends? The Friends is for everyone, you don’t have to know heaps about art, you just need to value the place of art in our society.

Finish this sentence: “I am part of the Friends because…” art is important, it opens your eyes to how other see the world