1989: Life of art

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Tags: winter-2012

Susi Muddiman, Bachelor of Arts, Diploma in Australian Studies

Susi Muddiman

Susi Muddiman is preparing for one of her greatest career highlights as Director of the Tweed River Art Gallery.

In a few months, building will commence on a purpose-built Margaret Olley Centre at the gallery in Murwillumbah, northeast NSW, where Ms Olley spent part of her youth.

Ms Muddiman, a UQ arts graduate, has worked at the gallery for five years and said she was very excited to drive the project and see it come to fruition.

“This opportunity is a great honour for the gallery and it is our goal to pay tribute to Margaret’s artistic practice and generosity as a philanthropist,” she said.

The project has been made possible through a $1 million donation from the Margaret Olley Trust in November last year – following Ms Olley’s death on July 26.

“I am encouraged by the Tweed Shire Council’s enthusiasm for this project, and their realisation that the gallery has been offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance to recreate the home and studio of one of the nation’s most recognised and acknowledged artists,” Ms Muddiman said.

“Ms Olley’s domestic surroundings were paramount to her practice. She worked in a multi-layered, eclectic atmosphere which exuded an intoxicating and endearing ambience,” she said.

The Margaret Olley Art Centre will also be the repository of a large number of the artist’s own works, including works in progress, ephemera and correspondence. The centre is expected to open in mid-2013.

Another career highlight for Ms Muddiman was hosting the tour of the 2011 Archibald Prize, which was awarded to Ben Quilty for his portrait of Ms Olley. The exhibition attracted 28,563 visitors to the gallery in 30 days.

Reminiscing on her university days, Ms Muddiman said her UQ lecturers particularly influenced the way she viewed art.

“I will always remember Dr Nancy Underhill’s ‘brownie points’ system. She wanted us to get a lot of exposure to artwork in order for us to learn from it. We had to provide proof that we had actually attended an exhibition. It was really effective,” she said.

“I feel sure it was Dr Underhill who actually made me stand in front of artwork, try to read it and work out what it was trying to tell me.”

Ms Muddiman is a frequent visitor to the UQ Art Museum and most recently attended the exhibition, Surface Tension: the art of Euan Macleod 1991–2009 at the end of last year, which was a Tweed River Art Gallery touring exhibition.

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