The University of Queensland today announced the appointment of Nick Mitzevich as the new Director of the UQ Art Museum.
Mr Mitzevich, 37, who holds a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales and Graduate Diplomas in Education and Fine Art, will take up the position on September 17.
He has been the Director of the Newcastle Region Art Gallery since 2001, during which time he rejuvenated the gallery and acquired major works by Australian artists including Tracey Moffatt, William Dobell, Brett Whiteley, Sidney Nolan, and Juan Davila.
UQ Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Hay, AC, said Mr Mitzevich was a dynamic young administrator with the ideal background to lead the UQ Art Museum, which houses Queensland’s second largest public art collection.
“It is a very significant appointment for the University, and for art in Queensland in general,” Professor Hay said.
“As well as leading the Newcastle gallery in a major fundraising campaign that recently raised over $8m for refurbishments and art purchases, Mr Mitzevich has curated major exhibitions on Lucien Freud, Mike Parr and contemporary Australian art.
“He has also organised joint exhibitions in partnership with Britain’s National Portrait Gallery, the National Library of Australia, the Australian National Gallery, and the International Centre for Photography in New York.”
Mr Mitzevich said he was looking forward to becoming part of the Queensland art community and joining a gallery that was widely acclaimed for both its collection and architectural beauty.
“It is really an attractive and desirable place to be coming to,” he said.
“ The gallery already has great infrastructure and a strong collection, and has the potential to grow even more, and I look forward to helping to raise its profile nationally and internationally.”
Mr Mitzevich said he had visited the UQ Art Museum for the recent Our Way, Contemporary Aboriginal Art from Lockhart River exhibition.
“It really was outstanding, and with the handsome and well researched publication supporting it, demonstrated the potential of what can be achieved there,” he said.
Executive Dean of the UQ Faculty of Arts, Professor Richard Fotheringham, said Mr Mitzevich would bring a range of experience to the UQ Art Museum, housed in the James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre at the St Lucia campus.
“Mr Mitzevich has previously worked as an art dealer, a university lecturer in art history and museum studies, a school art teacher, and as a Multicultural Arts Officer with the Ethnic Communities Council of NSW,” Professor Fotheringham said.
“He regularly gives lectures both in Australia and overseas, and has a fortnightly slot on ABC radio promoting the visual arts.
“Since 1995 he has frequently served on NSW Government boards, art advisory committees, and jury panels for art and architecture competitions. We very much look forward to his contribution to the UQ Art Museum.”
The UQ Art Museum’s collection comprises more than 2500 works, and is Queensland's second-largest public art collection in terms of both value and quantity after the Queensland Art Gallery.
The collection includes significant works by major Australian artists from the colonial era to the present, as well as the Nat Yuen Collection of Chinese antiquities and a national collection of Artists' Self Portraits, the only collection of its type in Australia.
The James and Mary Emelia Mayne Centre, opened in 2004, provides security and climate control to the highest standards, and designers Wilson Architects have received three awards from the Royal Australian Institute of Architects for adaptive re-use of an existing building.
Mr Mitzevich’s appointment follows an international search by the University after the resignation of former director Ross Searle in April.
Media: For more information, contact Brad Turner at UQ Communications on (07) 3365 2659 or 0400767489; or email b.turner@uq.edu.au.
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