Tessa Giblin

The 2005 Recipient of the Kate Sheppard Memorial Award is Tessa Giblin, a young 27 year old woman from Christchurch.  The Award is being used to help pay for the course fees to attend the De Appel Curatorial Training Programme in Amsterdam.  This course is designed as a comprehensive immersion in all facets of producing, communicating and managing contemporary art, bridging the gap between theoretical art history, and the actual business of making contemporary art exhibitions.

Tessa graduated from the University of Canterbury School of Fine Arts in 2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, with papers in Art Theory, Art History, English and Russian Literature.

Since then she has been a member of the Executive Committee Member of the Christchurch Community Arts Council  (2002), a member of the team which presented the Joshua Grant Memorial Show in February 2003, a Board Member of the High Street Project (2002-04), and was an administrator on the Bedford Row Studio.

Tessa has been heavily involved in the Art community with many varied positions:

Exhibition Attention (Venice Biennale, Italy - 2005)

Curator, Artspace (Auckland - 2005)

Assistant Curator, Artspace (Auckland – 2004)

Project Director, Gridlocked (Christchurch – 2002 to 2004)

Director, Fresh Gallery (Christchurch, 2003)

Event Management Assistant, Vive Production Ltd (Christchurch, 2003)

She has also been involved in a number of projected and curated exhibitions and had writings published in varied magazines.