Maitland Regional Art Gallery director Brigette Uren announced her resignation publicly last week.
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The gallery director said in a letter to the public: “I have accepted a role as Director Arts in Health for Health Infrastructure NSW, extending my commitment to the role arts play in improving community wellbeing.”
Uren notes the gallery’s interim caretaker will be Maitland’s city librarian Keryl Collard.
Uren was cultural director of the Maitland gallery in October 2015 after the retirement of inspirational director Joe Eisenberg.
In a news story in the Maitland Mercury shortly after her appointment in 2015, Uren said, “I really did grow up feeling like it was very special to go to an art gallery and that feeling has always stayed with me.
“And art makes me feel good, just being around it. I feel quite relaxed when I’m around things people have made out of nothing and I just get excited by their ideas.”
In her director’s letter, Uren notes the gallery will offer 24 exhibitions in the coming year, showing artworks created by “1000s of artists”.
The gallery has three shows kicking off on February 23, including an exhibit of its own works by the late Charles Blackman. The artist was also a strong supporter of the gallery, donating more than 280 works on paper and paintings to the MRAG Collection.
The other shows opening in February are the annual Maitland International Salon of Photography and Andrew Antoniou: Props, Masks & Magic.