Curators Talk-
DON'T JUDGE A BOOK BY ITS COVER; IT MAY TAKE YOU ON ANOTHER JOURNEY
Arts house Trust Gallery
7 October, Saturday, 11.00
Laura Campbell
Laura Campbell is Director/ Senior Art Curator at Percy Thomson Gallery, in Stratford – Taranaki’s premier regional art gallery. She has been in the role for nearly two years.
Laura has worked in the arts sector for over 10 years, in both commercial and public galleries throughout Aotearoa. Her background includes working for five years at Puke Ariki Museum, as a Researcher, Art Curator and Art Historian. In 2020, Laura curated the highly successful ‘Home Work: Taranaki’ exhibition (with over 30,000 visitors). While studying for her Master of Arts (Art History, with Distinction) at Victoria University of Wellington, she worked as a Gallery Assistant for Sir Michael Fowler at his Tinakori Road Art Gallery and assisted with exhibitions/ collections at Te Pataka Toi Adam Art Gallery.
She is an advocate for building strong relationships with key stakeholders in the district and working collaboratively with local artists, and the community. PTG has a strong reputation for being one of the leading regional public art galleries in Aotearoa, supporting local talent with new exhibitions every 4 - 6 weeks. Each year there are approximately 20 exhibitions held at the Gallery, mainly supporting local artists, and hosting nationally acclaimed touring exhibitions.
Justin Jade Morgan
With an open and inclusive approach, Justin has been involved in the creative sector for 20 years working as a curator, director and educator. Growing up in New Plymouth his interest for the arts developed through time spent; with local artists, working at the Govett Brewster Art Gallery and being the founding curator of Justart a local artist project that then grew into a national / international programme (JJMorgan and Co) for emergent/mid-career artists (2002-2014) New Plymouth/Wellington/Auckland, New Zealand; most recently co-curating ‘ABROAD; what’s in the suitcase’ at Percy Thomson Gallery (Morgan & Black).
His professional practice has seen him work for a number of organisations such as; Waikato Museum, Morrinsville Gallery, NZ Contemporary Arts Trust (Auckland Art Fair/Artweek), New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, W.I.T.T and the Learning Connexion to name a few.
Justin’s individual arts practice dovetails between group collaborations, individual pieces and extended projects. Developing performative pieces, installations, drawings, audio and photographic works that explore the relationship between physical objects and life as performance. His projects have featured in the Govett Brewster Art Gallery, The Dowse, Lopdell House Gallery (NZ), the Border Museum (Slovenia), Digital Fringe 08 (Melbourne), 3rd ‘Arhipelag’ International Contemporary Arts Festival (Solvenia & Italy), International Museum of Collage, Mexico and ‘ArtColle’, France with residencies and other temporary projects taking place in France, Germany, Slovenia, Australia and New Zealand.
Justin holds a Bachelor of Visual Arts, a post graduate diploma in Art and Design and a Master of Arts Management (Distinction). Bringing his wealth of knowledge and expertise back home, he is now an integral part of the Puke Ariki exhibitions team, working as an Exhibition Component & Support Fabricator.