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The Board

Craft Australia Board members are drawn from a national craft and design network and are leaders in their chosen fields. The Board consists of seven people, being four Directors elected by the members and three Directors appointed by the Board. One of the appointed Directors is the Chair of the network of Australian Craft and Design Centres (ACDC) organisations. Members are appointed for a term of 2 years with an optional 2 year reappointment. The Board meet quarterly and holds 4 teleconferences annually and advices on strategies for the growth and sustainability of the sector.

Antonia Syme - President
Director, Victorian Tapestry Workshop
Experience: Antonia Syme is the Director of the Victorian Tapestry Workshop in Melbourne. She has had over 25 years in the arts and cultural sector as a director, consultant, conservator and curator. Prior to this appointment she was Director of Syme Dodson Consulting, and Director of Artbank, the Australian government's art rental program, for over ten years. Her extensive experience has spanned both the private and public sector, in major Australian cultural institutions and as Co-Director of Syme Dodson Gallery in Sydney. Ms Syme has been a long serving member of a number of cultural boards and committees including the NSW National Trust's Museums and Collections Committee, the Federal Government's Taxation Incentives for the Arts Committee (art and craft specialist), and the Heritage Council (NSW) Maritime Archaeological Advisory Panel. She also was a former member of the Sydney College of the Arts Board, the Freedman Foundation Travelling Art Scholarships judging panel and has judged many art prizes across Australia.
Appointed: April, 2007
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Lorna Shuttlewood - Treasurer
Senior Financial Adviser with Walter Turnbull, Canberra
Experience: Lorna has worked for over 20 years in the financial planning industry. Key role is as a private client adviser working with individuals to achieve personal financial goals. This includes assistance with identification of goals and targets, strategic planning, investment advice, education and risk management. She ran her own financial planning business for 15 years. Has been actively involved with education programmes in the community and the workplace around basic financial planning and with a particular emphasis on women and money. Collector of contemporary fine art and craft.
Elected: February, 2008
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Chetana Andary
Executive Director, Artisan idea·skill·product
Experience: Chetana Andary has over 20 years experience in the arts and cultural sector as a practicing artist, consultant, policy officer and manager. Her experience has spanned both the private and public sector including local and state government, and as a Director of a national arts and cultural consultancy. She is best known for work with public art policy and project management and was responsible for the Brisbane City Council's Art in Public Places Policy 2005 -2010. Chetana maintains a broad private and government sector network and has been an Executive Councillor for the Brisbane Development Association for three years. Chetana has a Bachelor of Design, Jewellery and Metalsmithing, a Graduate Diploma of Education and certification in Leading Edge Management and Project Management.
Appointed: April 2007
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Julie Gough
Artist, curator, writer
Experience: Julie Gough is a visual artist, curator and writer who lives in Hobart. During 2008-09 Julie was Guest curator at the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery for the exhibition: Tayenebe - Tasmanian Aboriginal women's fibre work, which opened in July 2009. Previously, Julie was employed as a curator of Indigenous art at the National Gallery of Victoria, Lecturer at Riawunna - Centre for Aboriginal Studies at the University of Tasmania and Interpretation Officer, Aboriginal Culture at the Tasmanian Parks and Wildlife Service, Hobart. Gough's art practice involves uncovering and re-presenting often conflicting and subsumed histories. Working predominantly in mixed media and installation, much of Gough's work refers to her own and her family's experiences as Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
Elected: April 2009
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Jon Goulder
Craftsman
Experience: Jon Goulder (b.1970) was the inaugural winner of the Bombay Sapphire Design Discovery Award in 2003, and is a major contributor to the current momentum of Australian design. In 1992 he completed an apprenticeship in upholstery and furniture-making to become a fourth-generation craftsman. In 1999 he completed a diploma in fine wood and design at the Canberra School of Art.
His skills as a maker allow him to design through creating three-dimensional models. Starting with rough sketches, Goulder produces several fullscale mock-ups to test the form for comfort, making considered adjustments with each prototype. These skills also enable Goulder to undertake his own batch production. However, after hand-making his 150th STAK stool, Goulder made a conscious decision to actively seek out opportunities for manufacturing in China and Australia. He now has several pieces, including the STAK stool, in production in China, while his award-winning Leda seat is now being manufactured in Australia by Woodmark International.
Elected: February, 2008
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Robert Reason
Curator, European and Australian Decorative Arts at the Art Gallery of South Australia and Affiliate Lecturer in the School of History and Politics at the University of Adelaide
Experience: His past exhibitions for the Art Gallery of South Australia include the widely popular 20th Century Style: Furniture (2003), The Most Delightful Thing on Earth: The Art of Gladys Reynell (2006), and Bravura: 21st Century Australian Craft (2009). He coordinated the Morris & Co. exhibition of 2002 and oversaw its national tour (2005-06). Reason has also curated a number of highlight displays for the Gallery including Contemporary Australian Glass (2005), Contemporary Australian Ceramics (2006), Figurines and Frippery (2007), The Rhianon Vernon Roberts Memorial Collection of Contemporary Australian Jewellery (2008), and Objects in Translation: European sixteenth and seventeenth century earthenwares (2010). In 2008 he was awarded the inaugural Copland Foundation scholarship to attend the prestigious Attingham Trust Summer School in England and in 2009 he attended Tokyo Design Week through the auspices of Asialink.
He is highly regarded among decorative arts colleagues and has contributed essays and articles for numerous catalogues and art publications over the past decade as well as writing the first monograph on the Australian artist potter Gladys Reynell (AGSA, 2006).
Elected: February, 2008
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Dorothy Topfer
General Counsel, Governance and Support, Department of Climate Change
Experience: Dorothy has worked in the legal and corporate governance fields for over 20 years and brings to the board extensive understanding of governance and legal issues relating to cultural bodies. Between 2004-08 she worked in the then Commonwealth Department of Communication IT and the Arts. Her responsibilities during this period included the management of the cultural touring programs such as Playing Australia and Festivals Australia as well as providing governance advice in respect of Commonwealth Cultural institutions.
Elected: April, 2009
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Robyn Daw - Immediate Past President
Acting Government Curator, art+place, Arts Queensland
Experience: Robyn Daw has worked in leading contemporary, university and major state and national galleries, including the Queensland Art Gallery and the National Gallery of Australia. Her publications include catalogues and education resources on contemporary, modern and historic art, craft and design, and critical essays and reviews in numerous catalogues and magazines. She is currently employed at Arts Queensland as Acting Government Curator, art+place, and maintains practicing as an artist, writer and curator through ArtBunker. She has degrees in Fine Art and Art History, Postgraduate qualifications in Arts Management, and a Masters of Fine Arts (research). She is the immediate past President of Craft Australia.
Appointed: Board - April 2004, President - April 2007
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File last updated: 5 August 2008