Lismore’s loss will be Ipswich’s gain as the long term curator at Lismore Regional Gallery, Kezia Geddes, leaves the Northern Rivers to take up a new position at Ipswich Art Gallery next week. She spoke to The Echo as she was packing up her Lismore home.
Originally from Canberra, Ms Geddes studied in the ACT and then Melbourne before joining Lismore Regional Gallery in 2006, back in the old days of the bank building on Molesworth Street, next to the fire station. Since then, she’s been involved with the gallery’s move to its new location at the Quad, as well as being curator through the major floods of 2017 and 2022.
‘I started at the gallery under the directorship of Steven Alderton, and then Brett Adlington from 2009, and Ashleigh Ralph more recently. It’s been a real privilege to work under all three directors and to work with the team and artists and community at Lismore.
‘It was my first grown-up career job,’ she remembers. ‘And the gallery has kind of grown up over the period that I’ve been there, even though it’s always been a strong part of Lismore.
‘It was known as a small gallery that was punching above its weight, and then we grew into that space at Rural Street.’
While there was some controversy at the time about the money that was being spent on the new gallery space, visitor numbers exceeded all expectations from the moment the new building opened. ‘We were always programming for the diverse interests of the community,’ said Ms Geddes.
‘It was always an important and embedded gallery, and so we continued to follow that ethos. When we went to the larger site, we were just able to do bigger and better things.’
Turbulent years
The floods of recent years were major emergencies for everyone across the region, and presented particular conservation challenges for Ms Geddes and her co-workers at the Lismore Regional Gallery, particularly in 2022.
‘Yes, the gallery was completely inundated. So that was a really large insurance claim. In terms of conservation, we conserved as much as we could of the collection, but the water got within a meter from the ceiling on the second floor.
‘International Conservation Services carried out the conservation for the collection, and it was triaged out of the building, as soon as possible after the flood, with the help of International Art Services.’
Prominent casualties at the time included the Hannah Cabinet and the War Rugs of Afghanistan, on loan from Canberra, although both are successfully undergoing conservation now. ‘It was a disastrous situation,’ Kezia Geddes says. ‘But we achieved the best results we possibly could have, under those circumstances.’
While gallery staff battled to save the art treasures, their own homes and jobs had also been swept away in many cases. ‘The whole community was impacted, yes. It’s been a heartbreaking time. But I guess the question now is how to deal with such a situation in the future. And I think that this small regional gallery will be well positioned, just as the community has become more agile and intelligent around flood.
‘We’ll have to have a different attitude going forward.’
Have these disasters played into your decision to leave Lismore?
‘No. But, I think if you asked me a year ago, yes. The reality is that climate change is impacting everyone, we are just a little bit closer to it in Lismore.
‘When the floodwaters rose, we could never know how bad it was going to be – it went two meters higher than previously. Hopefully, one day, the gallery will have a flood free building.
‘I think there’s a huge amount of talent in this area; artists like Karla Dickens or RealArtWorks, Penny Evans, Antoinette O’Brien, Elevator ARI, and Dadang Christanto. Lismore is a very culturally rich area, with talent that would stand up anywhere.’ There’s also famous local craftspeople, such as Geoff Hannah.
Kezia Geddes says that like its creatives, the local community is diverse and open-minded. ‘The arts in Lismore aren’t exclusive. It’s such an intelligent and open community, so that broadens the scope of what you can do; to be able to present unique things, and work which is unique to this area.
‘The creative population in Lismore is really outstanding. People here are driven to live a creative life and to live differently sometimes, putting creativity first, and I will really miss that. I hold it dear.’
So what’s next for you?
‘Well, I’ve been in the position of curator for almost 18 years. And I really love the area. I love the community and I love the work. I’m sad to leave, but it’s interesting to open a new chapter in life, so we’ll be moving.
‘I’m taking on a position at Ipswich Art Gallery as Collection Manager. That will be exciting, to grow personally and professionally, in another place with my family. Ipswich has a very interesting collection and and program. Once again, I’m working at a regional gallery where we can look to do things that are really embedded in the community.
‘In a smaller community, you can get a sense of the work you do, and over time you also get a sense of the legacy of the work you do. So I’ll be doing that somewhere else. There are some really great artists that live in Ipswich, artists I’ve known about for a long time who I look forward to meeting.
‘Artists often follow affordability, and it’s a lot cheaper than nearby Brisbane.’
The Ipswich Art Gallery has a larger collection than Lismore, including local history items.
‘It also has a children’s art gallery,’ said Ms Geddes. ‘I’m really excited about that. That’s been in its programming for many years, so some of those children will now be adults. To get a sense of how they’re growing up, their loyalty to Ipswich potentially, that’s something I’m yet to discover.’
She believes it’s important for art galleries to speak to individual places and communities, to blend the regional and the personal.
‘Yes, it’s not like this universal thing, or a universal style. Your value to the community is what you’re really working for, not the wider art world, although that’s important too.
‘If you’re not thinking of the community, then you end up doing the same thing everywhere. That’s what’s so interesting about working at regional galleries.’
Personal changes
Kezia Geddes says her partner Ray’s business Clayschool is in Brisbane, so they have strong ties there. ‘There’s an amazing community around Clayschool, and I’m looking forward to connecting to the one around Ipswich Art Gallery and to creative life in Southern Queensland.
‘Ray and I met 10 years ago, and he’s been driving up to Brisbane on Tuesday morning and back to Lismore on a Thursday evening, as well as working Mondays and Friday teaching ceramics at the Lismore TAFE. Our two kids (now aged 7 and 3) are looking forward to seeing more of him and more of their grandparents in Brisbane.
‘We all love it here, and it will be a tear to leave our home and the region. But there will be a lot of advantages and support for us between Ipswich and Brisbane. I’m looking forward to new challenges and a new chapter.
‘It’s important as an arts professional to invest in your community and invest your time here, but you also want the community to be able to move and to be fresh.
‘It will be exciting to see what the next person can do in my position, bringing a different perspective,’ said Ms Geddes.
The Lismore Regional Gallery has been closed since the floods for repairs, although there’s a temporary popup gallery currently operating at 46 Magellan Street. Kezia Geddes said she will be back for the grand re-opening of the LRG in July this year. Something for everyone in the Northern Rivers to look forward to!
