Adam Art Gallery’s new intern announced

Sally McMath arrived last week to take up her role as Te Pātaka Toi Adam Art Gallery’s newest intern.

Sally McMath stands looking at the camera

She is the fifth intern to have been selected for this opportunity, following on from Louie Zalk-Neale who was with the Gallery for nearly 12 months in 2021–22.

Adam Art Gallery is grateful to Barbara Blake, long-time funder of the internship, which is designed to introduce recent graduates/early-career professionals to the spectrum of work the Gallery undertakes in delivering its exhibition and public programmes and caring for Ngā Puhipuhi o Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington Art Collection.

Sally will be spending the next few months working intensively with the Gallery, focusing in particular on her interests in research: its material forms and uses as the basis for exhibition making and publishing.

Sally completed her BA in Art History at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in 2019 and is pleased to be back, deepening her connection to the Adam Art Gallery after volunteering at the Gallery when she was a student.

She completed her Honours in Art History at the University of Auckland in 2022 and plans to undertake a Master’s degree overseas in 2024. The internship is an ideal bridge between her academic studies. It builds on the work she is doing as a research assistant to 2022–23 McCahon House artist-in-resident Michael Stevenson, and the support she is providing to galleries in Auckland including Artspace Aotearoa and Coastal Signs.

Adam Art Gallery director Christina Barton says: “We so enjoy sharing our knowledge and experience with our interns. Not only does this provide us with an opportunity to explain and reflect upon our work, but it also opens us to new ideas and fresh insights as the talents and enthusiasms of each intern always bring something different to our thinking.”

You can find out about our previous interns on the Adam Art Gallery website.

The Adam Art Gallery internship is made possible thanks to the generosity of funder Barbara Blake.