Kate Gardiner

Tertiary Qualifications

2004

Master of Art Administration
UNSW School of Art & Design, Sydney 
Thesis title: Environmental Issues and Critical Thinking in Art Gallery and Museum Exhibitions

1994

Bachelor of Teaching (Primary)
University of New England, Armidale NSW

Group Exhibitions & Awards

career summary - Arts & Education

2022 - 2023

Gallery Assistant & Artist in Residence, KIN Gallery, Canberra
Assistant, Festival of Everyday Art, PeopleLab, Canberra
Logistics Coordinator - Project Empower, Country to Canberra

2010 - 2021

Programs and Partnerships Officer, ACT Historic Places, Canberra
Access and Learning Officer & Manager, ACT Museums and Galleries, Canberra
Learning Team Coordinator, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra
Education and Community Programs Officer, ACT Historic Places, Canberra

2004 - 2009

Museum Educator, Elizabeth Farm, Museums of History NSW, Parramatta NSW
Teacher-Lecturer, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
Museum Educator & Visitor Services Officer, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney

1996 - 2003

Primary School Teacher, Wenona Junior School, Sydney
Primary School Teacher, Dubbo NSW

workshop courses

2024

Jewellery II lead by Sorrel Van Allen, NSCAD University Extended Studies, Halifax, Canada

Intermediate Jewellery Projects lead by Hannah Craig, Centre for Craft, Halifax, Canada

Paper Marbling lead by Rhonda Miller (My Handbound Books), Craft Nova Scotia, Halifax, Canada

Jewellery II lead by Lindsay MacDonald, NSCAD University Extended Studies, Halifax, Canada

Introduction to Enamelling lead by Wenjing Yan, Centre for Craft, Halifax, Canada

2020

Sand Casting Workshop lead by Kirra-lea Caynes, KIN Gallery, Canberra

2018 - 2020

Beginner & Intermediate Workshops lead by Katie Shanahan, KIN Gallery, Canberra

2018

Contemporary Enamelling Techniques lead by Barbara Ryman, Centre for Continuing Education, Australian National University, Canberra

2017 + 2018

Spoon Making Workshops lead by Alison Jackson, Pocket Studio, Canberra

2015 + 2016

Damascus Steel and Japanese Knifemaking Courses, Tharwa Valley Forge, Tharwa NSW

Creative Writing Courses & relevant adult education

2024

UNEARTH 2025 lead by Jessica Connor Kennedy and Adam Kennedy (online) current

How to give a great artist talk, Visual Arts Nova Scotia, Canada (online)

2023

Incursions, Plants, Art Practices Short Course, Art Programme (Melbourne) and Bundanon Art Museum (Illaroo, NSW), online and onsite

2022

How to write about your work, The Goldsmiths’ Centre, London UK, online

What The Light Tells, Poetry Masterclass presented by Mark Tredinnick, online

2021

Value Chains Reset Conference, Jewellers and Metalsmiths Group of Australia, online

Writers at the Woolshed Festival, Earth Canvas, ‘Bibbaringa’, Bowna NSW

2018

Writing About Place presented by Mary Lynn Mather, Short Course CIT Solutions, Canberra

Stakeholder Engagement and Effective Communication, Australian River Restoration Centre, Canberra

2015

Poet’s Breakfast – Open Mike, Two Fires Festival, Braidwood NSW

2013

Poetry Workshop presented by Lizz Murphy, Gorman Arts Centre, Canberra

2004

Writing the Real presented by Mark Tredinnick, Centre for Continuing Education, University of Sydney

Selected examples engaging youth, cultural and environmental capital in Arts & Education

• Volunteer, Craft Nova Scotia Designer Craft Show, Halifax 2024

• Assistant, Festival of Everyday Art, PeopleLab, Canberra 2023

• Volunteer, Power Trip, Country to Canberra, Sydney 2022

• Volunteer co-facilitator Project Empower Workshop, Country to Canberra, Smithton, Tasmania 2022

• Designed Talk: Permaculture at Millpost Farm, Lanyon Homestead, Canberra 2021

• Carried out the quarterly field condition surveys under the guidance of ecologist Sarah Sharp, and assisted grassland ecologist Dr David Johnson during the inaugural annual plant survey, Mugga-Mugga Cottage, Canberra 2020

• Pre-program management Walk: Canoe Tree and Local Ngunnawal Stories, Lanyon Homestead, Canberra 2020

• Researched and created the online audio-visual Object Story: Life-long learning beginning at Mugga-Mugga Cottage, ACT Historic Places, 2020

• Researched, designed and co-wrote the blog post Our convict women, ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2020

• Designed Environmental activism across generations, Canberra Museum and Gallery, 2019

• Hands-on conference paper Why risk whittling with kids?, Interpretation Australia Conference, Melbourne, 2019

• Lead the successful grant application Rehabilitation of Natural Temperate Grasslands at Mugga Mugga Cottage, supported by Southern ACT Catchment Authority, ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2018

• Member of the Land Management Advisory Group, Mugga-Mugga Cottage, ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2018 - 2021

• Designed and managed the 2017 Sylvia Curley Oration: Professor Saul Cunningham, and the 2018 Sylvia Curley Oration: Hannah Wandel and Country to Canberra, Mugga-Mugga Cottage, Canberra

• Conference paper Repairing Grassland at Mugga-Mugga Cottage, Travelling Stories: Connecting People and Landscapes, Interpretation Australia Conference, Tasmania 2017

• Co-designed, managed and co-delivered Tinkering at our Places, ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2016 - 2019

• Designed and wrote the online Secondary education resource Thinking Geographically, Thinking Mugga-Mugga ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2016

• Delivered the welcome presentation Women shaping our future: reflections from the Limestone Plains, Australian Women in Agriculture Conference, Australian National University, Canberra 2016

• Content editor Woodlands & grasslands , Bush Capital: The natural history of the ACT, Canberra Museum and Gallery, 2016

• Co-delivered We Can Make a Difference supporting student investigation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House, Canberra 2015

• Designed and managed the public program Grassland: A conversation, involving guest speakers Dr Charles Massy, and CSIRO Honorary Research Fellow Dr Kenneth Hodgkinson, Mugga-Mugga Cottage, Canberra 2014

• In consultation with staff at Bonython Primary School, designed, wrote and co-delivered the online, onsite and outreach program Artefact Chat, ACT Historic Places, Canberra 2013

• Established, monitored and documented ground cover repair across a grazing trial site within Natural Temperate Grassland, per the heritage property Conservation and Management Plan, at Mugga-Mugga Cottage 2013 - 2018. This site and the grazing management method was commended to the Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment in Condition of Selected Natural Temperate Grassland sites in urban and peri-urban Canberra, pp37-38, Canberra 2014

• Designed, managed and co-delivered the public program Shadow Creatures, engaging families in native species, historical and contemporary land management, and language of the Darug people, Elizabeth Farm, Museums of History NSW, 2009

• Designed and delivered the public program A Colony Walk, in conjunction to Fiona Hall: Force Field, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney 2008

• Designed and delivered a visual art workshop for Primary School teachers focussed on works of art from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collection, including identification of plants endemic to the Sydney Basin, and incorporating language of the Gadigal clan of the Eora Nation, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2006

• Wrote, and delivered in-person lectures to up to 330 Secondary School Visual Art students, addressing the exhibitions Self-Portrait: Renaissance to contemporary, and the Archibald Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2006

• Wrote the introductory wall text for the exhibition Wolfgang Laib, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney 2005

• Wrote and co-delivered tours with Chadia Gedeon-Hajjar, a bilingual Arabic speaker, for Mona Hatoum: Over My Dead Body, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney 2005

• Established, and provide ongoing funding of the annual Critical Thinking Prize, awarded to a student who has demonstrated decision-making regarding environmental resources at Wenona Junior School, Sydney 2004 - current

• Volunteer Guide, Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Sydney 2000 - 2004

• Designed and co-supervised a multi-site, day-long excursion for Year 5 Primary students incorporating viewing of Australian Art at the Art Gallery of NSW, a study of Indigenous bush foods at the Botanic Gardens of Sydney, and a hands-on craft activity responding to the exhibition Fine Lines: works of ornamentation and decoration by Maningrida Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Wenona Junior School, Sydney 1999