Dr Una Rey

Dr. Una Rey completed undergraduate studies in Fine Art at Charles Darwin University (formerly NTU) in 1995 and worked in the Aboriginal art sector for over a decade, including five years managing Indigenous community art centres in Central Australia and on the Tiwi Islands. In 2006 she moved to Newcastle where she completed her PhD in 2009 on cross-cultural painting practices. Rey is currently convenor of the B.Creative Industries Degree and has been teaching art history at UON since 2008. She also works as an independent arts writer, curator and painter.

Research Expertise
Key research interests include Australian art history and contemporary art practice with an emphasis on painting, cross-cultural engagements, curatorial and museum studies, art criticism and feminism. In 2017 she was awarded the Australian and New Zealand Art History Association award for the best peer-reviewed essay, Women's Business: Cross-cultural collaborations in remote Indigenous art centres.

Teaching Expertise
Rey is involved in the development and delivery of interdisciplinary courses in the B. Creative Industries Degree and has taught into art history and studio subjects in the B.Fine Arts Degree including Critical Studies, Museology, Professional Practice, Australian Art, Contemporary Art Issues, Aesthetics, Analysis of the Visual Image, Writing & Art Theory & Drawing. Her supervision areas include Australian art (Aboriginal and non-Indigenous ), cross-cultural engagements,  landscape memoir, narrative, abstraction and women's art histories. In 2011 Rey wrote a series of lectures for Adelaide University and the Art Gallery of South Australia for the online Indigenous Art graduate diploma.

Administrative Expertise
Arts administration and academic  management; curatorial and project management skills; Office, Excel, SAM database, Mac & PC.

Curatorial Experience
Una Rey curated the exhibition Black White & Restive: cross-cultural initiatives in Australian contemporary art at Newcastle Art Gallery (26 May - 7 August 2016). Her work was supported with an Independent Curator's Grant of $12,020 from Museums & Galleries NSW and the exhibition catalogue won its category in the Australian and New Zealand Art History Association's annual prize. Black White & Restive was built on collaborative research with the University of Wollongong addressing Indigenous and non-Indigenous artist's engagements with Aboriginal art-forms since the mid-20th century. Rey coordinated the opening day symposium of guest speakers exploring the challenges of cross-cultural collaboration, appropriation, ethics and influence in Australian contemporary cultural practices.

In 2011 Rey curated Speaking in Colour at Newcastle Art Gallery drawing exclusively on the Gallery's collection to highlight the innovative and distinct  conceptions of colour in diverse Aboriginal communities. The Ntaria Suite of 27 Hermannsburg watercolours purchased by the Gallery from the collection of T.G.H Strehlow were a feature of the exhibition, which was attended by Lenie Namatjira and Ivy Pareroultja, artists and descendants of the original Hermannsburg painters.