ABOUT THE GALLERY

The National Gallery is one of Australia’s leading visual arts institutions. The National Gallery is based in Canberra and is a vital part of the Australian cultural landscape. Our Purpose is to collect, preserve, promote and share the national collection of art. The Vision of the National Gallery is to be the international reference point for art in Australia, inspiring all people to explore, experience and learn. Our Values include Boldness, Integrity, Respect and Excellence.

WORKING AT THE GALLERY

When you work at the National Gallery you will be exposed to some of the world’s leading Australian and international art and artists. We are located in the National triangle on the waterfront and your lunchtimes can be spent in our beautiful sculpture garden or around Lake Burley Griffin.

We support flexible working practices, including working from home, and you will have access to low-cost, onsite car parking.

The National Gallery is committed to the health, safety and wellbeing of our people and we expect our people to share this commitment and work safely at all times.

We value the contribution that a diverse workforce brings and encourage people from a diverse background to apply. This might include identifying as First Nations peoples, people with a disability, culturally and linguistically diverse people and LGBTQIA+ people.

WHAT YOU WILL GAIN FROM THE EXPERIENCE - OVERVIEW OF THE ROLE

The Senior Conservator, Textiles will lead a small team of conservators and a technician to manage all aspects of the care of the textiles within the national collection and on loan to the gallery.

The National Collection has an exciting and diverse collection of textiles with feature holdings in Southeast Asian textiles, costume and fashion and Ballet Russe Costumes. The Gallery is also passionate on developing a contemporary textile collection and as a leader in lending, touring and exhibiting traditional and contemporary art, this role will play a key role in meeting these requirements. To achieve this, you will work closely with a wide variety of internal stakeholders, borrowers and clients. This role also provides advice on the storage of the textile collection and designing, manufacturing and managing the unique display systems for the textile collection. This position will be responsible for working with contractors for complex works of art in the collection such as the Skywhale hot air balloons. This role will provide information on textiles and their history to the gallery community.

This position reports to the Head of Conservation and is responsible for managing staff, research, resources, and the workflow through the Textile Section to manage the permanent collection and to meet the Gallery’s exhibition, touring and lending program. This position of Senior Conservator, Textiles is an ongoing full-time role with the conservation team.

ELIGIBILITY:

Citizenship – To be eligible for employment with the Gallery, you must be an Australian citizen.

Police Check – to be eligible for this role you must complete a police check.

Security Assessment: – The successful applicant will be required to obtain and maintain a Baseline security clearance. Loss of a security clearance at any time will lead to termination of employment.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION - Qualifications, Certifications and Registrations

Role specific mandatory qualifications certification and/or registrations include:

Tertiary qualification in the conservation of cultural materials

Drivers Licence

Accurate colour vision excellent manual dexterity and the ability to lift, climb ladders and use tools and equipment.

Physical capability to undertake the duties of this role

HOW TO APPLY

To apply for this role please go to the National Gallery's Careers portal.

You should provide a tailored CV (maximum of three pages) along with a statement of no more than two pages that outlines your skills, capabilities and experience, against the information above.

In your statement response you should keep in mind the capabilities and behaviours required to be successful for this role, as identified in the information above. Try not to duplicate information that can be found in your CV but do highlight any specific examples or achievements that demonstrate your ability to perform the role.

An order of merit may be established from this selection process and may be used to fill future identical vacancies over the next 12 months. Selection may be based on application and referee reports only. If you do not wish to be added to an order of merit, please notify us in your application.