Dr Rebecca Rice

Now an historical art curator, Rebecca's interest in Art History and eventual PhD in the subject started with a single undergraduate course.

After a brief stint as a physiotherapist, I returned to academic studies at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington in my mid-twenties, thinking I would pursue a career in music. However, one Art History course 'taken for interest’ soon changed all that. The course, taught by a group of inspired teachers, opened my eyes to a breadth of artistic production, considered in the light of the threads that connect cultures across time and space.

This is something I love about art history, the fact that it is a discipline in its own right, one that requires you to reach across boundaries, to learn more about history, philosophy, religion, and politics, for example, in order that you might be better equipped to deal with the art itself. In this way, art history expands your mind. It hones your research skills as well as your powers of critical thinking.

In my postgraduate studies, I chose to focus on New Zealand’s art history. I realised that doing so provided me with a means to better understand our own culture and its history. It also meant that the objects of my study were tangible. I could look at them firsthand, I could access the archives (those lovely pages of often indecipherable text with their particular smell) and feel like I was making an original contribution to the art history of this place.

During this time I began tutoring and lecturing, and was appointed collection manager for the Adam Art Gallery, looking after the Victoria University of Wellington art collection as well as assisting in the preparation and installation of exhibitions for the University’s Gallery. Together, my research and these roles equipped me to apply for the position of curator of historical New Zealand art at Te Papa. It was invaluable having the practical, hands-on experience that working with a collection offered along with the intellectual rigour required of a PhD in Art History.

Art History is an area of study that enables you to be involved with what’s happening in the art world in your particular moment. The more you look and think, the more you learn. My best advice would be to get involved. Go to galleries and museums, volunteer at them, get a part-time job in one if you can. Talk about what you see, argue about it, write about it. Look, and look some more.