ABOUT US

Sherryl Ryan was a professional artist born in Melbourne.  Initially studying an an interdisciplinary arts education degree at Rusden State College in dance, drama, media studies and visual art, she continued to study Fine Art at RMIIT majoring in painting under Jon Cattapan and Peter Ellis from 1980-84.  Moving to Sydney in 1988 she studied Post Grad Fine Art majoring in painting at the College of Fine Art, UNSW in Sydney. 


Sherryl worked at the Australia Council for the Arts while practising as a professional artist exhibiting at Linden Gallery, Lawrence Wilson Gallery in WA, Art Hotline an Artist Run Initiative, Australian Centre for Photography, MCA, The Physics Room Christchurch NZ, Te Tehu Manakau Auckland NZ amongst others. 


Her art work moved from painting to installation working with media such as polymer pegs, worms, soil, tonnes of wood, and more recently cancer cells through a residency at the National Breast Cancer Foundation in 2010 then with the Garvan Institute with Associate Professor Chris J Ormandy and Dr David Gallego-Ortega, Researcher with the Mammary Cancer Group.


Included in her new artwork was Culture at Work, an art work in the form of an arts organisation that linked art and health through residencies for artists connecting with research with health sciences.


In 2001 Sherryl was employed at the Art Gallery of New South Wales as an art educator while studying a Masters in Gifted Education at UNSW.  In 2003 as Outreach Coordinator at the AGNSW Sherryl created Artside-in! an out reach program for disadvantaged secondary students which involved travelling to schools, inviting the schools to the Gallery plus a mentorship component with artists coming in to work with students.


In 2004 she developed the Da Vinci Project for under achieving gifted and talented children – a 3 hour program linking higher order thinking with the museum visit and a workshop component.  Sherryl developed a pre and post museum visit learning component, to make the visit to the Gallery more meaningful and engaging.


A Telstra Community grant was awarded to Sherryl at the Art Gallery of NSW, for the purpose of researching and creating a gifted program for Indigenous children which was called Manioo. The program design included Indigenous artists who came to work with the students in the Gallery and to talk about their stories. The children had the opportunity to participate in art workshops run by the Indigenous artists in the Yirribana Gallery at UNSW.


In 2006 Sherryl was an artist and Deputy Project Coordinator (consultant) on an ASISTM grant project at UNSW with Professor Karen Rogers, the project was called IdEAS, Interdisciplinary Enrichment Art and Science and was created and delivered over two years across the Powerhouse Museum, the Australian Museum, and Object Gallery, and included artists who work with Scientists.  The project became an exemplary case study for the Curriculum Corporation in Melbourne and was presented at the Curriculum Corporation Conference: Taking Bearings 21st Century in Melbourne. Sherryl’s pre and post museum visit model was used in this project.


Sherryl was invited to develop the Strategic Plan for Education at Object Gallery and then created Cultivate8 - the first arts education program at Object.  Cultivate8 focussed on including local schools and the community through walking tour maps that featuring the design and studios in the local area leading to Object. Cultivate8 was awarded many grants including an Ian Potter Foundation grant, Trust grant and John T Reid Charitable trust grant. 


In 2008 Sherryl founded CULTURE AT WORK ™ (CAW), in the former Object studios in Pyrmont, to encourage artist residencies that would link health and research organisations to community and encourage engagment with art. Evening talks, family workshops and programs for adults were linked to the residencies and exhibition programs.  Artists worked with neuroscience/alzheimers, physics and silk microchips, and breast cancer researchers.  Through CULTURE AT WORK ™ Sherryl was invited by the State Library of NSW to create an arts program based on the collection and research that includes playwriting and drama performance for Year5 & 6 children.


In 2011 Sherryl was studying a research degree at the University of Sydney withProfessor Robyn Ewing, Dept Social Work and Education and with Professor Ross Gibson Sydney College of the Arts–the research thesis linkedart, creativity, Vygosky’s zone of proximal development and Cultural Bouyancy.  The aim was to work as artist/researcher and educator to develop new initiatives linking art innovation and creativity in education.  In 2011 Sherryl presented at the National Institute of Experimental Arts (NIEA) Experimental Arts Main Conference at the University of New South Wales ‘ArtUnder the Microscope–artist and scientist observing cancer histology through a double headed compound microscope’.



Ivana Jirásek

Curator 2015 - 2020

I had the privilege of working at CULTURE AT WORK ™ as a part-time curator between 2015 -2020.  It proved to be one of the most satisfying experiences of my 40+ years working life: letting me freely apply my original training in science and subsequent training in curatorship in equal measure, as I supported curious artists through their creative exploration with science.  I’d already been interested in CULTURE AT WORK ™ a few years before its launch through meetings Sherryl had with my colleagues at the Australia Council for the Arts. Of the 400 or so organisations Artsupport Australia (our unit) mentored, a couple genuinely stood out. Among them was CULTURE AT WORK ™ with its bold vision and independence. Sherryl worked hard to establish her progressive art/science/education think-tank, integrating her deep interests, expertise and vision – and carefully guided its evolution.


I worked with Sherryl to select residency artists, and oversaw their short creative exchanges with mathematicians, musicians, lighting academics, neuroscientists, chemists, biologists, anthropologists, specialists in climate change, thermodynamics, digital technologies, acoustics, hearing and taste, synaesthesia, oysters, and recycling. The projects were original, and formed the basis of work the artists would often explore long after their residencies. A few artists with long-term studios provided a very supportive creative continuum for these residency artists, school communities and others who flowed through the small campus.  Being an artist herself, with unique training, teaching and academic experience, Sherryl understood the creative process well and believed in the power of creative play and collaboration. Bringing all these elements into the CULTURE AT WORK ™ model, she successfully empowered many artists, and stimulated respect and interest in the art/science interface. Essentially, Sherryl’s creative experiment worked, and still continues through its talented alumni.  Despite the cruel hand that took Sherryl away from us too soon – I know her spirit remains with the CULTURE AT WORK ™ community she built, quietly guiding its best creative presence.

Board of Directors

Board Member

Bruce Milthorpe

BA(Hons 1), PhD, GradDipHEd. FBSE, GAICD, FRSN

Non-Executive Director, Chair, Culture at Work

Appointed to Board Nov 2013, appointed chair 2014.

Bruce Milthorpe is chair of the Board for Culture at Work and has been a director at the Sydney Institute of Marine Science, non-executive director of Insearch (now UTS College), and three companies. His interests include the interaction of science and art and how these may help with improving the environment, both physical and social.  Emeritus Professor Milthorpe was the Dean, Faculty of Science at the University of Technology Sydney from late 2008 to August 2016. He is a graduate with a BA in Biology and Chemistry from Macquarie University, a PhD in Physical Biochemistry from ANU and a Graduate Diploma in Higher Education from UNSW.  He has 40 years’ experience in biomedical engineering looking at the interation between the body and the materials used for implants. He has 25 years senior leadership experience in tertiary education, including 6 years as UNSW Branch President of the National Tertiary Education Union.  In 2004 he was elected a Fellow Biomaterials Science and Engineering, and in 2014 he was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society New South Wales. He is a graduate member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Board Member

Christobel Ferguson is a leader in the environment and water sector managing interdisciplinary teams to solve complex problems and provide the evidence base for innovative water policy, planning and resource management. She is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors and has a PhD in environmental modelling from UNSW, and an MSc and B Appl Sc in Biomedicine from the University of Technology Sydney. 

Board Member

Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger

Lea Kannar-Lichtenberger is an artist, writer and presenter who works tirelessly to increase the community’s awareness surrounding the impact of tourism in environmentally sensitive areas of our planet. Her artworks have been exhibited here and around the globe. Her writings have been published in peer-reviewed journals and a book. She has a Master of Contemporary Art and a Master of Fine Art from Sydney College of the Arts. She has previously been a board member of MAANZ and the Shell Employees Credit Union.

Company Secretary

Ann Bartlett

Master of Economics (Social Science)

Ann has more than 30 years experience in small business including start-up, day-to-day office management and the management of staff and finances. She has also worked in the public sector for federal and state tourism marketing bodies, where her responsibilities included the development and implementation of marketing strategy; compilation and analysis of marketing and financial reports; staff recruitment, training and supervision. Other responsibilities included the research, writing, and editing of publications and web site content.

 

Ann has completed a Master of Economics at the University of Sydney with a particular focus on corporate social responsibility. She keeps up to date with issues affecting the NFP sector and best practice governance through ongoing training with the ACNC and the Governance Institute. Other areas of interest include Japanese language and cultural studies, and Oceanic and indigenous art.

FORMER DIRECTORS:


  • Kathryn Adler
  • Christine Allen
  • Ian Burton
  • Sue Carrick
  • Dr Jules Crowley
  • Stacy Flanagan
  • Mark Grosser
  • Dr Lionel King
  • Aaron Massingham
  • Joanne Proud
  • James Richard
  • Abigail Richardson
  • Nancie Lee Robinson
  • Liz Rowell
  • Emeritus Prof. Christina Slade
  • Maree Whybourne

OTHER SUPPORTERS:


  • The Leonardos including Peter and Eva Missingham, Rita Tratt, Catherine Crawford
  • Friends of Culture at Work
  • Pro bono legal advice on establishment Freehills
  • Pro bono auditing services EY (Ernst and Young)
  • Ivana Jirasek, curator
  • Chris Packer,designer & printer

GRANTS RECEIVED WITH THANKS:


  • James Kirby Foundation
  • City of Sydney
  • State Street and United Way
  • The Star Sydney
  • Lord Mayors Salary Trust
  • Arts NSW
  • Christmas in Pyrmont
  • Community Underwriting-Small Grants program
  • Google
  • Inspiring Australia award by the Australian Government through the Department ofIndustry, Innovation, Science, Research
  • Australian Government Department of Business STEM grant-Maker Space project

RESEARCH COMMITTEE (CURRENT):


  • Dr Trevor Bird
  • Sherryl Ryan (dec)


RESEARCH COMMITTEE (FORMER):


  • Julie Brooke
  • Angela Chessman
  • Dr Lee-Anne Hall
  • Joyce Hinterding
  • Dr Katherine Hoekman
  • Prof. Karen Rogers
  • Fiona Smith

CULTURE AT WORK ™ Gallery (2008 to 2020)


CULTURE AT WORK ™ was an Artist-led Australian Research Institute. It was an art science creative hub with a mission and vision to connect art and science through artists and scientists to inspire future generations of creative thinkers through collaborations, studio residencies, exhibitions, public talks and public programs. Known as a ground breaking artist led initiative with a research committee of artists, scientists and educators.


From 2008 to 2019, CULTURE AT WORK ™ was housed in the historic Scott Street Terraces in Scott St Pyrmont. The building included purpose built facilities for the arts including studios, ACCELERATOR Gallery and workshop spaces and a large courtyard.