Victoria Pomery Turner Contemporary Director Awarded Diamond OBE

It was announced this morning that Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary has been awarded an OBE for services to the arts. The award recognises her outstanding contribution over the past 10 years to Turner Contemporary and the wider arts in East Kent. Since 2002, Victoria has overseen the extraordinary development of Turner Contemporary culminating in the gallery’s opening in April last year.  In the early years Victoria advocated for the gallery regionally and nationally and undertook an in depth body of audience development work which included new commissions and exhibitions in and around Margate.
 
Victoria was a member of the panel that selected Sir David Chipperfield to construct the gallery in 2006 and worked closely with the architects to ensure that the building would fulfil the organisation’s needs. In addition, Victoria provided the artistic vision and leadership for the organisation as it expanded and moved into the new gallery.  Victoria is actively engaged in the visual arts regionally and nationally.  Recently she was on the panel which selected Jeremy Deller to represent the UK at the next Venice Biennale.  She is a board member of Strange Cargo and is a member of the Arts Council England, South East Visual Arts Strategy Group and plays an active role in the Plus Tate network.
 
John Kampfner, Chair Turner Contemporary, said ‘For more than a decade, Victoria has worked to bring the dream of Turner Contemporary to reality. She has done so with artistic vision, with tenacity and with a great understanding of the social and economic benefits that culture-led regeneration can bring. This honour is deserved recognition for an arts leader of which Britain can feel proud.’ Victoria Pomery, Director Turner Contemporary, said ‘I am surprised and thrilled to have received this award. The past 10 years has been an amazing personal journey and I am so grateful to all my colleagues, friends and family who have supported me in developing Turner Contemporary.’

Taking inspiration from JMW Turner, Turner Contemporary is a contemporary arts organisation that aims to enhance the understanding and enjoyment of historical and contemporary art with a dynamic and diverse international programme of exhibitions and events. Turner Contemporary is based in Margate, Kent. On show at Turner Contemporary She Lay Down Deep Beneath the Sea: Tracey Emin at Turner Contemporary 26 May 2012 – 23 September 2012 Tracey Emin’s first major solo exhibition at Turner Contemporary is conceived specially for Margate, where Emin grew up and which has provided inspiration for many of her most famous art works.

Rodin: The Kiss 4 October 2011-2 September 2012 Turner Contemporary is proud to announce Auguste Rodin’s life-size marble sculpture The Kiss (1901-04) will be installed in the Sunley Gallery. The exhibition explores the themes of love, sensuality and romanticism in Emin’s oeuvre, featuring both new and existing works including drawings, monoprints, sculptures and neons. The exhibition’s central themes will continue in a display of paintings, sketches and watercolours of erotic subjects by Tracey Emin as well as JMW Turner and Auguste Rodin, whose iconic sculpture The Kiss is on show at Turner Contemporary until 2 September 2012. On loan from the Tate collection and one of the most iconic images of sexual love, The Kiss was voted the nation’s favourite work of art in a 2003 poll. The embracing couple come from a true thirteenth century story of forbidden love, which was immortalised in Dante’s Inferno and by many artists since.

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