MEDIA RELEASE
For immediate release
14 December 2006
Joanne Drayton Named 2007 National Library Fellow
Art historian Joanne Drayton has been named National Library Research Fellow for 2007.
Dr Drayton will use the $45,000 fellowship, which is awarded annually for research use of the Alexander Turnbull
Library's resources, to research and write a biography of Ngaio Marsh, which integrates books, theatrical triumphs, and
her painting career.
'Ngaio Marsh is a fascinating and complex woman who remains an elusive figure,' said Dr Drayton. 'It seems that the
woman who was larger than life during her life has been somewhat lost and will be lost in perpetuity if she is not
re-examined. A lively, informative book for a broader audience is begging to be researched and written.'
Joanne Drayton was born in Balclutha and lived her early years in Invercargill. She was educated in Christchurch, where
she graduated from the University of Canterbury with a PhD in 2000. She is the author of Edith Collier Her Life and
Work, 1885-1964, Rhona Haszard: an expatriate New Zealand artist, and Frances Hodgkins: a private viewing, and
contributed a chapter to Deborah Shepard's Between the Lives: partners in art.
In association with the Sarjeant Gallery and Hocken Library, Dr Drayton has curated exhibitions of Collier's and
Haszard's work that have toured the country. In 2006, she curated two shows at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery which
included the work of Frances Hodgkins, DK Richmond and Edith Collier. She has published papers on art history and theory
and has lectured and taught since 1981. She is currently a senior lecturer in the UNITEC School of Design.
Dr Drayton will take up her fellowship in mid-March.
ENDS