Melanie O'Brian Appointed at the Belkin in Vancouver

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Melanie O'Brian

Melanie O’Brian has been appointed as the associate director and curator of the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery at UBC. She will also serve as acting director for 2022 as the Belkin continues to search for a permanent replacement for Scott Watson, who retired in 2021.

O’Brian will lead the gallery’s program of contemporary exhibitions and associated programming, as well as assist with the development of its permanent collection and archive, with a focus on acquiring work by women BIPOC artists.

"O’Brian has two decades of directorial and curatorial experience that reflects her abiding consideration of the historical, social and intellectual conditions of contemporary visual arts production, contextualizing a deep commitment to Vancouver’s cultural and intellectual practices within an international dialogue," the Belkin said in its announcement. "She has worked with emerging and established artists – both Canadian and international – including Stan Douglas, Omer Fast, Marianne Nicolson, Walid Raad, Krista Belle Stewart, Hito Steyerl and Althea Thauberger, as well as co-curated Maps and Dreams with Brian Jungen."

O’Brian was the director and curator of Simon Fraser University Art Galleries from 2012 to 2020. She has also worked as curator at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, director and curator at Artspeak in Vancouver and assistant curator at the Vancouver Art Gallery. She currently teaches curatorial studies at UBC and has also taught at Emily Carr University and Simon Fraser University. O’Brian received her MA in art history from the University of Chicago. 

The Belkin thanked Lorna Brown who served as associate director and curator from 2015 to 2021, stepping in twice as acting director.

"The Belkin has benefited greatly from Brown’s strong, consistent curatorial direction and strategic management of the gallery’s exhibitions, collections and publications over the past six and a half years," the Belkin said. "During her tenure at the Belkin, Brown was successful in acquiring and sustaining significant increases to annual funding, which supported a complete redevelopment of the Belkin website, a new collections database and online access to the collection and archive, and a renewal of the Belkin’s outward-facing presence through increased outdoor art programming and an exterior digital screen."

Source: Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery