Bill Milbank Selected Works

In honour of Bill Milbank (b.1948, d.2023) this selection of works from the Sarjeant Gallery collection is from the recent exhibition ‘Bill Milbank: Selected Works’ displayed at Sarjeant on the Quay, August to October 2022. Milbank was the Gallery’s director 1978-2006 and during his tenure he developed facets of the Gallery’s programming and collecting that remain cornerstones of what we do today. These artworks, selected in collaboration with Milbank, demonstrate four of these facets: his commitment to forming and nurturing relationships with artists; the evolution of the series of site-specific dome installations; the artist-in-residence programme at Tylee Cottage; and an early commitment to showing and collecting contemporary work by Māori artists. Milbank’s tenure as director was, as he stated, “a time of collaboration and facilitation” on his part. In Curator Greg Donson’s words: “Rest in peace dear Bill, you’ll always be with us, stitched into the stone, present in the dome, and in the bays of the Gallery wings.”