Ms Fiona Salmon

Director, Flinders University Art Museum

College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

place Social Sciences North (007)
GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Fiona has worked in the cultural collections sector since 1998 including previous roles in management and research with Museums Australia (Victoria), the Cunningham Dax Collection and Maningrida Arts & Culture. Her work has also encompassed museum-based education as a regular contributor to courses on Aboriginal Art at Flinders University and the University of Adelaide (since 2009) and Guest Lecturer in Museology at the Reinwardt Academy, Amsterdam School of the Arts (2006). Before this Fiona worked alongside Rembarrnga and Dalabon speakers in the communities of Bulman and Beswick in southern Arnhem Land as a field linguist employed by the Katherine Regional Aboriginal Language Centre.

During her tenure at Flinders Fiona has led digital initiatives to transform collections access and engagement, she has been a driver of public art projects across the campus and champion of cross-disciplinary teaching and learning through art. Her exhibitions curated on behalf of the University include: Tradition and transformation in contemporary Aboriginal Art (2018); Truth & Beauty: The Australian botanical works of Ferdinand Bauer (2016) co-curated with Madeline Reece and Tony Kanellos and presented in partnership with the Museum of Economic Botany, Adelaide Botanic Garden; The Microscope Project (2014) co-curated with Madeline Reece; Spinifex Country (2013) co-curated with Heidi Pitman and presented in partnership with the South Australian Museum; Roads Cross: contemporary directions in Australian Art (2012) co-curated with Anita Angel and Vivonne Thwaites; Buffalo, Bird and Bandicoot (2010); and Gooch’s Utopia: collected works from the Central Desert (2008).

Fiona is a current member of the Academic Board, Adelaide Central School of Art, Chair of University Art Museums Australia, and alumnus of the Museums Australia – Gordon Darling Foundation Museum Leadership Program.

Qualifications

2003   Postgraduate Diploma of Museum Studies,  Deakin University, Melbourne

1997   Master of Arts (Applied Linguistics), University of Melbourne

1993   Bachelor of Arts - Honours, University of Melbourne

1991   Bachelor of Arts, University of Melbourne

Key responsibilities

Fiona oversees the development, documentation and care of the University’s art collection comprising some 8000 works. She is responsible for driving collections-based teaching, learning and research, and engaging the wider community through exhibitions, publications and associated programs.