John McPhee In Conversation with Robert Baines

Join us for a conversation with artist-goldsmith Robert Baines, and art historian John McPhee, who will discuss Baines’ celebrated creative practice, where the ancient and the contemporary collide, coalesce and confound.

Robert Baines OAM is widely regarded as Australia’s foremost artist-goldsmith expert. He is an internationally recognised artist, a leading scholar in archaeometallurgy and a prominent voice in contemporary craft.  In 2010, the Australian Design Centre named Baines a Living Treasure: Master of Australian Craft; and he was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for his service to the creative arts, particularly as a jeweller, and to education, in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List. His work is held in prestigious collections worldwide including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra. 

John McPhee was Founding Curator of Australian Decorative Arts, 1980 – 1986, and Senior Curator of Australian Art, 1986 – 1992, at the National Gallery of Australia, and Deputy Director at the National Gallery of Victoria, 1992 – 1996. In 1988 he curated a history of Australian decorative arts, 1788 – 1988, at the National Gallery of Australia.  In 1996 he established his own business working as a curator, art advisor and writer. He is the author of books and numerous articles on Australian art, decorative, folk and popular arts.

 

Image: Robert Baines, Yellow Giraffe, bracelet (detail) 2012. Image courtesy of the artist.

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Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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