Sue Walker, 1977

Sue Walker (b. 1936) is a weaver and arts administrator. After studying fine arts in Melbourne she began her professional career as a weaver in London. When she returned to Australia she started weaving classes at the Melbourne CAE and workshops at Melbourne and Monash universities. In 1976, when she had been weaving for about 15 years, she took up an appointment as founding Director of the Victorian government's new Victorian Tapestry Workshop. One of only seven such workshops in the world at the time, it won its first international commission in the first months of its operation. Since then Walker has been credited with creating a highly profitable international export market for Australian tapestries, and she has become a highly respected arts executive, holding senior positions on a number of boards and committees. She is shown here with a tapestry based on paintings by Richard Lartner, in a photograph Morley took for POL to accompany a piece entitled 'Success looms for Victorian Tapestry Workshop'.

Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program