Grace Cochrane is senior curator of Australian decorative arts and design at the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia. Since starting there in 1988 she has had a key responsibility for the development of the holdings of contemporary Australian crafts and design, has worked on numerous exhibitions within the museum and is currently co-ordinating teams developing a permanent collection-based decorative arts and design gallery for mid- 2005 and a major exhibition on the theme of design, industry and the handmade, in 2006.
Born in New Zealand, Grace Cochrane has a background in both art and education. She gained a B.Ed (1976) from the Tasmanian College of Advanced Education, and BFA, MFA (1984, 1986) and PhD (1999) from the University of Tasmania. Her professional appointments have included membership of both the Crafts Board and the Visual Arts Board of the Australia Council.
She is the author of the The Crafts Movement in Australia: a History (NSW University Press, 1992); has contributed to a number of other publications; given lectures and papers in all fields of the crafts; and has a long record of judging awards, opening exhibitions and assessing graduating students. Following exhibition and collection research in SE Asia in 1994 she co-ordinated museum training workshops for ASEAN museum professionals in Malaysia in 1995. She received the Australia Council's Visual Arts/Craft Board's Emeritus medal in 2001.
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