Declan McGonagle

Declan McGonagle is a prominent figure in Irish contemporary art, most notable for his positions as director at the Orchard Gallery in Derry director at the Irish Museum of Modern Art from its beginnings in 1990 until 2001, and director of the National College of Art and Design, Dublin since 2008. He has stated that he is committed to raising the profile of Irish art internationally. According to his profile on the National College of Art and Design website, he is a contributing editor of Artforum, New York, and a member of the International Advisory Panel of Engage, London, and is a former board member of Derry UK City of Culture 2013, having worked on the bid document and chaired the interim board. He writes, lectures and publishes regularly on art and museumgallery policy issues, and curates exhibitions with a focus on the relationship between artartist and society.

McGonagle was born in Derry in 1953 and attended St Columbs College in Derry. He studied Fine Art at the College of Art and Design in Belfast , where he also completed a Postgraduate Higher Diploma in Painting in 1976. In the mid seventies and early eighties he worked as a painter and a lecturer of Art and Design at the Regional Technical College, Letterkenny, County Donegal before he took up the post of director at the newly established Orchard Gallery in County Londonderry.

Source: Wikipedia