After less than a year as executive director of The Reach, Sheila Perry has left her position at the gallery.
Perry began working at The Reach last year in June, taking over for the previous director, Suzanne Greening, who left to become director at Whistler’s new Audain Gallery.
Milt Walker, chair of the board of directors at The Reach, said Perry resigned recently for personal reasons.
For the time being, Laura Schneider, The Reach’s curator, will be acting executive director. Schneider is also new to The Reach, joining the staff in mid-January. The board will start a search for a new director, said Walker, but added that as The Reach has exhibits planned well in advance, it doesn’t have to be done immediately.
Perry is originally from B.C. and came to Abbotsford after working at the Woodstock Art Gallery in Woodstock, Ont., where she conducted an operational analysis, organized programming, and developed a business plan reporting on findings.
Previously, Perry was appointed in January 2009 as the director of The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John’s, N.L., where she remained until taking the Woodstock position.
She studied art history and classics at the University of Alberta, and went on to earn a master of museum studies from England’s University of Leicester.