Public Art Fabricator
Owen Craven
Owen is a highly experienced Curator and Arts Industry Specialist with a diverse career working across the industry but with a long history as a Public Art Consultant. He has worked with UAP for 8 years across range of projects managing a broad range of project stakeholders including clients, artists, and councils. In his current role as Managing Principal, Owen leads the business development and curatorial and design teams for Australia and the Middle East.
As Senior Curator, he works closely with artists as they create work in response to specific projects and places. He has extensive experience in the visual arts sector and understands the importance of working through the creative process collaboratively to help artists realise their creative vision. He brings a strong and nuanced voice on behalf of commissioning clients and design teams to support the creative direction of public art.
Owen spearhead’s the UAP studios, where he oversees the vision and implementation of a diverse range of projects alongside a team of curators and designers from UAP’s Australian studios. Owen has worked with a variety of clients including Charter Hall, CBUS, Lendlease, Mirvac, Investa, Dexus and ISPT developing strategies and artwork programs for public and private commercial and mixed-use places. He has led projects including Emily Floyd’s Jackalope for Jackalope Hotels, Reko Rennie’s Stolen Generation Marker in Melbourne, and Nike Savvas’ Papillon for Barangaroo Development Authority in Sydney. He has overseen the successful creative direction for Capital Metro in Canberra, Tun Razak Exchange in Kuala Lumpur, 60 Martin Place in Sydney, and 447 Collins Street in Melbourne.
With 16+ years of experience in the Visual Arts industry, Owen has developed a mixture of curatorial and artist project management experience. Immediately prior to joining UAP, he was the Editor of Artist Profile and Art Almanac magazines. In these roles, Owen curated several significant group exhibitions that toured both nationally and internationally. He holds a Bachelor of Arts (Art History and Theory) from the University of Sydney.
UAP work with artists and creatives to deliver artworks and design solutions all over the world. They start by listening, and see potential in every idea. The project teams are made up of curators, designers and specialist craftspeople, all united in the goal of realising and delivering authentic creative visions. UAP will work with artists to workshop ideas, develop concepts, create models and renders, investigate materials, explore ways to physically build ambitious ideas, and problem solve challenges that arise along the way - whilst always upholding the creative intent and honouring the artistic vision.
From the artist's initial idea to design or fabrication, the team can be engaged at any stage of the process no matter the size, budget or complexity, if you need assistance realising your vision UAP can help you find a creative solution. UAP collaborates with artists to support their exploration of ideas, extend their practice, and deliver artwork into galleries and the public realm. UAP offers an extensive range of specialist expertise to artists from Design Assist that explores material and fabrication options; artwork visualisations and costings; to Technical Design, Fabrication, Installation and Project Management services.