The Bermuda Arts Centre at Dockyard will be getting an infusion of new blood with their two most recent appointments.

The Arts Centre has appointed Lilla Zuill as the new development officer. The new position is, for Ms Zuill, rather like a `home-coming' since she's been involved with the Arts Centre since she was a student.

Both her parents were heavily involved with the Centre's development -- her father, artist Charles Zuill was a founding director and her mother, Lorraine Zinn spend time working at her looms in the studio and contributing as a volunteer.

Ms Zuill said she has been exposed to different artistic mediums since she was a child.

"I can remember watching slides in the art classes my Dad taught... it promoted my interest even though I did not know what I was seeing, although when I went to museums and galleries I could certainly relate to the work,'' she noted.

"I am not an artist, but I am definitely oriented that way and I have a real sensibility and appreciation for the arts. In our house, art was next to God in order of importance,'' she smiled.

Ms Zuill said her role as observer has helped her appreciate some of the subtle difference in the development of arts and the way we view them -- especially in the context of galleries.

"In my opinion, there are some interesting differences between European galleries and galleries in New York and Chicago, for example,'' she noted.

"The North American galleries are generally smaller and seem to allow artist to try out new concepts, particularly in the area of performance art.

"Art should stand on its own and at the same time have a sense of dialogue with the viewer. This allows the viewer to enter an artist's thought process and is then a source of visual information.'' Ms Zuill's immediate plans are focused on getting Gallery Two into the best physical shape possible, in hopes of eventually setting up a programme for school children, a reading room/library and a print workshop.

Shona Ashmore was a human resource manager at the age of 23. Now, she's putting her skills to work as the new administrator/curator at the Arts Centre.

Boost for Arts Centre Although she does not have a formal art education, Mrs. Ashmore noted that her British education and years at university have equipped her with an understanding of the arts.

Mrs. Ashmore sees art as a type of "problem solving'' in the sense that a finished work is a reflection of how the artist responded to a creative challenge.

When Mrs. Ashmore first arrived in Bermuda, she first joined the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society, later becoming a volunteer at the National Gallery.

Mrs. Ashmore's new position at the Arts Centre will employ her human resource skills, which she honed while working as a Staff Support Officer for the United Nations.

And years of retail experience will also help her develop the Art Centre's merchandise shop.

But she said her major focus at the Arts Centre is to expand and mobilise the volunteer force.

"I would like to have a real cross section of people as volunteers. I feel we need a variety of skills, different personalities and varied backgrounds -- we certainly don't want to have only artists,'' she said.