Philip Thompson died in 1985, following which she continued as Director of the Gallery and organised successful exhibitions, particularly those that introduced the Sydney public to Shona stone sculpture.
Works were brought to Australia by Roy Guthrie, the founder of the Chapungu Sculpture Park and he introduced Celia to Tom Blomefield, a white farmer at Tengenenge in the north of Zimbabwe, who had created an artists' community of sculptors there.
She also promoted the international reputation of the leading artists by writing introductions to exhibition catalogues, giving television and radio interviews and seeking funding from private and government sponsors.
Winter-Irving maintained close contact with the Tengenenge Sculpture Community near Guruve, which she often visited and where she taught painting to the children of the sculptors who worked there.
When ill-health forced Winter-Irving to return to Sydney for treatment, she still managed to deliver a final lecture on Shona sculpture at the College of Fine Arts at the University of New South Wales on 23 April 2009, just a few months before her death from cancer.