Derek Huggins (23 July 1940 – 19 July 2021) opened Gallery Delta in 1975 with his wife Helen Lieros for the promotion of contemporary painting. He managed the gallery up until his death in July 2021. When Huggins and his wife started Gallery Delta, he was concurrently the chief executive and founder of the National Arts Foundation from 1975 to 1988, and published Arts Rhodesia and Arts Zimbabwe. Between 1994 and 2002, he published Gallery, an art magazine to which he was a frequent contributor.
Since the 1990s, Gallery Delta has been in the former home of the Rhodesian landscape artist Robert Paul (1906–1980). The independent space has been involved in the curation, organisation, presentation, and promotion of approximately five-hundred exhibitions besides being invested in her own practice, Lieros and her husband dedicated most of their career teaching and mentoring generations of Zimbabwean painters. These include Berry Bickle, Greg Shaw, Lovemore Kambudzi, Portia Zvavahera , Moffat Takadiwa , Lois Meque , Cosmas Shiridzinonwa, Gina Maxim, Misheck Masamvu, Admire Kamudzengerere, Richard Mudariki, and many others.
Hellen Lieros was one of Zimbabwe’s most illustrious artists and had a career that spanned across six decades. In early 2021, Helen Lieros was honoured by the National Arts Council of Zimbabwe as a National Merits Awards Legend.
