Airport sculptures offered to council
Nine sculptures from Nelson Airport have been offered to the city council for public display.
In a report to the Nelson City Council’s community services committee yesterday, staff said the sculptures were surplus to requirements because they would not fit with the ‘‘significant modernising’’ of the airport.
The airport company, which is owned by the city council and Tasman District Council, had offered to gift the sculptures to the city provided the council took all nine.
The sculptures include The Happy Travellers with their Suitcases, at the entrance to the airport, The Rivers of the Region in the outdoor area near the cafe, the Goddess of Flight outside the terminal, and various sandstone sculptures throughout the airport grounds.
The sculptures have been endorsed by the council’s arts selection panel as being of artistic merit to display around the city.
Though there is no official valuation, the ‘‘informal figures’’ indicate the original purchase value of the sculptures to be close to $100,000.
Mayor Rachel Reese said art was very much a part of creating ‘‘great public spaces’’.
The location of the sculptures would be determined by Councillors Kate Fulton and Mel Courtney.
‘‘Councillor Fulton is our urban design champion, and she also has tertiary qualifications in the art field,’’ Reese said.
Tentative potential locations for the sculptures which were floated were in the CBD, in Tahunanui, or in the Railway Reserve.
Councillor Matt Lawrey backed the reserve as a venue, saying it was ‘‘kind of neglected’’ in terms of artworks.
‘‘I applaud Nelson Airport for coming to us with this idea. It’s great.
‘‘I look forward to seeing the artworks in public spaces, and once again say the Railway Reserve needs some public art.’’
Councillor Brian McGurk was concerned that a similar offer had not been made to the Tasman District Council.
‘‘It’s a nice offer, but has a similar offer been made to the TDC? Them being a 50 per cent shareholder,’’ he said.
It was not yet clear if such an offer had been made, and Councillor Ian Barker emphasised the need to check that the TDC had been consulted.
‘‘I don’t want us to get into a political bind,’’ he said.
Council staff said they would confirm with the airport that an offer had been made to the TDC, but in the interim the offer had been accepted.
‘‘It is a generous gift, and I think we should accept this gracefully,’’ Reese said.
Fulton said the the gift of the sculptures was a ‘‘lovely opportunity to bring some art into our city’’, though she thought they may be missed at the airport.
The staff report said council officers were in early discussions with airport management on a partnership to create a new airport gateway sculpture.