Portion of city’s public art lost or spoiled
Some of Palmerston North’s public art works have been lost and others were spoiled while the city council failed to maintain a complete register and conservation plan.
Only one of a set of six woven wool and animal skin hangings created in 1979 remains in the council chamber. Mystery surrounds the fate of the other five.
In The Square, only five of an original set of nine pouwhenua marking Te Marae O Hine remain standing, and their condition is deteriorating.
Libraries and community services arts co-ordinator Gillian Tasker said the problems highlighted the need to have a formal register of public art works and a plan to look after them.
Tasker was employed to carry out a stocktake of the council’s art works, excluding those managed by Te Manawa, after a Taxpayers Union survey indicated only 5.5 per cent of the city’s public art was on display, including 10 public sculptures. She identified 412 works of art, memorials and murals at the library, archives, civic administration and other buildings and public spaces, with 70 per cent of them on public display.
But information about them was ‘‘scattered across a range of sources’’, there was an inconsistent level of care, and most had not been revalued for some time. There were 42 works that fitted the definition of ‘‘significant’’ and should be the initial focus of plans to ensure they were looked after.
Tasker said her research had been unsuccessful in discovering what had happened to the five wall hangings. They were created for the civic centre in 1979 by David Waterman and Terry Archer. Former mayor Mark Bell-booth said he remembered the council chamber having a paint job between his election and inauguration in 2001, and wondered whether they were taken away then.
Tasker said there was a possibility they had deteriorated beyond hope of repair, but that could not be confirmed.
Tasker said there were also gaps in maintenance. The public sculptures jointly paid for by the Palmerston North Public Sculpture Trust all came with transfer agreements, but only five had detailed maintenance schedules. The council’s city networks staff cleaned memorials in The Square and some were coated with antigraffiti sealant.
‘‘Lack of a plan covering the conservation and maintenance requirements for the artworks leaves them at risk of damage or deterioration.’’
The council’s arts, culture and heritage committee has agreed there should be conservation plans for the art, but a budget for the cost of maintenance work would have to be referred to next year’s review of the Long Term Plan.