Fresh face for art gallery
The closed doors of Te Manawa’s art gallery are set to reopen and the trio tasked to make that happen will breathe a sigh of relief.
Te Manawa was forced to fast track its planned 10-month closure and art gallery refurbishment when the Palmerston North City Council last month retracted funding and enforced an opening date of September 29.
Public concern about the long closure time was at the centre of the council’s decision and the project was scaled back to include only essential works rather than a more extensive refurbishment, which included asbestos removal.
Three Te Manawa staff were tasked with fronting the project, and exhibition developer and senior designer Rohan Kidd said they all put their heads together to come up with a plan.
‘‘As a trio we quickly glued our brains together and figured out how we could get the different spaces operating better,’’ she said.
‘‘We decided to still be aspirational but realistic at the same time.
‘‘There are now lots of improvements that will serve us well going into the future.’’
Public feedback was that Te Manawa’s extensive art collection was not being utilised enough and collection manager Toni Edmeades said she felt satisfied those concerns had been met.
‘‘The changes that we have made have allowed a new way in for the collection. All five spaces have collection works at their core and that is just fabulous. And it is what people have been asking for, it’s neat to try and deliver on that.’’
Gallery two now has two recreated painting store racks that will be dedicated to a rotating display of collection pieces. Kidd said the space had also been brought up-to-date with digital information technology.
Kidd said the overall technical capacity of the art gallery had been extended and he looked forward to seeing people’s reactions to the introduction of a space dedicated to projections.
Gallery four will now show the collection’s works on paper that have been newly photographed and archived as projections.
An activity space for younger visitors is also a new addition with some bespoke designed furniture.
The upstairs gallery will be dedicated to an exhibition of photographs from female photographers, held in the collection, to celebrate the 125th anniversary of Women’s Suffrage.