Storage still an issue for gallery
An inner-city Invercargill arts centre won’t break ground before 2020, and meanwhile, the artworks may lose their temporary space.
Last year, the gallery secured the space on Don St for a ‘‘pop-up’’ exhibition for three weeks, and managed to extend that lease to two years.
That space is on the site pegged for the Invercargill Licensing Trust hotel.
At the Invercargill Public Art Gallery’s annual meeting on Thursday, president Dave Kennedy was questioned as to where the gallery could exhibit from once the popup exhibition space was no longer available.
Kennedy said the lease could be extended beyond two years, as it could be a length of time before the ILT was able to start construction.
The ILT had been supportive, he said.
‘‘There could be a longer-term collaboration, I think there could be other spaces we could move in to,’’ he said.
‘‘We were working with Jocelyn and Scott O’Donnell at one point, looking at one of their spaces, and they were really supportive.
‘‘I don’t think there’s a problem in terms of using a space to operate as an art gallery.
‘‘The big thing for us was actually looking for storage initially.’’
The gallery is now moving art from the house to the Invercargill Public Library and Archives.
Kennedy said the archives as an interim measure was useful, and was offered by the Invercargill City Council at no cost.
At the Don St space, the adjoining building could also be developed for the storage of some items, he said.
Until the temporary space was secured last year, the collection of 1000 items worth $4.2 million was largely locked away from the public eye since the closure of Anderson House, in 2014.
The house failed a seismic assessment when it was found to meet 12 per cent of the building standard.
At the gallery’s 2016 annual meet- ing, the conversation was dominated by a change of the name from Anderson Park Art Gallery to Invercargill Public Art Gallery.
The change was made to make securing funding easier, and because the collection could no longer be exhibited from the house.
Kennedy said at the last annual meeting, there was much uncertainty about where they were going to be.
‘‘Things are moving in a real positive direction and the whole community is onboard.’’
Speaking at Thursday’s meeting, manager and curator Sarah Brown said the shift of the collection had been delayed as they waited for shelving to be installed at the library.
The collection could be moved twice in the foreseeable future, from the house to the library, and then from the library to the new art centre after 2020.
However, the archives would not hold the whole collection. Brown is investigating contemporary storage, which may reduce storage space needed.
The gallery has already secured $20,000 from the heritage fund to assist with the move.
Guest speaker Janette Malcolm, who has led a public consultation on the future art centre, said construction could start in 2020 at the earliest.
Malcolm said there had been some divergence on whether the arts centre should be a new development, or in an existing city building.
People had said some of the city’s many empty buildings could be used, she said.
‘‘[But] it’s not as easy as you think, and not as cheap as you might think.’’
Malcolm said there had been reservations about the amalgamation of all of Southland’s art collections.
However, this was not a negative at all, Malcolm said.
‘‘Whilst you would want perhaps a collective oversight of how it’s being served and managed, that doesn’t mean it all has to physically be in the one place.’’