Removed Shadbolt portrait rehomed
A prominent Sir Tim Shadbolt portrait painting has been removed from the Invercargill City Council’s civic administration building and will soon be displayed at the Civic Theatre instead.
The painting previously hung in the stairwell leading to the mayoral offices and council chambers. However, after Shadbolt was unsuccessful in being re-elected as mayor at October’s election, the portrait, painted by Deidre Copeland and named Seriously Tim, was removed. It has been replaced with an Invercargill Estuary landscape painted by Southland artist Peter Beadle.
‘‘I am sure that [new mayor Nobby Clark] will feel more comfortable with a picture of the estuary facing him in the council stairwell, each morning, rather than me,’’ Shadbolt said.
The council’s museum and heritage services manager, Wayne Marriott, said the Seriously Tim painting would instead be displayed at a yet-to-bedecided spot at the Civic Theatre.
‘‘[Sir Tim] strongly advocated for the city to be the best place to live and work, so it is only fitting that we display his portrait in a public place where all the community can enjoy it and remember everything he did for Invercargill,’’ Marriott said.
Shadbolt said it was a special piece of work, which he always thought was the most poignant of all the portraits that ‘‘have aimed to capture my essence’’.
While pleased it would be on public display, he was not completely convinced about the Civic Theatre. ‘‘Deidre is a very talented artist and to my mind this artwork deserves a public display ideally not in an isolated corner of the theatre.’’
In October, the council began cataloguing and reviewing the artworks on display in the civic administration building. It housed many taonga, including paintings, historic items and gifts from Invercargill’s sister city, Marriott said.
‘‘Throughout this cataloguing process, several works in the chief executive and mayoral foyer have been relocated to more appropriate places and new pieces are now on display.’’
These include Ans Westra celebrating the Tiwai Point aluminium smelter’s 25th anniversary in 1996 and Erwin Brinkmann and the whitebaiters’ huts of Southland.
The works come from the collection of the Southland Museum and Art Gallery, and the Southland Art Foundation.