When the doors at Bundaberg Regional Galleries couldn’t open due to Coronavirus restrictions, staff set to work to restore artwork.
It’s not quite like the movies where the exhibits come to life. In fact, it’s more about bringing new life to the exhibits.
Since closing due to COVID restrictions, the team at Bundaberg Regional Galleries have been undertaking important preservation and restoration work on the galleriesā four art collections.
Bundaberg Regional Galleries Technical Officer Rachel Weldon said many of the works in the collection were fragile and decades old.
āWhile the doors have been closed, weāve really had a chance to review where our collection sits and identify any problems that we need to address,ā Rachel said.
āA lot of our collection is from the early twentieth century, so you can imagine the paints of that time were not of the same quality as today and itās really important to control the conditions in our collection storage areas as light, temperature, and humidity can all affect the longevity of paintings.
āPainting is subject to fading, mould and cracking, and obviously nothing lasts forever but what we can do is mitigate those external effects on the work,ā Rachel said.
Galleries team member a trained archaeologist
During the shutdown gallery team member Vanessa Christi, who is a trained archaeologist, has been working with Rachel to restore artwork and improve the life span of the galleriesā important historical pieces and has also been skillfully restoring old picture frames.
āThe process that weāve been following involves the careful removal of old wires and tape before the surface is thoroughly cleaned with a brush vacuum,” Rachel said.
āIt requires particular materials like archival grade cardboard and archival standard tape which doesnāt produce any acid leakage.ā
āThe glue we use is PH neutral and long-lasting and by the end we have an airtight seal around the frame which stops any dust from entering.
“At times we also have to replace the glass, with special UV filtering glass.ā
While it can be tedious, delicate and time-consuming work, Rachel said it was crucial to safeguard the regionās history and restore the artwork.
āIt can be quite difficult, but the more we can do the longer this art will be around for people to enjoy and research in the future.
āA lot of the artwork in Councilās collection is significant to our Bundaberg Region and it acts a visual archive of our history, so itās important they are maintained and taken care of.ā
Bundaberg Regional Galleries are planning to reopen on Friday, 28 August.
Upon their reopening Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery will feature FOUND! The Studio Dog in BRAGās Gallery One. The Vault curated by local artist Adrienne Williams and BRIDGES – a collaborative exhibition with Queensland Department of Transport and Main Roads and based on the story of the Burnett Traffic Bridge- will feature in Gallery Two.
Childers Art Space will feature a new exhibition āArt as an Act of Optimismā as a retrospective of the #artsbundyathome initiative which has run during COVID-19 shut-downs.
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Congratulations Bec.