IMAGinE 2013 - Excellence in Collection Management nominees

Mid North Coast Maritime Museum Inc.

South West Rocks Flagstaff Restoration Project

If you are at South West Rocks you can now visit the historic flagstaff thanks to the restoration undertaken by Mid-North Coast Maritime Museum for Kempsey Council. Previously gated off to the public, you can walk beneath the rigging wires that stay the main and top masts and look up at the rigging and spars. To keep the historic integrity of the site, Mid-North Coast Maritime Museum used traditional methods and processes of restoration.

The project has set a precedent for community-government cooperation and the result represents significantly more than could have been achieved if the work had been performed by Kempsey Council alone, or by private contractors.

Tumbarumba Historical Society Museum and Archive

Archive Extension to Tumbarumba Library

For many years, the small town of Tumbarumba had a dispersed and deteriorating collection of local records but thanks to the joint forces of Tumbarumba Shire Council, Friends of Tumbarumba Library and Tumbarumba Historical Society, they now have a purpose built, state of the art storage facility.

The project renewed interest in history in the small town. Twelve new volunteers have undertaken the huge task of cataloging the collection (and its backlog), with training from Museum of the Riverina and Riverina Archives.

This project will provide infinitely better access to the collection for the local community and the constant stream of researchers coming to Tumbarumba looking for their 'great aunt'.

Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum

Collection Registration

The founders of Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum are said to have been very good collectors, handsome display makers but very poor recorders. That is why the current volunteers at Ballina Naval and Maritime set out to catalogue their collection of 8,500-10,000 items.

The project started with the Curator undertaking an internship at the Powerhouse Museum, where a fountain of ideas was developed. A heritage significance assessment and conservation audit followed, leading to the digitisation of their unique historic records collection. It has been a team effort during the process of photographing and numbering the objects. Overall the project has increased access to the collection and improved the documentation process during accessioning.

Kempsey Museum

2012 Significance Assessment

Objects in the Kempsey Museum collection were found to be of national significance when the Museum hired consultant, Dr Roslyn Russell to complete significance assessment, funded by a Community Heritage Grant. The items of significant include a King Edward VIII Coronation cup and saucer and a tray commemorating the 150th anniversary of British settlement in Australia. These can’t be found in any other collection in Australia.

Lady Denman Maritime Museum Jervis Bay

Collection Management Centre

Until 2010, the Lady Denman Heritage Centre’s collection was housed in a crowded and damp room. After over two years work, the Museum is the proud owner of a new Collection Management Centre which includes work space for up to nine people, three computer stations with MOSAIC licences, tables for conservation work, a climate room, compactus for archived documents, and exhibition storage space.

The Museum conceived the project in the late 1990s but it remained only a dream without funding. Undeterred, staff decided to increase financial reserves so they could apply for large infrastructure grants, confident they could provide matched funding and in-kind support. This strategy worked and they were able to secure three substantial grants.

The project was not just about physical space but also developing a team. The Centre provides the opportunity for volunteers to work together, share ideas, mentor each other and improve their collection management.

Mosman Art Gallery

The Balnaves Gift and the development of a Collection Philanthropy Program

Recently Mosman Art Gallery have developed a Philanthropic Program. One major acquisition as part of this program has been the Balnaves Gift, a collection of 16 colonial, post-colonial and Impressionist paintings of Mosman and its surrounds, valued at more than $1 million. This gift has raised the value and the significance of the Mosman Art Gallery collection.

The display of this collection has increased the visitation to the gallery by 160%. The project also generated major publicity for the collection, with a feature story on ABC news and feature articles in the Sydney Morning Herald, the Australian and Daily Telegraph. The Philanthropic Program has also lead to the employment of a dedicated philanthropy officer half funded by a major philanthropic foundation.

Tweed River Regional Museum

Collection assessment and relocation project

For fifty years, the Tweed River Regional Museum's collection has been stored in inadequate conditions, prone to pest infestations, high humidity levels, and subject to flash flooding.

In 2001, a conservation survey by M&G NSW confirmed the high toll this environment was taking on collections. Following formation of the Tweed River Regional Museum in 2004 and transfer of responsibility for collections to Tweed Shire Council, significant resources have been committed to collection care and management. In 2011, Council committed funding toward construction of a dedicated purpose designed collection storage facility.


The store is monitored by seven different environmental testing stations, helping keep environmental conditions within acceptable industry standards. It also boasts a climate controlled 'pod' capable of keeping paper based and textile objects in controlled conditions, a conservation workspace, and a pest management station.

Image one: Restored flagstaff at South West Rocks. Courtesy of Mid North Coast Maritime Museum.
Image two: Tumbarumba Archive volunteers in training with Rachael Vincent from Museum of the Riverina. Courtesy of Tumbarumba Historical Society Museum and Archive.
Image three: Exterior of Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum. Courtesy of Ballina Naval and Maritime Museum.
Image four: King Edward VIII Coronation cup. Courtesy of Kempsey Museum.
Image five: Conservation work on the dive suit. Courtesy of Lady Denman Maritime Museum.
Image six: Neil Balnaves at the Balnaves Gift opening. Courtesy of Mosman Art Gallery.
Image seven: Tweed River Regional Museum collection. Courtesy of Tweed River Regional Museum.

Museums for kids – rain, hail or shine!

With NSW school holidays starting next week, eyes quickly turn to museums for entertainment and education options to occupy the little ones and carers alike.

Museums are often a port in the storm for a wet weather activities but M&G NSW think that holiday programs offered by museums across NSW will entice curious young mind–rain, hail or shine!

The Powerhouse Museum 

Image courtesy the Powerhouse Museum.

The Powerhouse Museum always delivers the most considered and interactive school holiday activities. Children genuinely engage and delight in their offerings which are well staffed and resourced. M&G are looking forward to road testing a comprehensive Spring Holiday program for 2013. Our pick is: The Amazing Glow Show!

Step into the darkness and be amazed by the science behind what makes things glow! Explore the colourful explosions in fireworks, the chemical reactions in glow sticks and the wonder of ultraviolet light.

Go to their website for full details.

Albury LibraryMuseum

Image courtesy the Albury LibraryMuseum. 

Is your house round or square? Is it beside a lake or on a mountain? Do you sleep on a mat or in a bunk bed? Set out on a delightful adventure and visit the homes of children across the world. Come Over to My House is a playful, interactive exhibition inspired by Dr. Seuss’ books.

They are running special Come Over to My House story time every Monday to Friday at 11:00am during the exhibition. Suitable for 2-7 year olds.

The full list of kids activities at the Albury LibraryMuseum can be found on their website.

Holbrook Submarine Museum

Image courtesy of Holbrook Submarine Museum

If you’re on the road these holidays riding the Hume Highway on your way to or from Melbourne, look out for the inland submarine! The Holbrook Submarine Museum lets kids climb, touch, look, play and learn.

Look through a periscope, sit in an original submarine control room and experience the amazing 3D hologram show. Learn how to escape from a submarine and how a torpedo works.

Old Dubbo Gaol
Heading to the Western Plains Zoo is a school holiday favourite, but Dubbo has more to offer than wildlife of the furry kind at the Old Dubbo Gaol.

Experience life behind the gaol walls with many different characters. Be berated by one of the strict wardens, or pick-pocketed by our cunning prisoners. Join in on the fun of the prisoner cooking classes or help in a daring escape attempt. No matter what, it’s ensured you and your family will enjoy their time being locked up with the prisoners and wardens of the Old Dubbo Gaol.

Lord Howe Island Museum

Under 2 and a half flying hours from Sydney is the beautiful World Heritage site of Lord Howe Island. If you’re lucky enough to find yourself there these holidays, check out the museum.

As well as the exhibits showcasing the unique geography and social history of the Island, Lord Howe Island Museum has a permanent Environmental Gallery dedicated to school children’s projects as part of the community’s involvement and growth scheme.

Each year students complete environmental projects as part of their curriculum. The children visit the Museum to learn about some aspect of the environment, and carry out project work at school. The finished displays are mounted in the Museum for exhibition over several months; recent topics include Threatened Snails, Weed Busters Week, Sea Week, Catalina Crash Anniversary.

Well worth a visit!

Love Lego?

Then this is art for you!

It’s both fun and amazing. What's more—your parents will love it when you ask to go to the Sherman Contemporary Art Foundation (SCAF) instead of Zombie Laser Tag.

There are lots of things about this exhibition that you'll love. The best part is that you aren't just 'allowed' to play in the huge pile of Lego, you're needed as part of the exhibit—to help construct an imaginary city.

And at SCAF all the Lego is white! Every single piece. You don't have to worry about securing a secret stash from your sister so that you have the right pieces to finish your project…at SCAF there's plenty of Lego for everyone.

The guy who came up with the idea of Lego as construction art is Olafur Eliasson and he comes from Denmark. Maybe he loves snow so much he only wants to work with white Lego but all the same he's started off a miniature white world in which you can add your own Lego construction.

Step in off the street and build a tall and twisty tower or snap pieces together from someone else's efforts. It's a free-for-all playground that begins as a post-apocalyptic pile of Lego and ends as a city built and created by everyone. No matter how many times something gets knocked down, someone builds it up again. It's a great demonstration about our urge to shape and create our environment.

The exhibition is called The cubic structural evolution project and the Queensland Art Gallery Foundation Grant recently purchased the concept for it for their GOMA collection.

It's only on until 21 September so get along this weekend!

You can see more of this artists work here.

Images: Olafur Eliasson, The cubic structural evolution project, SCAF. Photo: Carole Best, 2013.

Art Market: Artspace’s Pozible Campaign

As part of their current exhibition The Financial Report, Artspace ran a successful Pozible campaign to get funding for additional talks by financial experts, academics and artists.

It was a perfect move for the contemporary art space. The Financial Report addresses the tension between art and commerce with a range of self referential works exploring cultural and capital value in the art industry. Likewise, Artspace’s Pozible campaign was a bold experiment to find out what happens when an arts organisation pursues crowd sourced financial support. By doing so, the gallery actually became a very public participant in their own exhibition.

M&G NSW sat down with Michelle Newton, Deputy Director and Caraline Douglas, Communications and Publications Coordinator to discuss the joys and risks of crowd funding.

M&G NSW: So I presume a key reason for trialing Pozible was it matched the themes of The Financial Report.

Michelle: Caraline suggested we use Pozible because of the conceptual tie-ins with The Financial Report exhibition, but we had to figure out exactly how to make it work. We can’t use Pozible to fund our core operations for two reasons. First, Pozible only supports project-based activity and second we didn’t want to give the impression that we were raising money for programs that should be covered by core funding. Therefore, the Pozible campaign was well suited for the series of talks.

M&G NSW: Do you mean that the talks fell outside what is already funded by Arts NSW?

Michelle: That’s right. These talks are something new for Artspace because they are more lateral expansions on Mark’s curatorial rationale. We invited guest speakers who are experts in their respective fields to discuss aspects of financial markets and the economy in a broad sense. These ideas fall outside everyday areas of research for most in the contemporary art sector, and that we at Artspace have little to no expertise in.

M&G NSW: What preparation did you do before embarking on your campaign?

Michelle: Much of the information is embedded on the Pozible website so we quickly understood the parameters. One of the first things we discussed was our target amount. We oscillated between $1500 and $2000. Obviously you want to set an ambitious target but you also have to be realistic. Watching other successful campaigns achieve their targets, you see how they rely on their own personal networks. Based on what we thought we could achieve through our existing social networks and media traffic we agreed $1500 was most realistic.

M&G NSW: Were you concerned about the risk?

Michelle: It’s so public and you don’t want to see the project fail. We were curious if Pozible enabled users to delete a campaign after it is launched (and if it isn’t looking promising), but you can’t.

M&G NSW: As a warning to those who think it will be easy?

Michelle: Everyone can watch the progress of your campaign. If you’re successfully engaging people then they pay attention and follow the page. Our networks started with the staff, and spread to the Board, and out to our peers and colleagues, then to our friends and even further to our social media friends. We knew we had to keep it on everybody’s radar at all times.

Caraline looked at other successful Pozible campaigns and she realised we had to have a face for the campaign, especially because we’re an organisation.

The hardest part was convincing Mark Feary, the exhibition Curator, to be that face. It wouldn’t have worked otherwise. We felt we needed a recognizable personality for the campaign to create a sense of familiarity. We wanted to catch people’s attention and make it easy to share across social media channels.

And it also meant we had to have a video. 

M&G NSW: Tell us about the video. Most of the Pozible videos are a direct address that pitches the project, right?

Caraline: We made our video a little different, especially as we’re not an individual asking for donations for a personal project. We developed a narrative structure built around the concepts of the exhibition. 

Artspace's storyboard for their Pozible video.

Michelle: In order to launch Pozible in time we needed to move quickly with the video. It was completely scripted and storyboarded. We shot it in one afternoon, guerilla style all around the city, in locations like the Australian Securities Exchange and Westfield. 

M&G NSW: Throughout the campaign did you timetable online updates?

Caraline: We staggered them. Every time we publicized the campaign we noticed we received more donations. If we let it sit dormant we wouldn’t receive any donations.

M&G NSW: What about the rewards? Do you think they helped people put money in?

Michelle: We had to be very careful what incentives we offered because of our Deductible Gift Recipient status. We can’t really offer any incentives to people who donate to Artspace. But rewards are always good incentive, so we had to think creatively about how we thanked people for their generosity.

M&G NSW: Was staff uneasy about using their personal networks to ask for money?

Michelle: Some staff members that have no history of fundraising were quite shy about posting the Pozible campaign on their Facebook page. But eventually everybody ended up supporting it completely. We encouraged staff to personally promote the campaign, as they weren’t asking for money for themselves, but for an organisation they are professionally invested in. So what ended up happening was it sat at the top of the our facebook newsfeed every time we gave it a bump.

M&G NSW: Why was it so important that the project was pushed by individual social networks rather than the organisation’s Facebook page?

Michelle: It's key to what I think Pozible achieves. The campaign created greater public awareness around the programing so the staff became agents for promoting the exhibition.

For us, the social capital was far more important than any financial success. To be frank, it’s harder to make small amounts of money than it is to fundraise for larger amounts. To make $25 requires more work than it does to make $5000.

This isn’t necessarily the situation for individual artists but for a not-for-profit organisation it is.

M&G NSW: Was it worth the hours you put in?

Michelle: I would say ‘yes’ for the publicity that it’s generated. The video and campaign presented Artspace in a playful, yet conceptual, way and that has in turn been good for our online profile.

Having said this, it’s probably something Artspace would only consider doing once very three years or so. Much of our immediate community is the artist community and when you see that you’re reaching out to this demographic you don’t want to ask them to support Artspace financially. I think organisations such as ours have to be very particular about what projects we choose because of the inherent risks, but also because they need to choose well-conceived strong themed project.

M&G NSW: So crowd sourcing isn’t a way forward for arts organisations?

Michelle: Based on our experience, not really, because we can’t use Pozible to raise funds for our for core program and we need to be strategic in garnering private support. Like all arts organisations, we have a group of stakeholders who support us on a reoccurring basis and we can’t constantly be asking them for support.

M&G NSW: What about artist run initiatives and volunteer managed organisations?

Michelle: I think there’s a lot more potential for them and we think crowdsourcing is a great resource for them to tap into.

M&G NSW: Thanks for talking with us today.

The Financial Report at Artspace featuring work by Denis Beaubois, Melanie Gilligan, Matthew Griffin, Christian Jankowski, Andrew Liversidge, Dane Mitchell and Natalie Thomas closes on 29 September 2013. 

History week: Legends of Lithgow

Pepper's Ghost used to great effect in telling the story of the Lithgow State Mine fire disaster.

Capturing the Lithgow Community, is one of the exhibitions on show during History Week which unpacks some of the little known history of Lithgow. On a recent Museums Advisors trip to the area, M&G NSW had a quick peek at some of the museums and collections in the region.

We started at the Lithgow State Mine Heritage Park and Railway, where the virtual story-telling entranced and moved us. The images and sound presentation tells a story of a fire in the mine. President, Ray Christison, confirms that most visitors shed a tear or two on hearing about the death of so many pit ponies.

Our next stop was the The Glen Museum in Portland. Developed and fostered by the late Charlie Pinch and his partner the late Valerie Risby, the collection focuses on the history of Portland and is wonderfully eclectic–one of our favourite displays being the huge range of buttons.

We stopped at the charming village of Rydal for lunch and as we strolled around it became clear that the town itself is a museum–complete with charming buildings and well-tended gardens. Rydal was named after a village in England where the poet William Wordsworth lived. His poem “The Daffodils” inspired the planting of thousands of daffodil bulbs which are the focus of the annual Daffodil Festival and are bound to be in full bloom during History Week.

The Lithgow Small Arms Factory Museum was a big surprise. While we were expecting to see lots of firearms we weren’t aware the factory manufactured a range of non-military products including sewing machines, shearing handsets, medical implements, tools, and golf clubs. This is interesting viewing for anyone–and especially so for those intrigued by old style weaponry.

This you would expect at the Small Arms Factory Museum.

This? Not so much.

From there we went to Esbank House and Museum. Built in 1842 by a local stonemason for the first industrialist in town, a Mr Thomas Brown MLA, the house is one of the oldest residences in Lithgow Valley.

Eskbank House on a delightful Spring day.

Eskbank operates as a historic home and museum and houses the one of the largest collections of Lithgow Pottery in Australia. The museum’s collection includes an example of the Black Rose of Lithgow. These smelted roses were first made in 1876 and became popular ornaments for coffins during the 1800s.

So why not take a History Week inspired trip to the valley and be surprised at some of the sites in lovely Lithgow?

Tamara Lavrencic

History Week: Sydney's murdered muse

Peacocks Florence Broadhurst wallpaper design. Courtesy of Sydney Living Museums.

To celebrate History Week 2013, the History Council of NSW selected five historical muses who attended the famous Artists’ Balls, an event held across Sydney for over five decades. 

The first of the muses showcased is Florence Broadhurst, an artist famed as much for her flamboyant life and brutal murder as her creative designs.

Both the Powerhouse Museum and the Caroline Simpson Library and Research Collection (part of Sydney Living Museums) hold collections of her work, including photographs and examples of some of the 550 wallpaper designs produced between 1961 and 1977. The 'Peacocks' reproduced seen here became the signature design of Florence Broadhurst’s studio in the 1970s and is one of the most recognisable and popular of her designs. It’s been suggested that it represents the flamboyant style of the woman herself.
This eccentric and talented woman has inspired a number of books including, A life by Design: The Art and Lives of Florence Broadhurst by Siobhan O’Brien (2004) and Florence Broadhurst: Her Secret & Extraordinary Lives, by Helen O’Neill (2007).
This excerpt from the inside of the front cover of A Life by Design, gives a taste of the extraordinary life of Florence Broadhurst:

“Late on the afternoon of 15 October 1977, seventy-eight-year-old Florence Broadhurst was brutally murdered. Her killer has never been found.

But who really died that day?

Was it Bobby Broadhurst, the chanteuse of Shanghai? Or Madame Pellier, London’s Bond Street-salon owner and friend to Churchill and royalty? Perhaps Mrs Kann, married to English gentry. Or was it the world-renown wallpaper designer and socialite?

By the time Florence Broadhurst sailed into Sydney Harbour with her second husband and young son in 1949 she had long ago put aside her humble beginnings in rural Australia, instead presenting herself as an English woman escaping post-war Britain for the sunshine of the ‘promised land’. And she found it.

Dismissing the designs of the day as drab and lacking in colour, Florence set about creating original, bold, bright wallpapers, unlike anything that had been seen before. With clientele ranging from Lady McMahon to Qantas, and far-eastern hoteliers to Estee Lauder Cosmetics, Florence was soon a popular face on the Sydney social scene – and a very wealthy woman.

Today Broadhurst designs are once again gracing the walls and furnishings of hip bars and fashionable homes and boutiques from Sydney to New York, as well as the runways of Isogawa, Karen Walker and Zimmerman. Yet the mystery still remains.

Who was this at times generous, at others ferociously autocratic, and always elusive woman? And why did she die such a violent death?”

The David Jones Art Gallery on Elizabeth Street Sydney was the venue for Florence’s first solo exhibition called ‘Paintings of Australia’ and as part of their 175 anniversary celebrations, the windows of that venerable institution will feature floral art works inspired by Florence’s work for their Spring flower show. Find further information on this show, ‘The Enchanted Florence’.

Broadhurst’s designs are still popular today and examples of their use by interior designers in buildings around the world can be seen at Signature Prints website .

Tamara Lavrencic

Grumpy Cat is taking over

Many of you might have thought we were kidding when we promised last fortnight to unleash Grumpy Cat on your profile pages.

Well we weren't. And if you don't believe us you should visit the website right now.

http://mgnsw-prod.ixcsandbox.com/

Username: preview
Password: museums

We've delayed letting the website loose on the world by one week. That's one week for you to provide us images and descriptions of all the amazing things you do.

Like . . .

Albury Library/Museum who kindly provided us the video and story about their July 27 celebration of the first flight in the monoplane built by Robbins and Porter.

Their description makes me want to visit the whole town. I'm considering a bit of an excursion after we've launched the website and Albury sounds like the place to go.

Carcoar Hospital Museum who have provided some very evocative images of their 19th and 20th century medical collection. This photo of nurses at the museum in 1900 has a bit of a ghostly, ethereal feel about it (or is that my imagination running away with me). 

Gilgandra Rural Museum have added a nice exterior. Their website is pretty smart too and we've provided a couple of hyperlinks to it on their page. 

So do you want to look like this?

Or this?

You have ONE week. Email or ring Katie or Andrew:

comms@mgnsw.org.au

p: 02 9358 1760