Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »
Posts categorized as Conservation
Life through a burrowscope lens (Part 2) – subterranean Poor Knights Islands
Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly recently visited the Poor Knights Islands Nature Reserve, off the Northland coast, as part of a research team tracking the at-sea movements of Buller’s shearwaters. The project is led by Graeme Taylor of the Department of Conservation, and is intended to identify the marine environments used… Read more »
Critters of Titi Island Nature Reserve, Marlborough Sounds
Titi Island is a 32-ha reserve administered by the Department of Conservation and situated in the outer Marlborough Sounds. The island’s fauna was impacted by introduced Norway rats until these were eradicated in the early 1970s. The island has since been free of all introduced predators. Two species of large flightless insects plus tuatara were… Read more »
Life through a burrowscope lens – subterranean Titi Island
By Sarah Jamieson & Colin Miskelly Over the past two (southern hemisphere) summers, Te Papa seabird researchers have been investigating population trends and foraging behaviour of flesh-footed shearwaters. These all-dark seabirds are well known to recreational fishers around the North Island and in Cook Strait, as the birds have the annoying habit of sitting behind… Read more »
Green Island (Papatea) – 1941 and 2012 – In the footsteps of Edgar Stead (Part 8)
Te Papa’s curator of terrestrial vertebrates Dr Colin Miskelly is researching the life and work of the Canterbury naturalist Edgar Stead (1881-1949). This includes re-taking Stead’s photos from the same photo-point, taking other images to illustrate his diaries, and describing how the ecology and wildlife of each of 10 islands has changed since Stead’s visits…. Read more »
Getting into our uniforms: A behind the scenes look
Hopefully many of you have seen or plan to see our newest Eyelights gallery exhibition that opened on the 24th of September. Uniformity: Cracking the Dress Code features uniforms worn in various contexts—school, church, battlefield, rugby field, and even those worn on the street. A previous post about Uniformity talked about the role that outside… Read more »
Behind the Scenes of Angels and Aristocrats
Te Papa’s latest art exhibition, Angels & Aristocrats, opens on the 20th October in the Level 5 galleries. The exhibition draws on a number of collections from around New Zealand including artworks from Te Papa’s collection which you will see on display. Some of these paintings required attention in the conservation lab before the exhibition began, to allow… Read more »
Xray Vision, part I
As an art conservation student, I was frequently encouraged by my tutors to think of my profession as a three-legged stool—a platform supported by the three disciplines of connoisseurship, fine arts, and science. Understanding the science of how materials age is critical for being able to slow down deterioration. In addition, scientific methods of analysis can… Read more »
Kōrero Kākahu: Weaving Worldviews
by Matariki Williams A highlight for me in Kahu Ora is a kākahu that is in the process of being cleaned by Textile Conservator Anne Peranteau. This kahu kurī is from between 1750 and 1840, of unknown provenance, and is made from strips of the pelt of a kurī (Polynesian dog) sewn onto a finely twined foundation… Read more »
Behind the Scenes of Kahu Ora
Many of the kākahu on display in Te Papa’s Kahu Ora exhibition are contemporary works that serve as fantastic examples of the vitality of raranga as an art form. During preparation of the items for display, as we dressed them on mannequins and cloak forms, we had the special opportunity to work with one of the artists… Read more »