Te Hēmanawa Olive Temara (10 Feb 1948 – 27 Feb 2019)
This week Te Papa lost a very significant former kaimahi | staff member, Hema Temara (Tūhoe, 10 Feb 1948 – 27 Feb 2019), who passed away in Whakatāne.Read more
2019-03-01
Help reconnect taonga with their communities and history
We’re searching for ‘volunpeers’ to transcribe and digitise the business records of W O Oldman, a British collector and dealer in ethnographic art. Read more
2018-12-22
Two cruise ships and shocking weather: Dealing with the busiest day of the year
Last Tuesday brought with it 98km/h southerlies, 20.4mm of rain, and two cruise ships carrying 4,500 extra people to our city. All of this meant we were heading into our busiest day of the year…Read more
2018-12-04
Caring for artworks made entirely of paint
How do you care for artworks that are made entirely of paint? Conservator Paintings Linda Waters explains.Read more
2018-10-31
Fabulous beasts and where they lurk in our library
A steampunk Pokémon sea dragon, mutant whales, and a sabre-toothed devil bunny of the Aztecs. Librarian Martin Lewis (aka @RareBookGuy) presents his favourite curious creatures while researching this month.Read more
2018-10-29
A beginner’s guide to incorporating New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL)
We invited Victoria and Shannon from Deaf Aotearoa to speak to us about why using NZSL is so important and how best to make effective use of it.Read more
2018-10-25
The big OE: How Oceania’s treasures made their way to London’s Royal Academy
With six of our objects featuring in the Royal Academy’s Oceania exhibition, Collection Manager Shane James provides a glimpse into how some of the Pacific’s most revered taonga made their way to London.Read more
2018-10-09
Restoring a Tongan ngatu hingoa (barkcloth) commemorating WWII
Conservator Textiles Anne Peranteau recently completed the conservation treatment of an important Tongan ngatu hingoa, or barkcloth, that commemorates the WWII war effort of Queen Salote Tupou III and the Tongan people. Read more
2018-10-02
Why you should talk to your audiences before starting to design
‘We just want other people to be able to do this!’ User experience designers Kate Wanless and Karyn Brice talk about how they’re using a user-centred design process to create an earthquake interactive for the new Taiao | Nature zone coming in 2019.Read more
2018-09-27
How to clean a dolphin’s teeth
Conservator Robert Clendon is undertaking the bizarre job of cleaning the teeth of a bottlenose dolphin and then gluing the teeth into position so they don’t pop out while on display.Read more
2018-08-29
How to design an exhibition for teens? Co-create it with them
Our upcoming exhibition ‘Tony Fomison: Lost in the Dark’, diving into his dark and moody works from 1967 to 1975, is co-created with teenagers from Wellington High School, which involved working together across a number of creative sessions. Here, Experience Designer Chloe Johnston channels here inner teen. Read more
2018-08-06
The language of agile methodology in te reo Māori: being kakama
In our daily behind the scenes work we use agile methodology and te reo – but we can always do better. Reo Māori Writer Ranea Aperahama worked with the team driving agile throughout Te Papa to come up with the reo interpretations.Read more
2018-07-30
The story behind the Ko Rongowhakaata typeface
The typeface used in the exhibition ‘Ko Rongowhakaata: The Story of Light and Shadow’ was developed in 2017. But its origins date back to the early 1800s, and is intimately connected to the iwi. Here is its story.Read more
2018-06-18
The secrets found on the backs of paintings
Accompanying the portrait wall in Tūrangawaewae: Art and New Zealand are digital interactives that allow you to dive deeper into the conservation efforts that prepared the paintings for exhibition, and reveal hidden histories. Conservator Paintings Linda Waters writes about what the back of a painting can tell you.Read more
2018-05-31
Reassembling bones: How to build a Hector’s dolphin
Navigating brittle bones and teeth the size of rice, Thomas Schultz, Collection Manager Science, reflects on putting a Hector’s dolphin back together for an exhibition that would tour North America for ten years.Read more
2018-05-28