This week it has been full steam ahead in the VISA Platinum Gallery. The crates carrying Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London arrived by sea, and Keira Miller and Sarah Scott from the V&A arrived by air. Over the last week Keira and Sarah,Read more
The Art team here at Te Papa are saddened by the news that contemporary New Zealand artist Don Driver passed away yesterday morning in New Plymouth. Although Don had been ill for some time, this sort of news always catches you off guard. Te Papa has a considerable number ofRead more
Adam Art Gallery has opened a new exhibition this November: Shadowgraphs: Photographic Portraits by Len Lye. The exhibition runs from 19 November to 18 December 2011 and comprehensive presents a selection of the cameraless photographic portraits made by Len Lye in 1947. Lye’s photographs will be contextualised with other material, including silhouettes,Read more
Seventy-two years ago, the Centennial Exhibition opens in Wellington (9 November 1939) The 1940 Centennial exhibition was one of the many ways in which New Zealanders marked 100 years of British government. The exhibition, which was located in Rongotai, attracted over 2.6 million visitors over a period of six months. Below is a colourisedRead more
Hello. Matthew O’Reilly, Framer of Paintings, returning to the subject of Poedua, and particularly, her lovely frame. This is my second post about the conservation of the frame. The first one was in June, and it dealt with understanding the frame and its history well enough, and identifying the questions to beRead more
In an effort to bolster our ability to identify some of New Zealand’s most widespread and commonly cultivated trees, Leon Perrie, Curator of Botany and I attended a workshop for identifying Eucalyptus, Corymbia and Pinus species this month. The workshop was presented by Chris Ecroyd, a long standing member ofRead more
Carefully packed into custom-made crates, the exhibition Unveiled: 200 Years of Wedding Fashion from the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, has departed Melbourne for Wellington by sea. In the meantime, it’s been all go in Te Papa’s Textile Store with the arrival of our New Zealand commissions – or at least two of them.Read more
Te Papa’s Botany team recently ventured to a Wellington City Council Reserve called Hue tē Taka Peninsula/Moa Point located on the south coast of Miramar Peninsula. See a map of the area. Our aim is to compile a species list of the plant community, supported by vouchered specimens that willRead more
In the next two weeks, some of Te Papa’s Botany staff will be looking for several poorly known mosses and liverworts. For instance, the moss Dicranoweisia spenceri was recorded more than 60 years ago from near Mount Ruapehu but it hasn’t been reported from there since – is it stillRead more
The young Queen avidly recorded details of her wedding to her ‘precious Angel’ in her journal, including descriptions of her wedding attire and her whirling emotions. On the evening of her wedding she confided: ‘My dearest dearest dear Albert… his excessive love and affection gave me feelings of heavenly love and happiness, I neverRead more
Spring is in the air, and for botanists like myself that means it’s time to head out into the field to try to find and collect plant specimens for our research. This year, like last year, I will be going to specific places around the country to look for differentRead more
Pataka Museum is about to open another exciting show on 13 November 2011. The exhibition, called Germany and Samoa – Old Ties and New Relationships, investigates the impact and legacy of the profoundly significant historical relationship between Germany and Samoa from 1900 – 1914. The exhibition will feature photos, artefacts, andRead more
The varnish removal of Poedua is progressing slowly and painstakingly and we are now almost halfway through this important part of the treatment. As we have mentioned before, removal of discoloured varnish can have a dramatic effect on the overall balance, colour and depth of a painting. Because discoloured varnishesRead more
If you are giving a mo a go for the first time during Movember, then here’s something you may not have considered before: how do you avoid getting a droopy, wet moustache while having a cuppa? In the late 1800s, magnificently moustachioed men (like Captain Watt above) dodged this dilemna by drinking from speciallyRead more
Museum curators often need to identify handwriting. In the Bird department this includes determining who wrote historical register entries and specimen labels, or who was responsible for annotations on original documents. Much of this skill is learnt on the job, and we keep a file of examples of writing byRead more
