The carnivorous giant snails of Khandallah, Wellington
Endangered giant snails that suck up earthworms like spaghetti are living in a small colony in Khandallah. Curator Invertebrates Rodrigo Salvador tells us more.Read more
Endangered giant snails that suck up earthworms like spaghetti are living in a small colony in Khandallah. Curator Invertebrates Rodrigo Salvador tells us more.Read more
Valerie Carson, textile conservator, passed away on Tue 21 Jan surrounded by her family in Whanganui. Here, textiles conservators Rachael Collinge and Rangi Te Kanawa look back on her career.Read more
Washing a charcoal drawing in water?! Paper conservator Jennie Cauchi takes us behind the scenes of her work to treat a 1950s drawing by Colin McCahon.Read more
For over 25 years, Guy Ngan’s large-scale Forest in the sun (1976) hung in the Beehive before being gifted to our collection. Now it’s back on display, exhibiting at The Dowse until September. Senior Digital Editor Daniel Crichton-Rouse speaks to Curator Textiles Anne Peranteau about the prep work involved, as well as the artwork’s weavers Joan Calvert and Jean Ngan.Read more
Lots of us care about saving the whales, but not many get as hands-on as technician Stephanie Ho. She’s spent the last nine months caring for whale bones in Te Papa’s collections. It’s a messy, smelly and painstaking job, but it’s protecting these important specimens for the future. Stephanie tells us more.Read more
Conservator Robert Clendon takes us through the conservation techniques he’s using on some of the international material in our collections – two Greek objects around 2,500 years old, and a 1894 copy of the famous Portland Vase.Read more
Natural history researcher Rodrigo Salvador is out and about looking for initiatives that join science and pop culture. He did not need to venture too far in Welly to find this one, though.Read more
How do you care for artworks that are made entirely of paint? Conservator Paintings Linda Waters explains.Read more
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
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
In December 2017, Te Papa Botanist Heidi Meudt was on the hunt for some uncommon forget-me-nots in two very special places in the central North Island.Read more
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
Bird experts Colin Miskelly and Alan Tennyson recently returned from a research trip to the subantarctic Auckland Islands. Although their main aim was to study birds, Botany Researcher Heidi Meudt sent them on a separate mission – to collect a rare flower.Read more
One of the significant taonga exhibited Ko Rongowhakaata is a nose-less poutokomanawa (centre post) called Rongotueruora, affectionately known as ‘Iron Man’. This taonga was in a very fragile state when conservator Nirmala Balram came to inspect him. Nirmala takes us through the treatment of Iron Man, and his journey from Gisborne to display at Te Papa.Read more
Rebecca Rice, Curator Historical New Zealand Art, explores a mystery behind Dr Gray Hassell’s magnificent moustache.Read more
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