Waipā District Council’s indoor art collection to be reduced from 104 pieces to 70

Pieces to be retained include the bronze sculpture Three Seated Figures by Brian Grouden. This piece, being sized by collections manager, Sarah Dawe, is currently on display in the Te Awamutu library.

Waipā District Council is streamlining its public art collection.

Today’s Strategic Planning and Policy Committee agreed staff should reduce Waipā District Council’s 104-piece indoor art collection down to 70 works, disposing of 34 items.

Te Awamutu Museum - Education & Research Centre and heritage director Anne Blyth said the artwork had been accumulated by the Waipā District Council over many decades. Waipā District Council has no budget to buy artwork; all of the pieces had been donated or gifted, she said.

“We needed to do a stock-take and review the relevance of many of those pieces given they all need to be stored and cared for,” Blyth said. “In some instances, very little was known about the works and nor was there any relevance to the district.”

Each of the 104 artworks was evaluated against council’s art policy which takes into account relevance to the district, the cost of maintenance and repair, duplication with other works and damage. Of the 104 indoor collection pieces, staff recommended that 70 pieces be retained.

The 34 works to go include a range of badly faded prints with market values ranging from $5 to $200. Where possible, the works will be returned to families, or donated to organisations or local charity shops.

Waipā District Council currently owns more than 270 pieces of public art accumulated over many years. Public art is defined as ‘any mural, carving, mosaic, painting, sculpture, photograph or other art medium that is owned by or on loan to council and is accessible to the general public’.

The Waipā District Council’s collection currently includes 29 outdoor pieces including sculptures and murals. Council also has a 137-piece photography and digital image collection which is yet to be assessed.

Once the indoor art collection had been streamlined, thought would be given to how best it could be displayed, Blyth said.

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