More museums...

Updating my list of museums in Southland..... I know there are more...I am also adding year established which is not necessasarily definitive in the sense that collections may have been held in a number of venues by individuals and or groups which met and discussed issues prior to becoming established as museums in their current facilities.
 
 

1.       Anderson’s Park Art Gallery  EST1951

2.       Bill Richardson Museum

3.       Bluff Maritime Museum EST1979 Southland Harbour Board EST1992 Current building

4.       City Gallery (Southland Art Society)

5.       Croydon Aviation Heritage Museum

6.       Demolition World

7.       Eastern Southland Art Gallery EST1984 Carnegie Library building EST2003 New wing

8.       The E. Hayes Motorworks Collection

9.       Fiordland Military Vehicles Museum

10.   Fiordland Vintage Machinery Museum

11.   Gore Airforce Museum

12.   Gore Historical Museum

13.   Hokonui Moonshine Museum

14.   Hospital Museum of Southland

15.   Hokonui Pioneer Park

16.   Gunn’s Camp Museum

17.   Mataura Museum

18.   Otautau Museum

19.   Owaka Museum

20.   Rakiura Museum

21.   Riverton Arts Centre

22.   Southland Fire Service Museum

23.   Southland Museum & Art Gallery EST1961

24.   Te Hikoi Southern Journey

25.   Templeton Flax Mill Museum

26.   Thornbury Vintage Machinery Museum

27.   Tuatapere Bushman’s Museum

28.   Waikaia Museum

29.   Waikawa Museum & Information Centre

30.   Wallace Early Settlers Museum, Riverton

31.   Wyndham & District Historical Museum

32.   Wyndham Park Heritage Centre

In Love With Public Museums

We really must be in love with public museums. Check out the NZ Museums website www.nzmuseums.co.nz. In Southland alone there are 18 museums listed and I bet that's not all of them. Have you ever visited Anderson's Park Art Gallery, the Bluff Maritime Museum, Eastern Southland Art Gallery (lovingly referred to as the Goreggenheim), Fiordland Vintage Machinery Museum, Gore Airforce Museum, Gore Historical Museum, Hokonui Pioneer Park, Hospital Museum of Southland, Mataura Historical Society Inc, Otautau Museum, Rakiura Museum, Southland Fire Service Museum Society Inc, Southland Museum & Art Gallery, Te Hikoi Southern Journey, Waikaia Museum, Waikawa Museum & Information Centre, Wyndham & District Historical Museum, Wyndham Park Heritage Centre, Templeton Flax Mill Heritage Museum. There are more museums, for example, that are managed privately but are freely accessible to the public such as Gunn's Camp Museum www.gunnscamp.org.nz , and the Bill Richardson Truck Museum www.hwr.co.nz/truck-museum. I even discovered a webpage dedicated to the love of the Bill Richardson Truck Museum in which the writer says:

“Through my adolescent years, I considered museums to be a somewhat magical place. The saber-tooth tigers, Mummies and the almighty dinosaurs; these were the things that would fill any young boy with bubbling excitement and joy. After recently hitting the quarter-century mark, my passions have significantly changed, but on a recent visit to Invercargill, I became a small boy once more.” http://oldschool.co.nz/2013/10/07/the-shed-bill-richardsons-truck-museum-2/

 

 

So what do all these museums have in common...?

Animating the DIY Public Museum TEST

 

Apologies for the bad resolution, will have to see what I can do to post at higher...

7th International Conference on the Inclusive Museum

 In early August I attended the 7^th International Conference on the Inclusive Museum in LA. The Inclusive Museum Knowledge Community facilitates the annual conference as well as drawing together a community of those who are passionate about ensuring public museums are engaging and accessible civic spaces for all people irrespective of their backgrounds. All conference delegates are admitted as members of the Community providing opportunities to publish in the peer reviewed journal or book series. This year’s conference was hosted by the Autry National Center of the American West, and has a distinctly interdisciplinary focus bringing together a diversity of scholars, researchers and practitioners to discuss challenges, new initiatives, and most importantly and more specifically how museums are addressing relevance in the their respective communities. Papers were presented under the themes of ‘Visitors’, ‘Collections’, and ‘Representations’. The paper I presented was titled “Performing the DIY Museum: Shirting the Frame of Conception, Production and Representation” and broadly spoke to Eilean Hooper-Greenhill’s notion that "the museum in the future may be imagined as a process or an experience. It is however, not limited to its own walls, but moves a set of process into the spaces, the concerns and the ambitions of communities."

A few of the many highlights of the conference for me included plenary speaker Charmaine Jefferson’s address reflecting on her significant experience in the sector including recently concluding 11 years as the Executive Director of the California African American Museum to issue a challenge to the sector to discard preconceptions about what a museum should be and do and focus on what museums need to be and do in the here and now. The Natural History Museum tour was particular enhanced for me by the evident passion and drive of its staff who have developed a number of initiatives that reach out into their community including for example Zombee Watch. This project is a partnership between the Museum and the San Francisco State University’s Department of Biology to discover more about zombie fly parasitized honey bees. Participants can become ZomBee hunters in order to contribute to research and to this end the Museum website provides instruction on, for example, safe handling of bees, the construction of a light trap and how to collect, store and share the collected information with the Museum. There were numerous paper presentations I found inspirational which will continue to inform the development of my own research. I am grateful for the support of the Southern Institute of Technology in attending the Inclusive Museum conference.

Black Swan

Terrible day for technology, Windows updates driving me nuts. Luckily the sun is shining, hopefully help banish this flu that's been hanging on. For those of you not familiar with Sam Mitchell's work, she was the William Hodges Artist in residence here from around March to September this year. SIT Arts has recently purchased some of the work made during her residency for the collection. Here is an excerpt I wrote from the catalogue for Sam's show at SMAG:

..."There is a crack in everything....that’s how the light gets in"

Sam Mitchell

Southland Museum & Art Gallery

Superheroes, monsters, demons and damsels in distress, soldiers, saints and unicorns – daring rescues, passionate kisses, bottom basement bargains and oral sex. From the cool blue skin of smiling or pensive innocents, graphic tales of corrupted virtue reveal the age-old struggle between good and evil. Sam Mitchell’s portraits get under the skin and expose the scars beneath, the marks or tattoos that can be laid-bare by her gaze as defining and permanent. It is through these cracks in exterior appearance that Mitchell observes and documents the often accidental illumination of dark forgotten corners “I'm an alligator, I'm a mama-papa coming for you” she says. With her penetrating gaze firmly fixed on Southland, glossy, glazed ceramic platters emerge bearing the confronting glares of topless women encircling a black swan. A muscular black singlet clad man looks us in the eye as he slits the neck of a sheep and floating portraits of illustrious leaders of the Invercargill Club float ominously in the fore of its grand façade alongside a portrait of a featureless woman. “I'm the space invader, I'll be a rock 'n' rollin' bitch for you”, Mitchell says. “Don’t fake it baby, lay the real thing on me.”

You can check out more of Sam's work at melanierogergallery.com

 

AGMs

Another somewhat grey day in the lovely Invercargill. Busy week with assessing, had the lovely Sam Mitchell here to visit and make some new ceramic work which is looking amazing so far - don't want to give too much away before it makes its debut but these are seriously porno disneyesque, I wouldn't want to see my garden Gnomes engaged in ummm well enough said. Two AGMs on Wednesday - the City Gallery Invercargill (or Southland Art Society) in which their illustrious leader Annie Bourque stood down as chairperson after nothing less than a spectacular year. Some depressing reading in the past AGM minutes in which it is voted that the Gallery should close reminds all present of the challenges faced by the Gallery and the committee in the 2014 year. The Gallery employed a new manager in 2014 - recent (2013) SIT Bachelor of Applied Media Arts graduate Aleisha Toomey who has been working hard alongside the committee to revitalise and re-imagine the City Gallery and its role in the Southland community. I have no doubt that newly elected Chairperson John Schol will continue this great work showcasing contemporary art practices while actively seeking to collaborate and engage with the local community. New to the fray in the capacity of Vice Chair is Alice Pottinger who assisted in the coordination of the Gallery's recent and very successful art auction held at the Civic Theatre. 

It was great to see members of the local art community present among others, Stephen Davies - Director of Anderson's Park and Tracey Wedge - Coordinator of Museum Operations at the Southland Museum & Art Gallery. So another year on the committee for me, it has certainly been impressive being witness to the Gallery's transformation thanks to so many who have contributed their time and resources to ensure its continuation. Fortunately my second AGM for the night was a twenty metre dash through the front entrance of the stately Invercargill Club (1891). Although Sam and I initially thought we may be the only women present in the meeting held in the Billiards room (complete with amazing leather couches and framed trout), it was pointed out that the others present were busy preparing dinner. Oh and of course we can't forget the lovely secretary Jill. Very formal meeting with all the business promptly taken care of, with evident concern for the maintenance and preservation of the spectacular historic house. Attendees were treated to a fabulous roast lamb dinner and the convivial company of fellow members. The Invercargill Club is one of those hidden treasures that perhaps many in the community are not aware of the existence of. The Club hosts events throughout the year and is open during the week from 3.30pm to around 7pm.I may even get the go-ahead to establish a Facebook and Twitter account after the idea was positively received at the meeting. Hoping to make it to the Erica Van Zon, Grabriella and Silvana Mangano opening night at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery next Friday.