3/9/2019

Aigantighe Art Gallery has received a generous donation of $12,000 from the Friends of the Aigantighe to help better protect its collections, and in particular works on paper.

Council’s Art Gallery Exhibitions Curator Hamish Pettengell says that the donation has helped the Gallery take a major step to improve the preservation of the community’s precious artworks by enabling them to replace the wooden storage units.

“Wooden storage units were previously widely used to store works on paper, but the issue with them is that they can release acidic gases, sometimes indefinitely, that can be detrimental to works on paper,” he says.

"We are very grateful for the donation. It enables us to replace the wooden storage units with four bespoke metal drawers, which will be used to store over 800 works on paper.

“These units will help ensure these works are well preserved for future generations and also increase the Gallery storage capacity for works on paper.”

Since the Friends of the Aigantighe Art Gallery inception in 1976, they have been a vital supporter of the Gallery and their long-term support and fundraising has supported the Gallery to become the home of art in South Canterbury.

“Through their work they are helping to grow the love of arts in the community and we would like to thank their continuous support.” Pettengell says.

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