The Art of Transformation

Often works in public collections have to wait in storage until funding comes available for their restoration and reframing. In 2007, the Gallery placed a group of paintings, sculptures and frames 'Up for Adoption'. A display of these works was produced in association with the exhibition Passion and Politics – Two Centuries of British Art, and members of the public, whether individuals or groups, were invited to sponsor artworks in need of framing or conservation treatments of various kinds.

While we are celebrating many other kinds of philanthropy throughout our opening shows, The Art of Transformation honours a specific commitment we made to those generous individuals and groups who supported the Up for Adoption programme that we would show as many restored works as possible at re-opening.

Also included in The Art of Transformation are a selection of very fine prints that the Gallery received by transfer from Special Collections in 2009, which had been moved to the Auckland City Library from the Leys Institute in Herne Bay. Dr Leys acquired them while on an acquisition trip to Europe in the 1920s, and until recently they had remained in cardboard folders.

A number of the works have been treated and conserved by members of the Gallery's Conservation Department and other members of New Zealand Conservators of Cultural Materials (NZCCM).