From July 1, the Sarjeant Gallery team will undertake the myriad tasks involved in readying the gallery and operations for the move into the redeveloped facility.
Cataloguing and packing an extensive library and the gallery archives is under way in the gallery’s off-site storage location, which must be vacated in August. At that point, the Sarjeant on the Quay gallery floor will become a storage area for all the contents of the storage site.
The process of consolidating, auditing, packing and wrapping will be methodically undertaken by the team through to the end of the year. It is planned that every operational item in use in the gallery, offices, workshops, photo studio, education room, catering area and shop will be relocated to the Sarjeant Gallery as soon as the construction project is completed and handover protocols are observed.
In early 2024, when principal contractor McMillan & Lockwood has finished and vacated the facility and the Sarjeant has been blessed, staff will start the move. The back-of-house areas, including the underground collection store, the offices, workshops and photographic studio, will be fitted out and the public areas of the gallery will be refilled, including the reception, public meeting rooms, event spaces, nine galleries, classroom facility, research library and reading room.
Many of the interior fit-out elements at Sarjeant on the Quay will be disassembled and readied for transport. The items of infrastructure that were built into the Taupō Quay space by the gallery meant the space functioned efficiently and, with forethought, many were designed with the view to them being moved and reused in the new facility.
The opening exhibitions will feature more than 250 works from the Sarjeant’s permanent collection and these will be prepared with conservation treatment occurring where necessary, plus matting and framing for each work. Next year, these works will be transported and hung in the new facility, ready for the reopening.
This year and next, the gallery team will make preparations for moving the rest of the 9000-plus-piece collection from Sarjeant on the Quay to the new collection store under the rear lawn of the Sarjeant’s new wing, Te Pātaka o Sir Te Atawhai Archie John Taiaroa.
When the construction project is complete, the many technical elements of the facility will be tested and settled right up until reopening. These elements include the HVAC climate control system, audio-visual and digital systems, lighting and security. Once the retail area has been fitted out, stock will come into the shop.
In early 2024, the cafe operator’s contractor will fit out the cafe space.
After possibly its busiest year, the Sarjeant Gallery will celebrate its 105th anniversary from its original home in Pukenamu Queen’s Park in September next year.
After the redeveloped gallery opens, staff will move all the remaining works of the permanent collection from Sarjeant on the Quay to the new state-of-the-art collection store. When that process is finished in 2025, Sarjeant on the Quay will be totally empty.
“Maintaining the gallery spaces in Sarjeant on the Quay is just one small part of what the team is doing on a daily basis,” Clifford said.
“It is the tip of the iceberg. Anyone who has done a back-of-house tour will have witnessed the amount of activity going on behind the scenes to keep the gallery running, including maintaining the collection. All of this will continue while we are closed, as well as ongoing redevelopment work and additional outreach activities and events in alternative spaces.”
The date the Sarjeant Gallery will reopen next year is yet to be confirmed.
During the closure from July 1, the gallery will keep the community informed with regular redevelopment updates and Sarjeant Happenings columns in the Whanganui Chronicle that will document many of the interesting processes occurring behind the scenes.
There will be dynamic off-site Musicians for the Sarjeant and Speakers for the Sarjeant events and an ongoing programme of artist talks, Friends of the Sarjeant initiatives and community outreach talks by curator of the collection Jennifer Taylor Moore and director Clifford. Tylee Cottage will host artist Christopher Ulutupu from July to December and Jade Townsend from February to July next year.
While the classroom will not host school visits after June 30, education officer Sietske Jansma will visit Whanganui schools and take the stories of the gallery and its nationally-significant collection to the community.
