Little Gallery Redisplay

Many of the 4000 items at the Museum in the Park have been on display since we opened in 2001. These objects were chosen as they best represent the stories we want to tell of the Stroud District. However, some of these items now need to be retired, to ensure they don’t receive too much light exposure. Due to the time and resources required to find suitable replacements, this will be a gradual process, first prioritising those objects that are most sensitive to light.

If objects are exposed to too much light for too long then the objects will be permanently damaged. Colours will fade and the material from which the object is made will start to break down. In recent years we have set up a programme of light monitoring, installed LED case lighting to increase our control of light levels and installed new window film to reduce not only UV light but visible and infrared light too. Despite these measures, light sensitive items that have been on display for 20 years, now need to be put away in the dark.

The first works being retired are the artworks in the Little Gallery, because these watercolours and drawings are highly sensitive to light. These works represent some of the best examples of local female artists in our collection and thus haven’t been easy to replace. Collections Assistant Fern Ryan looked through our stored collections to find different female artists not already represented in our museum displays. Artworks of similar size were required to be able to re-use the special conservation-standard frames.

Fern worked with a freelance technician, Carole Conde, to take down the previous display and come up with a new arrangement. Carole then began work on reframing, a lengthy process requiring specialist skill: First, Carole carefully removes all the displayed artworks from their frames. The replacement works often require removing from old frames and acidic mounts that are not up to current conservation standards. New acid-free mounts need to be cut to custom fit each individual artwork. Fern and Carole decide together which parts of the artwork should be visible and which bits hidden behind the mount. Finally, Carole needs to mount the replacement artworks into the display frames and re-hang them. Fern needs to produce a new set of interpretation to provide information on the new display.

All objects that need retiring will require a similar process, needing curatorial time and in many cases budget for Carole’s time and materials. Much of this work can only happen on a Monday when we’re closed, thus it will progress slowly but surely. We hope that you enjoy seeing different parts of collection come on display, once the work is done.

This work has been funded by the Cowle Trust through the generous donations made by visitors to the Museum.