CENTRE FOR CONTEMPORARY ART CONSERVATION
Conservators care for the artworks in the Gallery's Collection. The Gallery employs specialists in the conservation of paintings, works on paper, sculpture, new media and frames.
The Centre for Contemporary Art Conservation (CCAC) is our research facility where we are able to examine artworks in extraordinary detail.
The CCAC is equipped with a range of analytical tools including microscopes, infra-red video cameras, and spectroscopy and X-ray facilities.
A range of learning opportunities is available through the CCAC including internships and work placements for conservation students, and workshops for practicing conservators.
Gallery conservators are unable to undertake work on privately-owned artworks. For such conservation services please contact The Australian Institute for the Conservation of Cultural Material.
EXPLORE QAGOMA CONSERVATION PROJECTS
THERE'S AN APP IN MY ART WORK
At the recent Born Digital and Cultural Heritage Conference (June 2014), organised by the Play It Again research group, artist George Poonhkin Khut and QAGOMA'S Head of Conservation Amanda Pagliarino presented their perspectives on the Gallery's acquisition of Distillery: Waveforming 2012, the winning entry in the Queensland Art Gallery's 2012 National New Media Award.
CLEANING 'HERON'S HOME'
A final varnish layer on a finished painting has been an artistic practice for centuries. Artists often apply a transparent varnish to give saturation and their desired level of gloss to the painting, as well as to provide a protective coating. Until the 20th century, natural resins such as dammar and mastic were usually used. Over time these varnishes can become discoloured as the resin degrades, eventually causing a yellow to brown colour shift to the artwork. Whites look a dirty yellow, while blue skies are transformed to a stormy green.
THE MATERIALS OF IAN FAIRWEATHER: 1953 — 1974
The image of the artist working in his Bribie Island hut was taken late in Ian Fairweather's career. Due to ill health he had virtually stopped painting by 1972. This image, plus images taken in the 1960s show the artist working with many open tins of commercially made house paints. Paintings were either worked horizontally on a table or, as in this image, vertically on a home-made easel. The larger, late works from 1958 are characterised by a myriad of paint drips showing through in the underlayers, with drier brushstrokes over the top
TOTALLY TAPA: NGATU TĀ'ULI 2011 CONSERVATION TREATMENT
Conservation staff regularly devise unique solutions and techniques to allow large contemporary art works to be safely and elegantly displayed. Here is an insight into the behind-the-scenes work that went towards successfully displaying one of the special acquisitions for GOMA's 5th Birthday celebrations.
SECRETS UNDER DAMASK
A recent restoration was undertaken over four weeks to a parlour setting from c.1880 – 90s in the Gallery's Collection, comprising a settee, two grandfather chairs and a grandmother chair. The setting is significant because it was constructed in Queensland from Silky ash (Ehretia acuminata), a native deciduous tree.