Invercargill City Council’s museum and heritage services team has teamed up with a local artist to preserve her work depicting stories from across Southland.
Janice Gill has been donating her work to the museum since 1976; it also now includes archival materials, sketchbooks, and paint brushes.
Originally from Winton, she spent much of her life near Nelson but three years ago decided it was time to move back south.
She has worked along side Te Unua Museum of Southland to record her creative history ahead of a retrospective exhibition of her works next year.
“It’s the people working with the museum who have very much made me feel at home,” Gill said in a statement.
“It’s always a challenge to come back after so many years away, but my painting has been the introduction to lots of interesting and lively people.”
She had also been working on a new series of paintings which will also be added to Te Unua’s museum collection.
“The people working with the collection these days are much younger than I am and it’s just been wonderful to see that they understand what the work is about.”
She said it was “a bit like having grandchildren”, and she was looking forward to the team preserving her work for years to come.
Gill had been associated with the museum since the age of 5 and still holds fond memories.
“My mum and dad came up with one shilling and I became a junior member of the museum . . . that card became my absolute treasure of childhood.”
Te Unua Museum of Southland team leader collections Tiffany Jenks said with Gill’s extensive creative catalogue spanning from the 1960s, people were always the primary focus of her work.
“Janice’s collection captures an insight into our culture as Southlanders and New Zealanders.
“It reflects who we were, who we are, who we could have been, and who we may come to be,” Ms Jenks said.
Part of the collection process had included the preservation of the art, using conservation-grade materials to make sure it would be seen in good condition for generations.
“If you disconnect an item from its history, over time it simply becomes something old . . . in Janice’s case it’s not the skill of the artist alone that gives value to her pieces within the collection, but Janice herself.
“Just because something is old doesn’t mean it warrants being in a museum.”
She said Ms Gill shared her artistic process, development of her craft, and the stories behind each piece.
“For our team, to be able to be working alongside Janice as she shared her insights was really exciting.”