MOUNTMAKERS AVAILABLE - ex TE PAPA

Is your museum planning a major exhibition programme over the next few
years?

Do you need a skilled addition to your mountmaking team?

TE PAPA is one of the largest new museum projects happening in the world
today.  It opens here in New Zealand on the Wellington waterfront in
February 1998 with 10,000m2 of exhibition space.

For the past year I have managed the team of six mountmakers who have
prepared the collection object mounts for all these exhibitions.  Their
brief has been to create mounts that support the objects safely and
effectively, are as unobtrusive as possible, and if visible are finely
finished and of simple lines. Currently the team is involved in the
installation of the exhibitions.

From March 1998 five members of this team will have completed their
contracts and they are keen to move on to other challenging projects
where they can put their skills to good use and further develop their
experience.

In their time here at Te Papa these five mountmakers have worked on a
wide range of mounts for a wide range of collection items - natural
environment specimens, artworks, historical objects, Maori and Pacific
cultural treasures, and ethnographic pieces.

They are familiar with the fabrication of:
* +Wire+ type mounts, mostly fabricated in stainless steel and plastic
coated.
* Steel mounts for larger items such as carvings - stronger but still
visually subtle. Where the object is not encased these are made in such
a way as to lock the object in place.
* Forms, ranging from small shaped ethafoam supports (fabric covered)
often attached to a +wire+ component, to full body forms for costume.
* Lifts - ranging from simple boxes to more complex structures.
* Perspex mounts, shaped to fit the item, often in a clasp form.

They have experience in handling, supporting and installing collection
items  - including the cultural awareness necessary for handling
indigenous cultural treasures.

I+ve really enjoyed working with these mountmakers. They+ve worked very
effectively as a team and the mounts they+ve produced are excellent.
I+d be delighted to see them move on to other exciting projects where
they can continue to use their skills to the maximum!

I+d like to be able to let them know of such projects so they can
approach those organisations on their own account. But there are
undoubtedly exciting projects out there that I don+t yet know about.

If you have or know of such a project that needs a good mountmaker+s
skills do please let me know.

Gillian Andreae
Manager, Technical Services
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa
Wellington
New Zealand
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