It's been almost 13 months since Newcastle Art Gallery shut its doors to the public. At the time, the gallery had officially reached its goal of $40million in funds to commence a long-sought expansion of the gallery.
It was a major step forward for the gallery, located between Queen, Darby and Laman streets in the heart of Newcastle, which was opened in 1977 by opened by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
The expansion will see the gallery's exhibition floor space increase from 1297 square metres to 2898 square metres.
In the last year a major grouting project has seen more than 1500 cubic metres of grout filling seams under the gallery, and the removal of all artworks to offsite storage.
Tenders for the main construction close this month; and an approved bid could be in front of City of Newcastle councillors before the end of the 2023 financial year. At best, the expansion project could take 18 months to complete.
"REIMAGINED"
While the expansion plans present an exciting opportunity for total renovation and new spaces, it's already triggered a change in the gallery's approach.
Newcastle Art Gallery director Lauretta Morton phrases it this way: "When we say reimagined - the building is reimagined. But everything we do is reimagined. From our early planning, it's not what we do now. We need to question everything. 'Why do we want to bring that into the new gallery?' 'What's the value we can give to the community?' Because at the end of the day, that's what we're here for - it's the community."
The gallery team is expanding from nine, to 24.7 positions. The new gallery, although some time away, will be open seven days a week (including until 8pm every Friday night) and feature 13 galleries, plus a new education wet space, cafe, and expanded gift shop.
New staff already on board include head of curatorial and exhibitions Miriam Kelly, on board since July 2022, who previously worked at the Australian Institute of Contemporary Art; curatorial lead Peter Johnson, previously with the National Gallery of Australia and prior to that, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney; and exhibitions lead Tulleah Pearce, who has come from the Institute of Modern Art in Brisbane.
Morton reaffirms the main mission several times in our interview in early February: "It's always been about how much space can we give to artists. Artists are at the centre of everything. So upstairs, it's about displaying space for international works that we've never been able to display - we have a new loading dock that allows that, we can actually bring works and close it off in a secure, closed environment loading dock. Currently, we used to do it outside and bring it in through the back of the gallery."
The top floor will have seven galleries; the entire complex will have 13 exhibition galleries. It was a major design shift to move the existing gallery admin upstairs to the back of the building. The result means that area will become what Morton describes as "a beautiful long gun barrel gallery that has all the windows, and has the beautiful brutalist architecture", lending itself to displays of three-dimensional works, like the gallery's prized ceramics or bronzed sculptures.
The upstairs will also feature what Morton calls "the big white cube", a huge, contemporary art space.
THE PERMANENT COLLECTION
While the new upstairs space will likely host major Australian and international artists and shows, it is the main floor that answer the call for tradition, as it will be dedicated to artworks owned by the City of Newcastle.
"Our permanent collection icons will be on display," Morton says. "We have this incredible collection of over 7000 works of art, it's worth $126million, we're finally going to have everyone's favourites on display.
"So when they come to visit the new gallery, on the ground floor if they want to come in for a coffee, or a meal with their family or friends, or a program we are putting on, to see an amazing exhibition, they're going to walk past their favourites."
Like Arthur Boyd. William Dobell. Margaret Olley. John Olsen. Patricia Piccinini. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott. Brett Whiteley. Cressida Campbell.
Among those favourites is The sea sun of 5 bells, by John Olsen. Morton assures it "will go right back up to the beautiful void that it was in, in the ceiling. And that's become part of the fabric of our building".
The Olsen work was removed from the gallery with all of the other works, given a "good clean" by conservator Julia Sharp, and will be ready to resume its position when the new gallery opens. (Morton spoke to John Olsen on his birthday last month, congratulating him on reaching age 95. He told her he was looking forward to attending the gallery's opening.)
The new gallery will also feature views of Civic Park, from the ground floor cafe and the upper level terrace.
A new education and programs space on the Darby Street side of the building will feature a glass frontage and include wash -out sinks and toilets and easy accessibility, making it even more functional for groups of children.
CULTURAL TOURISM
Of course, the new gallery is a cornerstone of the City of Newcastle's push for cultural tourism.
"We are opposite a five-star hotel. We're down the block from the next five-star hotel," Morton says. "The city is continually changing and it's really exciting we are part of that. We are central to it. We are an anchor to it, That's how I see it."
The ground floor of the gallery, featuring works from the permanent collection, will remain free entry. But the upstairs galleries, which will have the capacity to draw international shows and high-calibre exhibitions, may charge fees at times.
It is those big shows that will put Newcastle on the map.
"We really want to have things here that no one else has seen," Morton says.
"We want people flying up from Melbourne, flying down from Brisbane, flying across from Perth, flying up from Canberra, which is what happened with WarWar."
WARWAR: The Art of Torres Strait, curated by the gallery, showcased the Torres Strait Islander tradition and society. It won 2022 Museums and Galleries National Awards for the best Learning or Interpretation Initiative, Indigenous Project, and Temporary or Travelling Exhibition.
"We know we can do it. The Sodeisha [ceramics] show in 2019 drew people from Japan," Morton adds.
Despite not having a definite reopening date, staff are busy both with securing funding for the next three-year cycle, 2025 through 2027, and making plans for art acquisitions and commissions.
"We are targeting the works for when we open," Morton says. "We are speaking to artists and galleries."
She notes: "For us, it is important to showcase our First Nations collection as well. When people walk into this gallery I want them to see the country we're on and understand that it's Australian art."
