University collection plans

Press, 24 February 1988, Page 20

University collection plans

The University of Canterbury has taken steps to extend its collection of art works to enhance its campus at Ham. it has established a committee of three academic staff and a student to purchase works of art and accept donations or' bequests by artists or patrons of the arts. The committee, which will have one buyer and one member to act as curator, will spend part of its initial grant in acquir-

ing conservation equipment. In its first five years it will concentrate on purchases of original prints, partly because they will be relatively easy to care for and partly because the number that can be afforded will have an impact on buildings at the university within a short time. In the longer term the committee envisages pur-* chasing not only prints and paintings, but pottery, glassware, fibre art and

performance work. Its most ambitious plans are to purchase outdoor sculpture and to enhance it with complementary landscaping. It hopes that sponsorships by graduates or Christchurch business firms will help to ensure these plans are realised. The university already has the nucleus of a collection, but its best works are on loan, mainly to the Robert McDougall Art Gallery, and only a small number of paintings and prints are displayed.