September 2014
The final phase of art packing involved the relocation of the Gibbes nationally-acclaimed collection of over 600 miniature portraits to secure storage at The Charleston Museum. While the miniatures comprise the smallest works in the art collection, planning to transport them just a few short miles up Meeting Street was the most complex of all the art movement. These fragile works on ivory require specialized handling and tightly-controlled climatic conditions at all times; movement had to be smooth and almost completely vibration-free. Once again, our skilled Museum staff and a crew of expert fine art movers accomplished this task. Looking back, it seems we definitely saved the most stressful of the moves for last! If you drop by The Charleston Museum (TMC) this month, several of our miniatures are on display; we can’t thank our colleagues at TMC enough for taking such excellent care of our miniature collection, one of the best in the United States!
October 2014
When the last piece of art left the building, you might assume collections staff could finally relax, right? Never. Managing logistics for Insider Art Series exhibitions, preparation for conservation of artwork now five hours away, attending to a steady stream of loan requests to borrow permanent collection objects packed away, and working with our curators on the many details surrounding reinstallation of the permanent collection now fill our days (and sometimes nights.) No rest for the weary. We also had one final project to manage before our work at 135 Meeting Street could be considered complete: consolidate, pack, move, and store all of the “stuff” that staff wanted to keep for when we re-open. Tables, chairs, exhibition furniture, storage cabinets, art supplies, store inventory, heavy machinery, the kitchen sink…..all head to be dealt with and moved out. So we did that too; it was hard and tiring and not all that interesting to write about so I’ll skip the details. Once that last piece of our massive move puzzle had fallen into place, we did what Gibbes staff has been talking about for years-celebrated with a roller skating party in our Main Gallery!
Stay tuned for updates on our current and future collection/move activities. We may be working in an office for the time being but the artwork and exhibitions are always on our minds. We’ll make sure you, our supporters and friends, remain part of all the activity and our exciting future!
—Zinnia Willits, Director of Collections Administration
Published January 2, 2015