The Art & Design Collection Room is underway

Pictured is Adina West, Collections Officer at the ANU School of Art & Design. Photo: Yun Hu / ANU

Monday 24 April 2023

Over the past six months, a newly appointed Collections Officer by the ANU School of Art & Design has been working tirelessly to establish an Art & Design Collection Room.

Adina West has been archiving the incredible body of acquired and donated artwork from around the School and the School’s workshops; “[The Collection] aims to capture the teaching history of the School and the many relationships that have been nurtured.”

Safely stored away in print drawers, guarded by latches, doors and cupboards, is an envious collection of works on paper by a selection of visiting artists, past educators and alumni. West has begun the exciting process of cataloguing numerous etchings, lithographs, screenprints and drawings that tell significant stories about the history of the School. Some of the works accounted for so far are by Naminapu Maymuru White, Lenie Namatjira, Gloria Pannka, Jimmy Pike, Fiona Foley, Danie Mellor, G.W. Bott, Mike Parr, Noel Counihan, to name just a few.

The collection contains work dating from the 1950s to 2010s and has the potential to continue hereafter. “It would be great to know that [the collection] could carry on as a visual account of the evolution of the School,” says West.

The Collection won’t be available for viewing for some time but will ultimately house an impressive collection of work from diverse areas including print, ceramics, glass, jewellery & small objects, as well as painting, three-dimensional forms, photography, media arts, textiles and furniture.

The importance of storing, recording and maintaining an art collection is a vital process in preserving a part of the Schools’ history and culture. It is also an essential tool in continuing to educate, inspire and inform future research, with hope that in time the Collection will contribute to the significant process of documenting broader cultural practices, processes and history for future generations.

We look forward to watching the Collection Room unfold and will continue to provide the community with notable updates.

For more information or enquiries, please email admin.somad@anu.edu.au