Protecting our region’s heritage for future generations

Working alongside exhibition curator Jean Johnson, the museum is looking forward to telling the story of the Featons, their life in Gisborne and the story of the album.

Containing full-colour paintings of New Zealand native flowers painted by Sarah, the Album was the first full-colour art book published in New Zealand. The original watercolour paintings are held in the collections of the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa and many of them will be borrowed for the exhibition which will open on 25 November.

Eloise Wallace, Museum director says it’s wonderful to see their endowment fund with Sunrise growing, enabling them to employ an expert to actively conserve and clean significant artefacts in the collection.

“We’ve been able to use the income from our fund to engage Aline Curtis, a specialist book and paper conservator who lives in Gisborne, to undertake conservation of the two copies of the Album held in our collection. This type of active conservation work on the collection is usually an expense beyond our operational budgets.”

“Having our own endowment fund is wonderful, as the money generated from it will allow us to undertake special projects like this to ensure we are able to care for and share treasures of significance to our region now and in the future.”