I've been concerned about the lack of conservation for NZ public sculpture for some time now (especially my own). A lack of will and/or money from councils is probably the main reason. NZ has a history of world class wooden sculpture, and yet many government departments have no maintenance policy for it (or if they do, they ignore it) and so wooden sculptures are left to just rot away. In Wellington I noticed Para Matchitt's, 'bridge', rotting for years before it was spruced up. Similarly for Selwyn Muru's gate in Aotea Square that has recently been restored too late. Many of us have lived in wooden houses and know that they need washing and repainting or staining at regular intervals...if looked after they can last for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, now councils generally favour stainless steel, bronze, or hard stone at the expense of wood, but even a bronze sculpture needs maintenance and I'm not just referring to pigeon poo. Many cities worldwide use the laser method for their bronzes so as to preserve the original patina that might be damaged by abrasive methods. NZ probably can't afford this but we do need to hound the government to look after public artworks before they get to the point of needing major repair.
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I've been concerned about the lack of conservation for NZ public sculpture for some time now (especially my own). A lack of will and/or money from councils is probably the main reason. NZ has a history of world class wooden sculpture, and yet many government departments have no maintenance policy for it (or if they do, they ignore it) and so wooden sculptures are left to just rot away. In Wellington I noticed Para Matchitt's, 'bridge', rotting for years before it was spruced up. Similarly for Selwyn Muru's gate in Aotea Square that has recently been restored too late. Many of us have lived in wooden houses and know that they need washing and repainting or staining at regular intervals...if looked after they can last for hundreds of years. Unfortunately, now councils generally favour stainless steel, bronze, or hard stone at the expense of wood, but even a bronze sculpture needs maintenance and I'm not just referring to pigeon poo. Many cities worldwide use the laser method for their bronzes so as to preserve the original patina that might be damaged by abrasive methods. NZ probably can't afford this but we do need to hound the government to look after public artworks before they get to the point of needing major repair.
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