Community invited to Ararat Gallery’s digitisation project

Ararat Gallery is inviting the community to take part in a pilot project that is currently digitising its permanent collection.

Community members are invited to attend two public sessions – an opportunity to have an object from their own collection professionally photographed, and a public lecture that will cover fashion and textile preventive care with the National Gallery of Victoria.

Ararat Gallery, Textile Art Museum Australia (TAMA), was selected to take part in the innovative pilot project that will see up to 1,200 items in its permanent collection digitally photographed. In turn, the gallery’s images will be uploaded to the Victorian Collections website for easier access to researchers, teachers and the general public.

Ararat Rural City Council CEO Dr Tim Harrison said the Gallery team would love to see the public participate in the project by attending the sessions.

Dr Harrison said the first session would be held on Thursday 2 May from 10am-12pm at the Gallery, with people able to bring in a piece from their own collections to be professionally photographed.

“During this session, Gallery team members will also be present to share knowledge and experience they have gained through the project,” he said.

The public lecture will be on Saturday 4 May at 2pm with the National Gallery of Victoria's Skye Firth, Senior Conservator of Textiles, and Ellen Doyle, Textile Display Specialist.

“The lecture will take the format of a 40-minute presentation followed by a Q&A session, which is a great opportunity to learn more about textile conservation,” Dr Harrison said.

Please RSVP for the sessions by calling the Gallery on 5355 0220 or emailing [email protected]. Both of these events are free of charge and will be held at Ararat Gallery TAMA, 82 Vincent Street.

TAMA is the first Victorian regional gallery to undertake the digitisation project, which will continue through April into early May. The project is a partnership between Creative Victoria, the National Gallery of Victoria and the Public Galleries Association. After TAMA, the roadshow will move to galleries in Benalla and Morwell.

As part of the project, TAMA has had National Gallery of Victoria Head of Conservation Michael Varcoe-Cocks and Coordinating Conservator MaryJo Lelyveld visit to view the digitisation effort in action.

The gallery team, including photographer Michelle Dunn, has worked diligently over the past two weeks carefully bringing out the collection items, setting up the correct lighting and then capturing each of them.