The extent of the damage to the Glasshouse Regional Gallery from the microburst storm on February 3 is still being assessed, but the scale of repairs has been revealed.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Like many homes and businesses in the Port Macquarie CBD, the gallery experienced significant damage during the extreme weather event.
Regional Gallery Curator Bridget Purtill said the storm caused "havoc" in the gallery space as well as the staff offices.
"We had a lot of water, debris and hail that had blocked our storm-water drains," she said.
"We have a box gutter and it overflowed within both levels of the gallery space and also in our offices."
Staff had only installed an exhibition in the gallery two weeks before the storm hit.
"We were able to save the majority of the works," Ms Purtill said.
The gallery had 43 artists on display on February 3, with the majority of artworks on the ground floor constructed from paper.
"There were 40 artists within that show and we managed to save everything but three works," Ms Purtill said.
"And we have been able to conserve some of the works with framing."
There were also three local artists' work being exhibited in the upstairs area of the gallery, including a sculptural piece.
"We managed to save most of those works, but there was some water damage to some of the paper works of one of the local artists."
Staff efficiently worked during the storm to move the artworks from the gallery to a safe and environmentally controlled space for storage.
"It was an amazing response from the Glasshouse team, everyone reacted really quickly," Ms Purtill said.
"It took a bit of time to find out what was lost.
"Once paper holds water, it really does change and so a lot of the artists were not happy with the fact that the works wouldn't be able to be displayed again."
This was the first time an insurance claim was made in the Regional Gallery's history.
"It's quite devastating when you're in charge of someone's work to go through this," Ms Purtill said.
On the way to reopening
Structural engineers and specialist contractors have been in to assess the extent of the damage, with the full cost of repair work unknown at this stage.
Glasshouse Venue Manager Pam Milne said they are working with the insurance company through each stage of the repair process.
It is expected insurance will cover the full cost of repairs, with experts continuing to undertake damage assessments of the space.
"The floors upstairs were quite heavily damaged and it needed time for moisture to be extracted out of the floorboards," Ms Purtill said.
"Luckily we have saved the floor because it was donated to us and milled especially for this space."
The gallery walls are also being inspected for moisture damage.
"It does look like we might have to replace both ceilings because there is a lot of sagging that's starting to occur," Ms Purtill said.
"And the walls are still holding moisture.
"Until we get behind all of the walls and see the damage, we won't know whether all of the western walls will need to be replaced."
A specialist contractor has been engaged to repair the space and return it to its original, museum industry-built standard.
"We want to get it back to industry standard," Ms Purtill said.
A structural engineer is also putting together a causation report on the guttering system to ensure an incident like this won't happen again in the future.
"This will also ensure the safety of works being exhibited here."
Ms Purtill said she is "hopeful" the gallery will be operating by July for the ARTEXPRESS exhibition.
IN OTHER NEWS:
