As we prepare for our upcoming Capital Redevelopment Transforming Crawford Art Gallery, we have started to decant over 3,500 works of the National Collection housed at Crawford Art Gallery. These work will be moved to secure storage, and to other institutions for Touring and Sharing. At the Gallery, we house an extensive collection of busts. Read below to find out the process involved in moving these works from the Gallery into secure storage while we are offsite!

To facilitate the decant process, in-house packing stations have been set up throughout the Gallery. At this first stage, foam blocks are measured and cut to scale in order to add extra protection for the busts when they are placed within their crates. 

Photo: Chloé Griffin

Once all four busts have been carefully placed in their crates, the crate is sealed and the busts are moved offsite to secure storage, where they will remain until they are returned to the newly renovated Crawford Art Gallery.

Photo: Chloé Griffin

To watch our Curator of Collections & Special Projects Dr Michael Waldron describe this process in more detail, watch the below video!