Friday, August 20, 2021
The Tribune | Weekend | 11
art
NAGB’s conservation efforts for sister museums impacted by Dorian TWO years ago, when the all-clear was given significant damage, the artwork “looked like it had on September 3, 2019, hours after Hurricane just come from the framing shop”. As Roshanne Dorian had finally abandoned course in Grand explained, it was a combination of luck and prepBahama, the National Art Gallery of the Bahamas aration: “A few days before the storm, Ritchie (NAGB), was already hard at work responding to decided to pack up all of the artwork and put them the needs of survivors and the general public. in bubble wrap and cardboard boxes in one section Committed to putting the needs of the nation of the gallery. Surprisingly, all of the other doors ahead of its own, the NAGB readily offered its (in the gallery) gave, but not that door.” facilities and networks to The next stop on the SCRI’s art tour was assist with relief efforts, prothe Wyannie Malone Museum viding a donation site and in Elbow Cay. Opened in 1978, hosting fundraising events. the museum quickly became To particularly assist its a top attraction for visitors three sister museums devasto Hope Town. Housing and tated by Dorian, the NAGB exhibiting artefacts, documents, promptly coordinated conserarchives and other records vation efforts for the Minnis that date back to the 1800s, the Gallery in Marsh Harmuseum has spent the last 40 bour, the Wyannie Malone years preserving and honouring Museum in Elbow Cay and Abaco’s history and culture. the Albert Lowe Museum in In the aftermath of Dorian, Green Turtle Cay. the museum was faced with NAGB’s former executive contaminated water tanks, a director, Amanda Coulson submerged fire safe and major was able to get in touch with damage to the floors and roof. the Smithsonian’s Cultural As the museum’s only Rescue Initiative (SCRI), a employee, Marjorie Chapman division of the Smithsonian didn’t have the capacity to fix Institution in Washington, DC, anything right away. The goal dedicated to helping American was simply to prevent further and international communities damage from occurring. In preserve their identities and hisfact, by the time the NAGB tory in the face of disaster. and SCRI came some two Eager to lend its knowledge months later, the museum THE MINNIS Gallery in Marsh and expertise to the NAGB was still “very much in its raw state”. Harbour, Abaco, before and and the Antiquities, MonuImportantly, however, the knowledge after Hurricane Dorian hit. ments and Museum Corporation and expertise they brought gave the (AMMC), the SCRI scheduled museum hope. site visits for late October 2019 to conduct initial The third and final gallery the SCRI team toured assessments and make timely recommendations. was the Albert Lowe Museum in Green Turtle Cay. Between October 30 and November 1, 2019, a Established by local artist Alton Lowe and named team made up of SCRI conservators, and NAGB after his father, Albert Lowe, the museum has been and AMMC staff, toured the affected museums a landmark in the cay’s historic district, New Plymand historic sites. outh, since 1976. The first historic museum in the One of the first stops was the Minnis Gallery in Bahamas, it had acquired an extensive collection Marsh Harbour. Run by Roshanne Minnis-Eyma, of antiques, artefacts, photographs and documents daughter of Bahamian music and art icon Eddie over the last five decades that brought to life hunMinnis, and her husband and fellow artist, Ritchie dreds of years of local and national history. Housed Eyma, the gallery was just beginning to grow its in a 150-year-old Loyalist home - one of the few partnerships and expand its programming when structures to survive the 1932 Abaco hurricane Dorian hit. - the Albert Lowe Museum is an architectural Crouched in a bathtub for five hours with marvel. Constructed using traditional boat-buildthree others during the storm, Roshanne and ing techniques, it sustained roof and water damage, Ritchie were certain all their paintings had been but remained largely intact after the storm. destroyed. But when their landlord sent word that When the SCRI team arrived to assess the the artwork was unscathed, the pair found them- museum, they brought dehumidifiers and personal selves on the same flight to Marsh Harbour as the protective equipment to help volunteers safely SCRI team who readily offered to assist. strip the walls and salvage what was left. Thanks to The family’s original paintings, all 25 of them, Chris Dale, a second homeowner and close friend had survived. While the gallery itself had sustained of the museum’s, 40 of Alton’s paintings had been
secured before the storm. But cardboard boxes were only a temporary fix. The paintings had to be removed and stacked in such a way that air would pass through, or else mould would set in. This basic yet critical conservation technique was the kind of information the affected museums needed access to, and the NAGB was resolved to get it. Everywhere the team went, they tried to leave behind as much information as possible, so that “any one of those institutions could help the community”. Recognising the impact of these efforts, a member of the NAGB’s curatorial team, Richardo Barrett, is now being trained to serve as an on-site conservator. To further assist the affected museums, the SCRI sent supplies and instructions on how to conserve the works to the NAGB this past November. The aim was for the museums to have everything in hand early last year, but when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, coordinating shipping from the SCRI’s headquarters in DC proved difficult. Given the pace of recovery efforts in Abaco, however, the delay went largely unnoticed. For the Wyannie Malone Museum, for example, the supplies are “very valuable…things that we will definitely need and are very glad to have,” but cannot be utilised until the building’s electrical and plumbing repairs are complete.” Sadly, the Minnis Gallery has fared much worse; it’s no closer to being opened than it was in the initial aftermath of the storm. While the space the Minnises had was cleaned up, according to Ritchie, “it’s still a wreck ‘cause the owners (of the building) didn’t have insurance”. With no physical presence in Abaco, the family spent the latter part of last year revamping the gallery website in hopes of improving its online presence. Because Abaco was such a “beautiful, inspirational, motivational setting” for them as artists, Roshanne and Ritchie would love nothing more than to return to Marsh Harbour. The Albert Lowe Museum, like much of Green Turtle Cay, has made some progress. The museum’s furniture (circa 1860/1880) has to be replaced, but most of the rudimentary repairs are complete. As the museum continues to rebuild, Green Turtle native and museum liaison Leanne Russell believes there’s no better time to support and promote art education. To support the NAGB and its sister museums in Abaco, please visit: • https://nagb.org.bs/membership • https://albertlowemuseum.com/donate/ • https://www.hopetownmuseum.com/ support-the-museum. html To support the Minnis Family Gallery, please consider purchasing original works and/or prints from their website: https://octagon-glockenspieljc64.squarespace.com/
