National Museums Liverpool Blog - handling and transport team

There’s less than a week to go before Art in Revolution: Liverpool 1911 opens on Friday 24 June at the Walker Art Gallery, and behind the scenes people are working tirelessly to get the exhibition ready.

I popped over for a sneak peak and although it isn’t finished it already looks great. Only two weeks ago it was an empty gallery but now it's filling up with beautiful paintings, drawings and even textiles.

By the time it’s open to the public there will be work by van Gogh, Matisse, Gauguin and Signac on display, and I’m sure it will look incredible.

To see how the installation of the exhibition has progressed view our pictures on Flickr.

The handling team are working hard to hang all the works of art on the walls.

There’s only a week left before A Collector’s Eye: Cranach to Pissarro opens to the public on Friday 18 February 2011, and the installation is well under way. Yesterday I popped over to the Walker Art Gallery to see how the installation was going.

Now, a couple of weeks ago I was putting up a framed painting in my room. It was quite a complicated affair, and involved lots of shouting and taking ‘time out’ to compose myself.  I thought that if this was the level of commotion one painting can cause, I’d witness something similar at the Walker.

However as soon as I got there I was struck by how serene everyone seemed. People were quietly getting on with the task in hand, and the exhibition was really taking shape.

Not all of the paintings had been hung at this stage but it hasn’t stopped me getting really excited for next week. I can’t wait to see it once it’s up and ready for the public to see.

The Handling Team unwrap Doré's 'Scottish Landscape' ready for the exhibition.

Last Friday was a sad day at the National Conservation Centre as the doors closed to visitors for the last time.  However, yesterday brought with it a silver lining, as we relocated our conservation themed event ‘Crystal Magic’ over to the Clore Natural History Centre at World Museum.

The event was buzzing and despite the icy conditions outside, over seventy people attended the afternoon event.  ‘Salty’ our magical crystal growing snowman stole the show, as he busied away growing snow-like crystals.  He even let us borrow a few to look at more closely.  With our video microscope having also made the transition from the National Conservation Centre over to World Museum, we were able to examine crystals up close and discovered all kinds of beautiful colours, shapes and patterns.

For those who have already had their fill of snow crystals over the past few days, we also looked at how crystals might grow in our collections!  It was revealed that although crystals may look very beautiful and harmless they can be a menace for conservators.  You may ask why?  Well, crystals can in fact grow from soluble salts inside some objects such as ceramics and sculpture.  When these salts crystallize inside the object they expand causing serious stress and damage. 

So, ‘Crystal Magic’ marked the start of a new era, as the National Conservation Centre spread its wings for the first time, to begin conservation-themed events at other venues.  Although the big blue doors at the National Conservation Centre may now be closed to visitors, the dedicated work of the Centre’s conservators continues inside.  Keep your eyes open for new conservation themed events in the New Year on our Events pages.  You can also keep up-to-date with what’s going on behind-the-scenes via the blog, with more in-depth features and information on our Opinions Service available on our website. 

Some crystals from ‘Salty’ our magical crystal-growing snowman, when examined using cross-polarised light microscopy.

The goddess Athena wore an unusual bubblewrap outfit to the dinner

The evening was also attended by a goddess, several penguins, a few vehicles, some works of art and a whole flock of superlambananas. These items, which are mainly from National Museums Liverpool's collections, although the superlambananas were on loan, were put on temporary display for the evening to give a taster of the wide variety of objects that will go on display in the new museum when it opens in 2011.

If you were not lucky enough to attend the dinner itself you can see some great photos from the evening on the Art in Liverpool blog.

You can also see behind-the-scenes photos of our handling and transport team installing the objects for display before the dinner and then returning them afterwards in the Moving Stories set on Flickr. Is it just me or does this photo of handling and transport technician Danny look like a scene from Casualty, with the patient being wheeled into a lift on a trolley?

Handling and transport technician Paula at the Walker

Even while it has been snowing outside this week, our staff have been working away behind the scenes inside the Walker Art Gallery to prepare the next exhibition Aubrey Williams: Atlantic Fire. The exhibition of 14 paintings by Guyanese-born artist Aubrey Williams opens on 15 January 2010.

Handling and transport technicians Paula and Paul took some great photos on their way to the Walker in the snow on Tuesday. You can see more in the Moving stories set on Flickr. I hope they had a nice Liverpool fire, or even some central heating, at home to warm them up when they got home from work.

Nottingham Contemporary art gallery - home to the Walker's Hockney painting for the next few months

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at one of the aspects of the work that our staff are involved in, courtesy of handling and transport technician Paula Frew. This week Paula travelled to Nottingham as a courier to supervise the installation of one of the Walker's most popular paintings, which has gone out on loan. Here's what she got up to, in her own words:

"Monday morning at 7.30am I was on the train travelling to Nottingham to act as a courier for the installation of the Walker's David Hockney painting  'Peter getting out of Nick’s pool' by David Hockney, which is on loan to the Nottingham Contemporary art gallery for their Hockney exhibition. The painting had travelled ahead of me, having been collected from the Walker on the Friday by Momart, who handle and transport art works nationally and internationally.

Twenty minutes walk from the train station, Nottingham Contemporary art gallery stands on a corner like the raised prow of a ship looming in front of a sandstone gothic church, the opposing architectural styles complimenting the space.

Entering the gallery, construction work was underway installing interior features. I signed in and was introduced to the staff who escorted me into the exhibition space. Here was a quiet eclectic mix of organised disciplines consisting of painting conservators, curators a registrar and exhibition technicians.

I instructed the technicians on the safe removal procedure of the crated work. The work was carefully removed and placed on foam blocks and leant temporarily against the wall.

Painting conservators checked the painting against the relevant paperwork and images that I had with me from National Museums Liverpool's painting conservator David Crombie, who had supplied a full report. Content with the report and the painting's condition, the conservators allowed the technicians to continue with its installation.

I observed the technicians measure a space on the wall and install the original lifting brackets. Lifting brackets are used to support this painting, as a pretty chunky frame encompasses the canvas, giving it a weight of 105kgs.

A small lifting machine (SWL 227kgs) was used to elevate the painting onto the brackets. Once installed onto the brackets, the fittings attached to the back of the painting called ‘Oz- clips’ (nothing to do with a wizard’s hair!) were used to finally secure the painting to the wall, installation professionally completed.

Visitors to the Walker Art Gallery hoping to see a David Hockney painting over the next few months won't be disappointed as the Tate have kindly loaned 'Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy', which is going on display in gallery 15 for the duration of the Hockney exhibition in Nottingham."

"Look honey, I shrunk the guitarist!"

As you will probably be aware from reading this blog over the years, there are many unsung heroes in our staff who put in a lot of effort behind the scenes to ensure that our exhibitions and events go off without a hitch. There are lots of examples of the handling and transport team hard at work in the Moving stories set of photos on Flickr.

With all that hard work, it's good to know that they have some light hearted fun occasionally, as the latest photos show. Their latest major project has been to dismantle the displays from The Beat Goes On exhibition, which closed recently. Handling and transport technician Paul Kelly took the opportunity to become a rock star with a giant guitar prop, while the joiners Jerry and Steve took a ride on a rather realistic 2-dimensional scooter.

Several statues from the Lady Lever Art Gallery have recently been out on loan to the V&A for the 'Thomas Hope:Regency Designer' exhibition. On their return they made a quick pitstop in the sculpture conservation studio, where they were checked and re-waxed before being ready to return to public display.

You can see the sculptures making their way back to the Lady Lever Art Gallery in our Moving stories Flickr set. As you can imagine, moving several large, heavy sculptures without damaging them is quite an operation, which required the combined efforts and specialist skills of the technical services team, sculpture conservators, conservation technologies and the handling and transport technicians, as well as some serious heavy lifting equipment. The good news is that the move was a success and the sculptures are now back on display.

As regular visitors will realise, there are always small changes taking place within our galleries, even in the 'permanent' displays, as objects do occasionally get removed for loans or conservation treatment. An example is the painting 'Elaine' painted by Sophie Anderson, which is going to be included in the exhibition 'The Rise of Women Artists' at the Walker from 23 October 2009. Framing conservator Roy Irlam is using this opportunity to address particular areas of the painting's framework, as access to this painting has been difficult due to its high position on the gallery wall. You can see photos of the de-installation in our Moving stories Flickr set. Handling and transport technician Paula Frew explains just how this large painting was safely removed from display below.

Installing 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' in the Walker

"The handling and transport team use specialised equipment for paintings at this height which include a block and tackle system used to elevate and lower paintings. Each block and tackle section is equipped to take a safe working load of 250kg which are suspended from a lifting strap (SWL 1000kgs) which is attached to a load bearing picture rail.

Another piece of equipment which is an old favourite of the team's goes by the fanciful name of 'Airwolf'. It's a gas operated hydraulic lift that enables technicians to access the heights needed to reach the galleries picture rails.

The most recent addition to the team's repertoire of equipment is an electrical hydraulic lift embellished with the title of 'Leonardo'. This machine takes the weight of one person and can be operated at its base or by the operator in the caged platform area at various heights to move around the gallery area. Unfortunately it doesn't go as high as the 'Airwolf' and is therefore restricted.

The Mobile Elevated Towers named 'Pulpit Towers' are mobile platforms that have replaced ladders due to the new ladder regulations and adhere to the new safety rulings.

The large maroon coloured machine is called the 'Sumner lift'. This machine has been specifically adapted to take a 500kg weight, having counterbalanced weights in the enclosed basket. The machine can access heavy paintings at particular heights on its forks. It works on a ratchet and geared system operated manually, preferably by someone who has eaten a lot of spinach!

The equipment has to be condition checked before use which takes time, so the team started at 7.30am to make headway before the Walker opened to the public at 10am. Once it opened we barricaded off half of the gallery space rather than closing it completely to the public. We found that the visitors were more interested in our operation than they were in the collections!

Before taking down 'Elaine' we removed the painting beneath it 'The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden' using the Sumner lift machine. The team then set up the block and tackle for 'Elaine' and removed it safely.

The painting 'Daniel in the Lion's Den' by Riviere has recently returned to the Walker after going out on loan to the British Museum for their 'Babylon' exhibition. We installed this painting in place of 'Elaine' using the block and tackle system, then re-installed 'The Expulsion of Adam and Eve...' beneath it and re-opened the remaining gallery space."

The handling team carefully wrap Jude the Giant's head in plastic sheeting

As I've mentioned many times before, life for National Museums Liverpool's handling and transport technicians is certainly never dull. This Flickr set of photographs of their activities this week look like scenes from a Victorian murder mystery - with dark, mysterious tunnels and body parts being wrapped.

The team were actually moving the mobile statue Jude the Giant. Many people will remember Jude, who was made in workshops at World Museum for the city's 800th birthday pageant in 2007, and has recently been on display in St Georges Hall.

She has now been dismantled, wrapped in protective packaging and taken to the National Conservation Centre for treatment before going back out on display in a new location later this year.

The handling team were assisted by textile conservators, especially when moving Jude's dress, which is a painted item that needs special care and attention. Handling technician and senior driver Paul Kelly thinks that the whole team deserves a big hand for doing such a great job.