Education - Follow-up

Group of Seven artworks rescued after water leak
January 14, 2011


It was a close call for the Group of Seven.

Paintings by the famed Canadian artists and other valuable works owned by the Toronto District School Board were rescued from a secret vault after a small flood was discovered on the floor last week, sources told the Star.

Then, after someone pried open a baseboard, water started gushing out, said a source.

“One wall was basically full of water,” said a source, adding that while none of the valuable works was damaged, a few historical documents and artifacts suffered minor damage from the humidity.

"You’ve got to admit, we were very fortunate the art wasn’t damaged.”

The vault has since been emptied and more than 20 major pieces quietly relocated to the Art Gallery of Ontario — where they were expected to end up anyway this fall as part of a new program now being negotiated.

The rest have been transferred to secure locations.

But some say the incident shows just how urgent it is for the board to secure a home for the valuable pieces.

About 155 of the most valuable paintings are worth $7 million alone and include works by Tom Thomson, Emily Carr and Norval Morrisseau. Many of them were donated with the condition that they not be sold.

One trustee said board staff should have agreed to install a humidity alarm — as was initially requested — in the vault, which is located in an aging facility owned by the board.

The “facilities (department) was very short-sighted,” said Trustee Sheila Cary-Meagher, who is a member of the board’s fine art committee currently working out a deal to display the board’s collection to the public — free of charge — in the AGO’s education wing when it opens this fall.

The vault the art was being stored in is temperature and humidity controlled and the ceiling waterproofed.

A source said the leak came from above, and the water penetrated a weak spot in the vault’s ceiling, eventually pooling in a vault wall.

The board’s extensive art collection comprises about one million historical artifacts and archival items including photos, maps, decorative arts, pictures and paintings. They are all stored securely, with the most valuable pieces stored in an inner secret vault.

Since the Toronto board was amalgamated more than a decade ago, board staff have been collecting the works, preserving and cataloguing them.

Some were rescued and restored after being damaged by water or smoke — some were hung over microwaves in staff rooms or in principal’s offices with little security

Again I say, how does a school board justify spending educational dollars on major works of art rather than education. Those types of pieces belong in a museum or art gallery, not stored out of sight for the privileged few to gawk at. As for those donated pieces, Ar least take better care of them....Enough said!!!!

Democracy

It's all about people, not power

Eventually the world leaders will get it right, Hopefully!

Peace Officer Dies

And over 12,000 others marched along city streets
lined with citizens who watched, and citizens who wept.