Andrea Hemmins returns to The Kauri Museum

There’s a new, but also familiar, face at the helm of the collections department at the Kauri Museum looking after its vast array of exhibits

After traveling and working abroad, former pictorial archivist, Andrea Hemmins, has returned home to Northland and to The Kauri Museum where she is now the Collections Manager.

Originally from north of Dargaville near the Waipoua Forest, Andrea has a Bachelor of Visual Communication Design in photography and a Graduate Diploma in graphic design from Wellington’s Massey University.

“I left the museum at Matakohe in 2006 for the United States to visit family and friends. While I was there I seized the opportunity to go to as many galleries and museums as possible, including the Salvador Dali Gallery in Tampa and the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco and New York,” said Andrea.

“Then I travelled to the UK and worked at Tate in London where I became the Print Production Controller, overseeing the production and sale of commercial print at the four galleries, Tate Modern, Britain, Liverpool and St Ives.

“It was an amazing job, full of challenges and experiences I could never have imagined. I travelled between Tate Modern and Tate Britain by boat on the Thames to view works and check on product in shops.

One day I’d be comparing the colours of Turner’s masterpieces, the next, meeting a tight delivery deadline for an exhibition opening, or finding out how to translate a Russian caption from an email. I also spent time in Holland where museums and galleries are among some of the best in the world.”

Andrea has more recently worked at the Auckland Museum within the collections department.

“Now as Collections Manager at The Kauri Museum I am really looking forward to working with the team to help establish and uphold standards to maintain and conserve the collections.

“The museum is a living thing, always growing and changing. It’s great to be a part of that.”