ALBANY ART COLLECTION
The City of Albany art collection is a valuable asset to the community, and whilst it does have a monetary value, it provides much more value through its contribution to an understanding of our local history and a sense of place and helps to inform our community identity and how we see ourselves within the broader national context.
The City's Collection has the capacity to link people to place through visual interchange and is always of significant interest to visitors to our region, helping to promote Albany as a cultural tourism destination.
Background
The City of Albany art collection today consists of approximately 398 works of art with an emphasis on 20th century works by Australian artists. It has a strong focus on Western Australian artists.
It is very likely the collection commenced with artwork bequeathed by Claude Hotchin in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Claude was a self-made businessman and a supportive philanthropist of the Arts. He spent most of his life in Western Australia and during the course of his life bequeathed approximately 2000 artworks to various public institutions including Royal Perth Hospital, University of Western Australia and the Art Gallery of WA. He was a firm believer in art being accessible to many people and consequently donated a large number of his artworks to regional councils throughout WA, including Collie, Katanning, Northam, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Narrogin, Mt Barker, Manjimup, Bunbury, Busselton, Kojonup and Albany. Most regional art collections commenced with Hotchin’s bequests.
The artworks in the City of Albany art collection have been acquired through acquisitive art prizes, bequests, donations, loans, commissions and purchases.
The City of Albany art collection is on display in a number of City of Albany buildings which include, Mercer Rd offices, North Rd Council Chambers and Albany Public Library. They are also currently being loaned by various other businesses in Albany and can be viewed at the Beryl Grant Community Centre, Albany Hospice, Albany Entertainment Centre, NEAMI and Albany Airport. The remainder of the collection is in storage and gets rotated to the various locations and is used as part of the Town Hall programming schedule.
Most artworks from the collection can be loaned to local businesses that meet climate and security requirements.
If you would like more information regarding the loan of artworks from the collection, please contact [email protected]
To view the Art Collection website, click here
The Art Collection Policy is currently under review and will be updated in 2021