An art triage program is sorting trash from treasure at the Hobart tip

Paintings, posters and prints that have been dumped or donated to the McRobies Gully tip shop are being given a second chance at life by an art triage program that assesses and values incoming artworks.

Kylie Eastley works at the South Hobart Resource Shop sorting out art treasures from the mix and re-homes them where they are more appropriate. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

AT the Hobart tip’s art gallery shop, one person’s trash really could be another’s treasure.

Paintings, posters and prints that have been dumped or donated are being given a second chance at life by an art triage program that assesses and values incoming artworks.

And there have already been a few surprise finds.

Local artist Kylie Eastley runs the project, which aims to save original Tasmanian art that may otherwise have languished in the McRobie’s Gully tip shop.

“A lot of these works are by Tasmanian artists and they are significant either because the subject matter is interesting or because it might be a Tasmanian landscape or scene,” said Ms Eastley.

“In some cases it’s by a prominent Tasmanian or international artist.

“Everything has a story.”

A painting of Lake Pedder before it was flooded, which is for sale through the South Hobart tip shop’s Art Triage program. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

A portrait of a Tasmanian bushman made entirely of bark. Picture: RICHARD JUPE

Her research so far has uncovered a framed Hans Heysen landscape which she suspects may be an original, and a wood-cut print by Hobart-born artist William Kermode that is catalogued by the National Gallery of Australia, but not yet in its collection.

Ms Eastley is now in conversation with curators at the gallery to gift them the work.

There’s also been prints by internationally renowned Tasmanian printmaker Barbie Kjar made for Tasdance, which Ms Eastley has recently returned to the dance studio; a print by one of the state’s most prolific artists, George Callaghan; and a signed and dated print by Picasso from an earlier work that wasn’t mass produced.

Her latest find is a signed painting by World War I artist AH Fullwood.

“Now, if this is an original that would be amazing. This guy is in national galleries. He was in the same school as Arthur Streeton and Tom Roberts, who are incredibly significant artists.

“Something like that we may take to auction.”

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What drives Ms Eastley is her passion for research and the joy of unpacking the stories that lay behind each of the works.

“Recently there was a portrait of a man. Steane was his last name and when we put that up on social media two members of the family contacted us. They didn’t know this painting existed, and it was a portrait of their dad. We gifted that back to them and they were so happy.

“Even though it wasn’t painted by someone famous, it was significant because it was iconic. He was this bearded man with Mt Wellington in the background. It spoke of the time and so it was important. In its own right it is a great painting: colourful, energetic,” she said.

“There’s so much soul in an artwork. I would much rather people put original artwork on their wall or editioned prints or interesting scenes of Tasmania than cheap, mass-produced works that don’t have a sense of place.”

Art Triage is open on the last Saturday of the month from 10am-2pm through the South Hobart resource centre. To view artworks for sale, visit the South Hobart tip shop facebook page.

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