NILLUMBIK ART MUSEUM
THE PROPOSAL
The current proposal for a Nillumbik Art Museum (NAM) at the community owned site of 895 Main Road, Eltham has been formed with the following considerations:
NAM is committed to indigenous consultation in order to achieve a Wurundjeri presence integrated throughout the design and construction of the museum. Exhibition spaces will be available to Wurundjeri and indigenous artists who will also be supported by an artist studio workspace program.
NAM will have multiple exhibition spaces, allowing for concurrent exhibitions that offer a range of exhibitions reflecting the diverse interests of Nillumbik’s community.
NAM will provide opportunities to permanently exhibit and store the Nillumbik Shire Council’s art collection, which has been stored in commercially leased storage for many years, costing Council thousands of dollars, and many artworks have never been exhibited due to a lack of industry-standard exhibition spaces within Nillumbik.
NAM will offer diverse exhibition opportunities for local artists who have been unable to exhibit their artworks due to a lack of suitable cultural infrastructure in Nillumbik.
NAM will offer seven artist studio workspaces for artists who are either emerging, mid-career, established or indigenous from each of the seven wards within Nillumbik.
NAM will have a gallery store where local artists can sell their artworks, alongside artworks associated with touring exhibitions.
NAM’s exhibitions will offer a range of education programs, which will be based on the established curricula of Victorian primary and secondary schools, so that students learn and experience the diverse artistic heritage and historical perspectives of Nillumbik.
NAM will complement the artistic programs of Montsalvat, Dunmoochin, and the Baldessin Studio by offering an artistic program that connects with these artistic venues, while offering elements that these existing spaces are unable to present.
NAM will be built with industry-standard heating, cooling, lighting, exhibition, storage and accessibility requirements, and this will allow touring exhibitions from other art institutions and private collections to be exhibited at the Nillumbik Art Museum.
NAM’s industry-standard heating, cooling, lighting, exhibition and storage will allow bequests of significant artworks to be donated to Nillumbik Shire Council’s art collection. A substantial number of artworks are currently available to the Nillumbik Art Museum as a bequest or permanent loan, but only if there is a commitment for NAM to be built to industry standards. The majority of artists and collectors linked to these collections only want to offer their artworks to the Nillumbik Shire Council’s art collection if the artworks can be experienced by the public within an industry-standard venue.
NAM will generate local jobs during its construction, as well as ongoing jobs for its operation, and additional ongoing jobs linked to the art tourism sector across all regions of Nillumbik.
NAM will be built using sustainable and natural materials to reflect the building history of Nillumbik.
NAM at 895 Main Road, Eltham will be easily accessible via multiple forms of public transport, including one train line and seven bus routes.
NAM at 895 Main Road, Eltham will have sufficient parking for its visitors, and the majority of this parking will be underground and out of sight.
NAM at 895 Main Road Eltham will preserve the three historic Shillinglaw cypress trees, and the building will be surrounded by newly planted indigenous and native gardens.
NAM at 895 Main Road, Eltham will reflect the thirty years of community desire to have a dedicated art venue of local and national significance built at this particular site.
“We know arts, culture and creativity enrich our lives, unite our communities, and ignite our economies. The Australian public, policy makers, industry leaders, business, philanthropists and creators all have a stake in discussing what and how we want public investment in arts and culture to benefit our communities.”
A New Approach (ANA) CEO Kate Fielding.
A PROPOSED DESIGN
The NAM Committee (in conjunction with Architect Barry Pearce) has developed an initial design, which gives an example of what could exist on the site of 895 Main Road, Eltham. This design offers possible configurations of the building’s internal spaces and functions, which are based on researching the sizes and functions of more than thirty industry-standard art museums and galleries across Australia. These designs are to be considered as initial proposals that are open to change, and have been created without access to soil reports or an engineer’s survey. The draft floor plans and renders of the Nillumbik Art Museum (available upon request) are intended to offer a possible structural form, and to illustrate the preferred functions of an industry-standard art museum, and how such a venue can exist on the community owned site of 895 Main Road, Eltham, so that it can be a place that speaks to all of Nillumbik and is a drawcard to those beyond Nillumbik.
The building typography is modest and resists any display of architectural spatial gymnastics or status symbols. The main galleries are housed beneath a straightforward, steep traditional roof. This construction method can maximise the building interior, whilst keeping costs minimal. The building form aims to respond to a civic pride and community ownership of the Nillumbik Art Museum.
The projected ridges (points) at the formal entrance and the southern balcony are intended to project a civic presence without being pretentious status symbols. They serve as a sincere welcome into the interior, and provide shelter upon arrival.
The southern balcony invites guests to connect with country and acknowledge the Eltham Gateway Precinct, the treed escarpment beyond the sporting field, the historic Timber Trestle Railway Bridge, Shillinglaw Cottage, and the Eltham Library. The Library building has been respected by creating a treed sculpture garden in the space between, and by adopting a simple and strong geometrical form for the Nillumbik Art Museum, the building aims to complement the organic form of the Library.
The scale of the Nillumbik Art Museum would make it suitable for incorporating elements that are characteristic to Nillumbik. It is proposed that mudbrick could be incorporated into the Main Road façade and beyond, and generous-sized timbers for the columns of the West façade, as well as corrugated steel roofing, a neutral colour scheme with accents inspired by the local Red Box (Euc polyanthemos) leaves. The existing road onto the current site from the Eltham Library area has been retained. This allows vehicles to enter the Nillumbik Art Museum at two levels, therefore reducing the need within the building for vehicle ramps to each of the three car parking levels, and allows the majority of the car parking to exist within the building. The building proposal for the Nillumbik Art Museum has been designed using approximate field measurements and a topographical map from Nillumbik Council. In order to further refine the form, a full land survey of the site and surrounds, along with an arboricultural inspection and report will be required along with engineering. Discussion with the Wurundjeri Corporation has begun and will be on-going.
Above: 895 Main Road, Eltham : Architect’s impression from South East
Below: 895 Main Road, Eltham : Architect’s impression from South West
THE COMMITTEE
The Nillumbik Art Museum (NAM) committee was formed in 2022 to continue the thirty years of advocacy and long-standing community desire for an art museum to be built at 895 Main Road, Eltham. The committee consists of a broad range volunteers from the community: from art lovers, to artists, and curators, architects, business owners and community groups.
The aims of the committee have broad support from the Nillumbik community including representatives from: the Nillumbik Reconciliation Group, Nillumbik Tourism & Business, Nillumbik Mudbrick Association, Eltham Chamber of Commerce, Eltham Community Action Group, Baldessin Studio, Dunmoochin, Eltham Art Show Committee, Victorian Artists Supplies, local architects, as well as award-winning artists and artistic organisations throughout Nillumbik.
The NAM committee has conducted both its own research and sought advice from creative consultants to assess the different industry-standard models that are available when proposing an arts venue of this scale. Case studies of thirty existing and comparable art museums and galleries across Victoria and Australia suggest that the current proposal and schematic design for 895 Main Road, Eltham is a positive step towards celebrating the past, current and future artistic heritage of Nillumbik, while reflecting the distinct built heritage of Nillumbik, and be able to host touring artworks from other venues beyond Nillumbik.