Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery designer Josephine Hughes has won the Clark Collection / Creative NZ Scholarship.

The Scholarship enables one New Zealander per year to attend the annual Attingham Trust Summer School in England.

This scholarship is a remarkable opportunity for midcareer professionals in the arts and heritage sector to expand their knowledge of built-heritage and decorative arts.

Josephine Hughes says “Despite our regional location my aim has always been to provide international quality design work. The Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery (HBMAG) is set to embark on a major redevelopment which will see the parts of the museum complex designed by Art Deco architect Louis Hay restored, and new buildings designed to meet the museological needs of the 21st century. The fresh perspectives and additional knowledge gained by this fantastic opportunity will be invaluable going forward into the rebuild.

“I am delighted also that the role design plays in the museum experience is being acknowledged in this way. I wish my whole team could come as they all work so hard and nothing could happen without them. They are hugely skilled and always willing to go the extra mile.”

Director of the Hawke’s Bay Museum and Art Gallery Douglas Lloyd Jenkins says: “Josephine is without a doubt one of the leading exhibition designers in New Zealand. We are thrilled that Josephine has been given this opportunity. The timing is ideal. Just as we begin planning for the museum redevelopment Josephine will have the opportunity to see some of the best museum design anywhere in the world and to bring that knowledge back to Napier.”

Josephine Hughes, Design Team Leader at Hawke’s Bay Museum & Art Gallery has been designing exhibitions there since 1999. Ms Hughes is known for her dramatic exhibition design; her credits include the costume and textile exhibitions Avis Higgs: Joie de Vivre, Fashion on Wheels: The New Zealand Gown of the Year, and Frank Carpay: At Crown Lynn and Beyond, each of which toured extensively throughout New Zealand. Black Dress White Vase: A Surrealist Tableau, designed specifically for HBMAG’s Bestall Gallery won a Gold Award for Spatial Design at the 2007 Designers Institute of New Zealand Best Awards. She has previously held positions at the Auckland War Memorial Museum, The Dowse Art Museum, and the Robert McDougall Art Gallery.

Exhibitions designed by Josephine currently on view at HBMAG include Felix Kelly: A Kiwi at Brideshead, Somebody’s Darling: Stories from the Napier Cemetery and Wenceslaus Hollar: The Habits of English Women.

Attingham Trust Summer School

The Attingham Trust Summer School is an intensive programme for the study of historic country houses and their collections, based in three different centres throughout the United Kingdom. The School offers a unique opportunity for participants to become acquainted with the history, architecture, contents and context of historic buildings and their gardens and estates. It examines how they are managed and explores contemporary challenges for display, access, conservation and interpretation.

It is regarded as the leading study opportunity of its type anywhere in the world. Each year, 48 people from around the world participate in the School. Around thirty country houses are visited and renowned tutors lead discussions on heritage, conservation, interpretation and the decorative arts.  For details of the Attingham Summer School see www.attinghamtrust.org

In addition, the Scholarship provides the recipient with privileged, relevant internships with up to four leading United Kingdom heritage and decorative arts organisations: Victoria & Albert Museum (V&A), The Royal Collection, English Heritage and The National Trust.

This Scholarship is generously supported by Mr Errol Clark, Creative New Zealand and the NZ-UK Link Foundation. Errol Clark is a New Zealand financier, art connoisseur and heritage advocate who has generously created this remarkable opportunity for New Zealanders to study in the UK.