Maurice Shadbolt writers residence confirmed
If you made a list of all the artists who made the West their home it would be a very long list indeed: Colin McCahon, Maurice Shadbolt, Brian Brake, Len Castle, Don Binney, Lois McIvor, and that’s just a start.
In the 19th century artists flocked to the Waitakeres to paint dramatic coastal scenes and towering kauri forests. After the second world war many European émigré artists located in the Titirangi area, drawn to the forested hills and the practicality of few neighbours to complain about smoke from the pottery kiln. Architects left us with a brilliant collection of modernist houses and gallery retailers like Kees and Tine Hos of the avant garde New Vision Gallery and designer John Crichton, made it their home.
The building of Te Uru in 2014 cemented Titirangi as an arts hub for the West, with an artist in residence at McCahon House, a highly successful writers and readers festival, a community gallery, an annual painters exhibition, musicians and the performing arts, a theatre and this week, a new asset in the agreement that the Going West Trust could lease Maurice Shadbolt’s long-standing home to establish a Writers in Residence. We celebrated with a working bee, planting native plants and scrubbing loos and cleaning windows.
Like all the other arts assets mentioned, these are all community-run, rather than Council-run. Future West is commited to supported the activities that make Titirangi an arts hub, and also the community-led approach. We have so many creatives in our community who need recognition and support, but are talented enough to lead the way when it comes to the arts.
Further afield, Future West supports the annual Open Studios, which takes us into the studios and working places of our artists. At Piha, is the West Coast Gallery which as well as a gallery, has workshops and classes. Glen Eden has the long-standing Playhouse Theatre. Many of our venues foster children and young people through workshops and classes.
The creations of our local artists are not just “nice to have”, but create a sense of place, enhance our appreciation of where we live by showing them through new eyes, and give us space to feed our souls. That locally made mug or wall-hanging we bring into our home will give us years of pleasure from living with something hand-crafted from our place. Future West will continue to give the arts and artists all the help we can in celebrating the unique creativity of the west.
Sandra Coney