Kāpiti’s world-class new art gallery, Toi Mahara, is a testament to the many people who helped make the dream a reality.
Situated in Waikanae’s Mahara Place shopping precinct, the gallery was officially opened late in 2023 to a lot of well-deserved fanfare.
The two-storey gallery replaces the former Mahara Gallery and, while built on the same footprint as its predecessor, it provides double the number of exhibition galleries and almost three times the exhibition space.
The idea of Toi Mahara started in earnest many years ago when Kāpiti Coast District Council confirmed it as the district gallery and the fact the former gallery building needed upgrading to house an art collection of regional and national significance permanently or risk losing it.
The Field Collection Trust had gifted 44 artworks including 24 by celebrated expatriate artist Frances Hodgkins, on the proviso the gallery was upgraded to professional standards.
Peter and Dorothy Field, who lived in Otaihanga, had kept the collection for many years and it would have been passed down to their son Peter Jnr, who managed the family farm, but he was tragically killed in a motor vehicle accident.
Inside Toi Mahara. Photo / Ryan McCauley
The elderly couple asked Simon and Kay Brown, who were friends of their son, to help look after the farm, and discussions about what to do with the collection of artworks arose.
The Field Collection Trust was formed around the time Peter Snr died in 1991.
The collection was exhibited in Mahara Gallery in 2000 and, at that stage, the Browns were concerned about how to care for the collection, especially after Dorothy died in 1998.
The problem was solved when the collection was offered to the gallery, which made sense as it had been Peter Snr’s wish that the collection stayed in the district and be accessible to the public.
The Mahara Gallery Trust Board raised two-thirds of the $6.5 million project cost — including substantial grants from the Ministry for Culture and Heritage and the NZ Lottery Grants Board — while Kāpiti Coast District Council contributed the remaining third.
Crowe Construction started the rebuild in November 2021 and the new building, designed by Athfield Architects, was blessed in April 2023 before it officially opened in October.
Toi Mahara gallery in Waikanae. Photo / Andy Spain
On the ground floor is the large Te Manawa Toi | Coastlands Gallery where various exhibitions are held as well as a multi-purpose Waipuna Toi | Community Space, reception and retail area.
On the first floor is the Taonga Tuku Iho | Heritage Gallery where various Hodgkins and other artworks are on display, and a dedicated Ringa Toi | Artists’ Gallery for solo and small group shows of contemporary art.
It’s the fourth-largest collection of Hodgkins’ works in public ownership outside Te Papa and the Auckland and Dunedin art galleries.
Hodgkins (1869-1947) had a close connection with Waikanae as her oldest sister Isabel married local farmer Will Field.
Inside the Toi Mahara gallery. Photo / Ryan McCauley
She referred to the coast as her ancestral home after their mother Rachel was buried here; her ashes are interred with family in the Waikanae cemetery.
Toi Mahara director Janet Bayly says it has been beautiful to give the building new life.
“While it’s not a large gallery, it’s precious, and that’s the way people have responded to it.
“People find it has international quality.
“It’s a combination of the architecture, the interior and graphic design and fittings, the sense of history that it embodies, and how it has come to life with the various exhibitions reflecting the whole community.
“We’re thrilled with how people have embraced it.”
- This article appears in the latest Celebrating Kāpiti magazine.
