Plan to save painter's cottage

The native bush and mature kauri of West Auckland are features of the rugged landscape that inspired some of Colin McCahon's most noted paintings.

But while works such as the French Bay series and Northland Panels have become a firm part of New Zealand art history, the cottage where McCahon lived at the time is in serious need of repair.

"It's at a turning point right now," McCahon House Trust executive director Penny Dever said yesterday.

"Either it gets restored or it will just deteriorate over the next few years, and very quickly."

Tonight Prime Minister Helen Clark will launch a project that includes preserving the humble Titirangi cottage that McCahon, wife Anne and their four children called home for seven years.

The aim is to recreate the environment that McCahon lived in and worked under from 1953 to 1960.

Also planned is a new studio and two-bedroom accommodation next to the house at Otitori Bay Rd, in French Bay, for an artists-in-residency programme.

Under the programme, up to three residencies of about three months each would be offered annually.

Ms Dever said McCahon's international following meant the house would draw visitors from overseas as well as from within New Zealand.

She said the Timaru-born painter's time in French Bay was of particular importance in his artistic development.

"The Titirangi years may be said to signify the 'watershed' of his career," she said. "It was a period that marked his transition from being an artist of regional and national importance to one of universal outlook and significance." Five years ago Waitakere City Council bought an adjacent, undeveloped piece of land in anticipation of the McCahon house coming on the market.

It then bought the house when it was put up for sale by the woman who had lived there for 40 years after the McCahons moved out.

In buying both sites, the council wanted to maintain the area as McCahon had painted it.

In March, the council agreed to transfer both properties to the trust.

The total cost of the McCahon house project, which includes capital funding to sustain a residency programme long-term, has been put at $2.5 million.

The trust has secured enough money, including $214,800 from the Sky City Auckland Community Trust and $100,000 from the Auckland Regional Services Trust, for the restoration, expected to be completed next year.

- NZPA