Artists Residences
Some recent research has got me thinking about artists residences. What are they for? Why are the important? Who gets picked? Who is significant/important enough for their home/workspace to be preserved?
My first thoughts were the Katherine Mansfield Birthplace. It has always struck me as odd because she spent so little time there and some of her more well know works were set in other places eg The Garden Partyat 75 Tinakori Road. I supposed it is a historical site though. Then there is the Katherine Mansfield Memorial Fellowship which allows a writer to work at the Villa Isola Bella in Menton where she did live and write. This makes a little more sense to me as maybe writers are meant to be inspired by the location and history. I presume this is the purpose behind the Rita Angus Cottage and the Douglas Lillburn Residence.
Other purely historic sites are Colin McCahons Titirangi house (although a residence for artists has been built alongside); and the Sargeson House which also has links with Janet Frame. There is the Janet Frame House in Oamaru as well.
McCahon French Bay House
I am thinking it has a lot to do with who the properties were left to, money and maybe family interests. The Lillburn house was almost lost.
I can think of many “important” New Zealand artists who lived in my area and none of them is marked or even on a council register of ’sites of note’. This register has all sorts of stuff including “trees of significance” so you have to wonder…
Frances Hodgkins’ ashes are buried near here and her family ties to the area are often touted (her sister Isabel Field lived in Waikanae).
So - is it important? I am struggling with this one. I have a sort of “out there” theory about people leaving ’spiritual’ traces of themselves in their homes which could be looked at as significant - or just to be left well alone.
EDIT: How would I feel if I lived in one of these houses and people came knocking on the door for a look? Actually I probably wouldn’t mind if it wasn’t every 5 minutes.
April 8, 2008 at 9:43 am
[...] - Centre of the Universe More on artists/writers residences (and residencies). I just read on Beatties Book Blog that the University of Waikato have bought [...]
May 13, 2008 at 7:11 am
[...] me wonder what it is about the place and brings me back again (!) to the artists residences question. I guess in a place like the Chelsea it is the reputation that attracts and so it builds [...]