Graeme Burgess on Elevation

Join architect, heritage advocate and McCahon House trustee Graeme Burgess in Wayne Youle’s solo exhibition Elevation, during the Open Studios Waitākere weekend. Burgess will regale us with stories of the McCahon House transformation, from the cottage in disrepair to one of Aotearoa’s foremost house museums and artist residencies. He will also respond to several works in Youle’s exhibition that relate to the work of Colin McCahon and the House.

Burgess has been involved with McCahon house since it was purchased by Waitākere City in 2002 and continues to work in heritage architecture and is currently working on Te Pou Theatre at Corban Estate Arts Centre, Massey Homestead in Mangere, and a new wharekai for Ōmanaia Marae in the Hokianga.

Over the last 30 years, Burgess has had the privilege of finding out the stories of schools, railway stations, lighthouses, apartment buildings, farmhouses, airport terminals, churches and marae. He writes: “each of these places has its own unique story, and each provides a wonderful opportunity for learning. It is the freshness of the ideas embedded in these places that inspires me.”