THERE’S always plenty on at Strathnairn Homestead Gallery and this season is no exception.

“Looking for Space”, an exhibition of paintings by Robert Riggs is on show until March 4. Riggs says, “in my paintings I find that the various methods I use to create space and depth around a subject affects the character and emotion of that subject”.

Meantime, Strathnairn has just welcomed its latest overseas artists in residence, Markus and Ute Böhm  from Germany.

Canberrans disappointed with the weather may be amused to know that the exhibition is titled “Frozen Summer”.

Markus Böhm lives and works as potter in Alt Gaarz, a rural hamlet on a peninsula between Berlin and the Baltic Sea. There he runs together with his wife, Ute, a workshop gallery, bed & breakfast and courses. He also writes articles, produces sparkling apple cider and organises conferences.

In 2010 he took part in an EU-financed soda firing course at the International School of Ceramic Art, La Meridiani, Italy, discovering the potential of gas-fired soda glazes, so  has been keen to use the wheel and the gas-fired salt kiln with soda at Strathnairn.

Ute Böhm makes mainly vessels with crystalline glazes in her studio near Zwickau. During the past years she taught apprentices and is head of the Saxonian examination board for potters. “It looks to me as if Strathnairn has excellent conditions for…experiments with the small electric kilns, but also the smaller gas kilns and the raku kiln sound interesting.”

To the layperson it sounds technically challenging but the results are there to see in the exhibition.

“Frozen Summer” at Strathnairn Homestead Gallery until Sunday March 4 at Strathnairn Homestead Gallery, 90 Stockdill Drive Holt,  open Friday to Sunday 10 to 4.30pm.