CANBERRA artist “Rainbow” is this year’s Burlesque Idol Australia Ambassador and will be here for the Canberra heats at the Playhouse, Canberra Theatre Centre at 8pm on Saturday, February 10. Former Canberran Sarina del Fuego is producing the show and the winner will go on to compete in this year’s grand final at the Nostalgia Festival in Kurri Kurri from March 18-20. Bookings to canberratheatrecentre.com.au or 6275 2700.
Events
THE Paperbark Treehouse, made from recycled timber and designed and built by Cave Urban, has been launched by the Friends of the Australian National Botanic Gardens and is now open to the public.
Talk
MUSE Café has popular radio personality Christopher Lawrence taking a look at some of the love-crazed geniuses behind some of the world’s best-known and beloved pieces of classical music. East Hotel Kingston, 3pm-4pm, this Sunday, February 11. Bookings to musecanberra.com.au
Workshops and classes
NOW in its 28th year as Canberra’s longest running acting course, “Acting for the Fun of It” offers four distinct courses throughout the year. The first of these courses is devised especially for people with little or no experience in acting and will take place from 7pm-9pm on Thursday nights between February 15 and April 21. Information and enrolment forms at peterwilkins@grapevine.com.au or peterbwilkins@aol.com or on 0408 034373.
KIRSTY Budding’s Budding Theatre stages several shows each year and offers drama classes for all ages and a space for playwrights, directors and performers of all ages and experience levels. Inquiries to submissions@buddingtheatre.com
CANBERRA Vocal Development is presenting new performance and singing classes. Enrolments are now open. Inquiries to admin@canberravocaldevelopment.com.au or 0431 759232.
GARY France’s percussion centre the Groove Warehouse in Hume is commencing classes for 2018. Payment plans are now available for all students. Information and bookings to groovewarehouse.com.au
FOUR Winds 2018 Easter Festival, Barragga Bay, March 28 to April 1. Bookings to fourwinds.com.au or 6493 3414.
THE Alliance Française de Canberra at 66 McCaughey Street, Turner, offers language and culture courses all through the year. Information about courses to afcanberra.com.au
MUSIC for Canberra has opened enrolments for Term 1. To trial a new class or audition for the James McCusker Orchestra and Canberra Youth Orchestra visit musicforcanberra.org.au
CIT Adult Short courses are held every first weekend of the month all year round at Canberra Glassworks. Costs apply. To find out more email education@canberraglassworks.com.au
SUBSCRIPTION bookings for The Canberra Theatre Centre’s “Collected Works 2018” are now open at canberratheatrecentre.com.au
THE annual subscription theatre program for The Q, Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre, is now open. Bookings at theq.org.au
CANBERRA Repertory has now launched its 86th season, billed as “a season with something for everyone”. Bookings to canberrarep.org.au
THE Mother Tongue Multilingual Poetry will be at the 2018 National Multicultural Festival and poets can read or recite a four-minute poem in a language other than English (or more than one language) at one of the showcases on February 16 and 17. Expressions of interest to facebook.com/mothertonguemic/
Arts Business
SOUTHERN Tablelands Arts is seeking an energetic professional for its new 30 hour-a-week administration officer position. There is a six month probationary period. Applications to ed@southerntablelandsarts.com.au close 5pm, Thursday, February 22. Inquiries to Susan Conroy, executive director Monday – Thursday on 4823 4598.
“HIDDEN – A Rookwood Sculpture Walk” at Rookwood Cemetery is preparing for its 10th annual exhibition and is introducing additional programs to engage with community, youth, education and disadvantaged groups. This year, in addition to the themes of history, culture, remembrance and love, applications inspired by the 10th anniversary are welcome. Entries to curator@rookwoodcemetery.com.au are by March 12, inquiries to Cassandra on 0425 327590.
THIS year’s Sydney Eisteddfod program includes just under 350 events in classical singing, contemporary singing, choirs, piano, instrumental solos and duos, instrumental groups, speech and drama, and dance and is open to all ages. Entries close March 13. Late entries may be accepted but fees apply. Details to sydneyeisteddfod.com.au
PLAYING Field Studio is holding its Annual General Meeting at Playing Field Studio, 2 Kingsley Street, Civic, at 5.4 pm for a 6pm start on Tuesday February 13. All positions are voluntary and come with access to the studio as a thank you to the time spent on the space. All welcome.
CANBERRA Academy of Dramatic Art has now moved to new premises at 11 Whyalla Street, Fyshwick. The phone contact is still 1300 908905.
CRAFT ACT is calling for new exhibition proposals from artists, craftspeople, designers, makers and curators for the 2019 program. Submissions close at midnight on Sunday, March 4 to craftact.org.au
WITH productions like Handa Opera on Sydney Harbour’s “La Bohème” and Massenet’s “Don Quichotte” coming up, Opera Australia is offering gift vouchers, which can be emailed, at opera.org.au/buytickets/gift-vouchers
ENTRIES are now open to register the annual “RAW Comedy” competition where new performers test their skill and stamina with five minutes of new, original comedy material – stand-up, sketch, double and triple acts and musical comedy. The National Grand Finals is at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival in April. ACT heats are at the Civic Pub on February 21 and 28, and the final will be at The Street Theatre on February 28. Registrations and details to rawcomedy.com.au
AARWUN Gallery is selling works by the legendary Norman Lindsay at up to 50 per cent off the price of works on paper, facsimiles, etchings, original pencil drawings, books and prints. At the gallery, Federation Square, Gold Creek, Canberra, open daily 10am to 5pm until February 10.
THE Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council will be trialling a new concept in The Q Exhibition Space in early 2018. “Quirk” will, as well as functioning as an exhibition space, be a shopfront to support and promote regional creatives, with a selection of souvenirs and gourmet goodies. Council’s cultural staff are currently compiling a list of local producers, artists and craftspeople who may be interested in becoming suppliers. Inquiries to Georgina.Perri@qcc.nsw.gov.au with “Quirk” in the heading.
ALSO, The Q would like to invite artists and creators to help celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Queanbeyan Performing Arts Centre in February through to March by submitting a work with the theme of “ten”, “celebration”, “party”, “anniversary” and “birthday” to Georgina.Perri@qcc.nsw.gov.au with “Ten” in the heading.
THE Young Music Society offices are now located at the Flynn Community Hub, Bingle Street, Flynn, and the organisation has a new phone number, 6258 0200. Instrument hire is conducted from the business office at the Community Hub from 10am-4pm Tuesday to Thursday.
THE Belconnen Children’s Choir, formerly the Voices Out Loud Primary Choir, is an ensemble of Canberra’s own Young Music Society. Any primary-aged child from around the region is invited to join with conductor Veronica Moore to enjoy singing, learning about music and the voice, and making new friends. The choir meets on Tuesday afternoons, 4.15pm-5.15pm during school term in the Music Room of the UC Secondary College Lake Ginninderra, Emu Bank, Belconnen. Information and registration to youngmusicsociety.org.au or 6258 0200.
JULIA Landford’s new Canberra NatureArt Lab at M16 Artspace, in Griffith is proving to be very popular. Bookings for 2018 are now open through the website natureartlab.com.au
PRIZE-winning botanical artist, Sharon Field, has set up a blog which considers ideas of “beauty” and “creativity” in botanical art and summarises what is coming up for her on the art scene. Visit sharonfield.com.au or follow her on Instagram at @sharon_field_artist
AINSLIE and Gorman Arts Centres offers supported office accommodation for artists, creatives, as well as arts and music-based organisations and individuals. Inquiries to agac.com.au
Prizes
EXPRESSIONS of interest for the new River of Art “Land of Many Waters” exhibition to hang in the River of Art Creative Hubs in Bateman’s Bay, Moruya and Narooma. Applications close on April 17, also to riverofart.com.au
ENTRIES have now opened for the 2018 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. The Museum and Art Gallery of the NT hosts this annual event that showcases the best in indigenous art from across the country. Entries are open to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists over the age of 18 until March 16 at magnt.net.au/entries
THE Matt Withers Australian Music Composition Competition is on again, with the first prize doubling to $2000 and total cash prizes of over $3000, also there’s recording and performance opportunities too. Entries close COB, April 20 to mattwithers.com.au
Film
AMERICAN Express Openair Cinemas is bringing movies to Canberra with more than 40 events happening on Patrick White Lawns outside the National Library of Australia to February 25. Dogs are welcome and catered for. Bookings to openaircinemas.com.au
Concerts and Gigs
BRILLIANT young Japanese pianist, Kotaro Nagano, who won the 2014 Australian International Chopin Piano Competition, will be here with a harpsichord, clavichord and piano recital called “Renaissance to Russian Romantics”. Wesley Music Centre, Forrest, 7pm, Friday, February 9. Bookings to trybooking.com or at the door.
GOULBURN’S Australian Blues Music Festival has been rated by Tourism Australia as one of the “must-see events and festivals in Regional Australia”. Three of Australia’s top blues guitarists, Lloyd Spiegel, Geoff Achison and Nick Charles, will join the huge line-up across various venues, around Goulburn, February 8 – 11. Information at goulburnaustralia.com.au
SALUT! Baroque presents “Pisendel & Friends”, a concert of baroque music with works by Pisendel, Vivaldi, Telemann, Heinichen, Torelli, Richter, Zelenka and Albinoni. At Albert Hall, Commonwealth Avenue, 7.30pm, Friday, February 9. Bookings to trybooking.com/SSOW
THE Australian String Quartet’s National Season 2018 performance, “Glass Dean Mendelssohn” will come to the Gandel Hall, National Gallery of Australia at 2pm, Sunday, February 11. Bookings to asq.com.au
Theatre
SHAKESPEARE by the Lakes’ “Much Ado about Nothing”, which will play on February 14-15 at Tuggeranong Town Park Community Stage and Glebe Park Community Stage on February 16, will also be seen at Queanbeyan’s QEII Park River Stage on February 17. Gates open at 5.30pm and performances begin at 6.30pm. Free, but register at eventbrite.com.au
Dance
“CITYNEWS” Artist of the year Liz Lea, is calling for expressions of interest from dancers/creators for the forthcoming “DANscience Moving Well” event to be held in Parramatta, from June 1-2. Email dansciencemovingwell2018@gmail.com by February 16 with proposals.
Exhibitions
CANBERRA Glassworks’s newest exhibition features “Hurt Locker” by Penny Byrne and “between stillness and movement”, by Harriet Schwarzrock, which involves a sound sculpture by Brian McNamara. At Canberra Glassworks, 11 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston, to March 25.
JON Lewis’ exhibition “Perfect Strangers”, which launched at the State Library of NSW last year joins Konrad Lenz’s “Portraits” exhibition at The Photography Room, Old Bus Depot, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston Foreshore, running until March 4. Gallery open Sundays 10am-4pm and by appointment.
QUEANBEYAN Art Society’s “Anything Goes” exhibition is in the Queanbeyan Art Society Gallery, 6 Trinculo Place, Queanbeyan, under the bridge this month.
GALLERY@bcs springboard series presents “Plucked 2018”, an exhibition of drawing and printmaking by Belconnen Community Gallery Emerging Artist Support Scheme prize-winners Alex Butler, Alice Turner, Miriam Slater, Sharon “Shags” Gallagher and Yimin Cen. Belconnen Community Centre, Swanson Court, Belconnen, 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday, until February 16. All welcome.
“THE Magic of Country” by David Lancashire presents over 50 painted and collage works connected to a larger body of over 200 works initiated on a long ago trip to the MacDonnell Ranges in Alice Springs. Nishi Gallery, facing Hotel Hotel.
“ANCESTRAL Journeys: Waters of the Past”, a multiple-media exhibition by Canberra artist Tracey Benson, incorporates a range of media, such as photography, video and augmented reality. It focuses on the waters of migration and connections to ancestral lands and places of significance. The video work is interwoven with music made from DNA sequencing, created by NZ/US based artist and programmer Josiah Jordan. CSIRO Discovery Centre, Clunies-Ross Street, Acton, until March 2.
RUSSIAN-trained impressionist artist Valentyna Crane has produced original paintings conveying the vistas, skies and forests through the changing seasons. The exhibition is at the Village Centre, National Arboretum, daily from 9am to 4pm to February 18. All works are for sale.
“PLAYUP” is the exhibition space in Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House for children and families based around the United Nations Convention on the rights of the child. The new and third PlayUP includes lots of hands-on activities such as listening pods, a fuzzy felt wall, a voting interactive and a role play “Kindness” café.
THE Australian War Memorial has as a permanent exhibition “The Holocaust: witnesses and survivors”, which includes over 85 collection items.
WORLD War II veterans – 6500 of them – are showcased in a unique photography installation at the Australian War Memorial, “Reflections – honouring our WWII veterans”. The images will be archived and made accessible to the public as part of the Memorial’s online collection.
A LARGE painting by artists from the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in SA has gone on permanent display in the Australian War Memorial. “Kulatangku angakanyini manta munu Tjukurpa” [Country and Culture will be protected by spears] is in in the orientation gallery, directly opposite the Gallipoli landing boat that took men of the 13th Battalion ashore on April 25, 1915.
“THE Selfie Factory” by Ralph Kenke and Elmar Trefz, winner of the 2017 Digital Portraiture Award at the National Portrait Gallery, will be available for public interaction using the hashtag #selfiefactory, until February 18. Interaction times are between 10am-11am, 1.30pm-2pm and 3.30pm-4pm, daily. All of the finalists’ works can be viewed at dpa.portrait.gov.au
THE National Museum of Australia is showing artworks inspired by plants of north-east Arnhem Land by Yol?u elder Mulku? Wirrpanda and landscape painter John Wolseley, in the exhibition “Midawarr Harvest”, until February 18. Free entry, but donations welcome.
MEREDITH Hinchliffe has curated an online exhibition of work by tapestry exponent Belinda Ramson, who died in 2014. This exhibition was mounted at the American Tapestry Alliance, visit americantapestryalliance.org/exhibitions/tex_ata/belinda-ramson
NGA Play has an arty play area for children set up by Indonesian art duo Santi Ariestyowanti and Miko Bawono, known as “Indieguerillas” in the play space near the entrance desk, National Gallery of Australia, until May 13.
SA Adair’s “Encasement” is an amazing network of felt components making an organic, perhaps alien appearance. Adair’s work has been selected by the Canberra Museum and Gallery for the “Enlighten” festival in March. “Encasement” is in the Civic Square window gallery facing the Legislative Assembly until further notice.
AUSTRALIAN National Capital Artists Gallery kicks off its 2018 program with “Urban Instabilities”, paintings by Phil Page and Katie Hayne that focus in two dramatically different ways on Canberra’s urban landscape, at ANCA, 1 Rosevear St Dickson, to February 25.
CRAFT ACT is titling a new solo exhibition by textile artist Sharon Peoples, “Death of a Craft”. In it she uses lace as “a vehicle to approach the withered nexus between the craft of lace and its design in traditional lacemaking”. At Craft and Design Centre in the North Building, Civic, alongside Craft ACT’s National Award Exhibition for early career artists, “Emerging Contemporaries”. Both run to Saturday, March 17.
CANBERRA Spinners and Weavers have their 50th anniversary show, “Crossing Threads”, curated by Meredith Hinchliffe, at Canberra Museum and Gallery, corner of London Circuit and Civic Square, to March 18.
KAREN O’Clery’s Narek Gallery re-opens this week after moving from the old Church on Tathra Rod to Bermagui. It’s group exhibition of new works in textiles, ceramics and wood by artists Gail Nichols, Sharon Peoples, Jennifer Robertson, Ros Auld, Marianne Huhn, Shannon Garson, Moraig McKenna, Ian Jones, Sophie Xarhakos and Peter Carrigy. 5/3 Wapengo Street, Bermagui, Wednesday to Saturday 10am–1pm and 2pm–5pm. Details at narekgalleries.com
“SONGLINES: Tracking the Seven Sisters”, the story in arts of the women of Central Australia, at the National Museum of Australia, to February 25, 2018. ALSO at the National Museum is the annual exhibition celebrating the achievements and contribution of nominees for the Australian of the Year Awards. Main Hall, until February 18. Free.
GROUND-BREAKING Australian audio-video artist Angelica Mesiti has an exhibition of five major works, including the National Gallery of Australia’s most recent acquisition, “The Calling”, at the NGA until March 2018.
“EIRENE Mort: A Livelihood” marks the 40th anniversary of Eirene Mort’s death at the age of 98. Mort was a prolific artist, collaborator, teacher, writer, family historian and a “new woman” pursuing a profession in the arts at the beginning of the 20th Century. Curated by Dale Middleby, this social history exhibition features an extraordinary array of artworks and artefacts created by her. Canberra Museum and Gallery, until February 25.
THE exhibition “Fresh Salt” is at the Bega Valley Regional Gallery in a partnership with Four Winds, and presents the works created through the “Creative Field Studies” program which showcases the region’s visual artists, musicians, composers, choreographers, and creative writers. The works on show are the result of three field trips to eight estuaries between the mountains of Gulaga and Mumbulla in Yuin Country. The show runs until February 17.
THE NGA’s summer exhibition “Hyper Real” consists of 50 works in sculpture and video art by 32 artists, varying from the huge “Pregnant woman” by Ron Mueck to Patricia Piccininni’s fragile hybrid babies. National Gallery of Australia, to February 18, 2018. Bookings to premier.ticketek.com.au or 132 849.
“THE Art of Giving” is a summer trail showing new acquisitions by general donors to the National Gallery of Australia, free, except for entry to “Hyper Real”. Stops on the trail are: ATSI Galleries, Level 1; Impressionism, Australian Art, Level 1; Australian Art Level 1; Sidney Nolan Gallery opposite the NGA shop, Level 1; Hyper Real Level 1; International Art Level 2; and Polynesian Gallery, Level 1.
THE exhibition “Boundless Volumes”, new artworks made from excess leather bound volumes of parliamentary proceedings by Michael Eather, Simryn Gill, Katherine Hattam, Pam Langdon, Archie Moore, Elvis Richardson, Kylie Stillman, Imants Tillers and Hossein Valamanesh. Presiding Officers’ Exhibition Area (level 1) at Parliament House. Free to the public and open until February 11.
PHOTOACCESS has two exhibitions “Break It Up”, a visual and tactile installation by Karena Keys featuring an animation filled with pulsating and bulging golden blobs; and “The In Between”, in which Madeline Bishop explores the construction of women’s identities and the development of relationships within domestic space. Both at Manuka Arts Centre to February 25.
“BEHIND the Lines”, with the theme this year “Three Ring Circus”, is showing the best political cartoons of 2017 and Political Cartoonist of the Year – at the Museum of Australian Democracy in Old Parliament House, until further notice.
THE NPG’s big summer exhibition, “Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits”, is for people who love film and portraits, at the National Portrait Gallery until March 4. Bookings to portrait.gov.au
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