TWO new exhibitions at Beaver Galleries in Deakin open tomorrow, August 13. Melinda Schawel’s “Unravelling,” comprises works on paper and sculpture completed during the artist’s time in forced isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic capture the grandeur and minutiae of the natural world.

AT the same time at Beaver, Jenny Orchard’s “Conversations with Weeds” introduces us to a new community of her ceramic hybrid forms and her works on paper offer a glimpse into her imagination and her world of “surreal juxtapositions” that both surprise and intrigue.

GUNNING Arts Festival has launched a short story writing project, “FlashWrite,” sponsored by BJCE Australia’s Biala and Gullen Range Wind Farms and supported by an Upper Lachlan Cultural Funding Program grant. Submissions are welcome of stories of up to 1500 words that encapsulate local life experiences and stories related to the 2021 Gunning Festival theme “Rejuvenation” are especially welcome. Details on the project and submission stories can be found here here.

As part of its Australian Mini Series, Canberra Symphony Orchestra premieres “Or, maybe, yesterday” by composer Cyrus Meurant, a work for solo violin performed by the CSO’s Kingsland Resident Lucy Macourt. “Just as the act of ‘remembering’ is increasingly challenged with the passing of time, our sense of time and self can become increasingly elusive whilst in ‘lockdown’,” Meurant says. Premieres at 6.45pm, Friday, August 14 here.

CANBERRA Potters are hosting Australian Design Centre’s national touring exhibition, “Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft/ Prue Venables,” handmade functional artworks by one of Australia’s greatest artists working in clay. The show continues until October.

THE National Film and Sound Archive of Australia will mark National Science Week 2020 with two film screenings. The first, at 6pm, Friday, August 14, is a free online screening of “The Man Who Knew Infinity”, the story of Indian maths genius Srinivasa Ramanujan (Dev Patel), who formed a close bond with Cambridge professor GH Hardy (Jeremy Irons). That will be followed by a live panel Q&A discussion moderated by Ingrid McCarthy (ANU Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics), featuring panellists Joan Licata (ANU Mathematical Sciences Institute), Shehzad Hathi (UNSW Canberra) and Pierre Portal (ANU Mathematical Sciences Institute).

THEN at 2pm on Saturday, August 15, the NFSA  will screen Fritz Lang’s 1927 science fiction classic “Metropolis” in 35mm, with Gottfried Huppertz’s original score. Bookings essential for both films here.