Drawings at the Left Hand
A new show opens this weekend at the charming blue house in Braidwood that also happens to be a gallery. Canberra artists John Pratt, Stephanie Haygarth and Nicci Haynes, along with Kate Stevens, Virginia Wallace-Crabbe, Catherine Moore and Linda Denning , from around Braidwood, and Mark Davies from Queensland are showing drawings. Gallery owner Julian Davies says the medium is "so wonderfully direct – every small child picks up a pencil and draws without the least inhibition, and it remains the medium most capable of surprising us with its immediacy and variety.
"These eight artists bring together very different technical approaches and ways of seeing to give us a broad sense of the possibilities of this often underestimated means of expression."
The drawings are showing at The Left Hand Gallery, 81 Lascelles Street, Braidwood, for the next three weekends until December 7 from 10am-5pm, or by appointment.
Modern market at Nishi
It's the jewel in the crown of the DESIGN Canberra festival that's been happening in the capital this week – the high-end design market at Nishi. It's your chance to bag some beautiful, one-off craft objects from the 35 different artists, designers, collectives and arts organisations – ceramics, glass, jewellery, fashion – you name it. Plus, it's on the eighth floor so the views will be spectacular!
It's on today, Saturday, November 22, from 2pm-8pm.
Namatjira art day
Descendants of Albert Namatjira are making the journey to Canberra from Alice Springs later this month as part of the Namatjira Project, with the aim of ensuring new generations of his family can enjoy a sustainable arts practice.
To support the project, the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) in association with Big hART Inc and Ngurratjuta Many Hands Arts Centre are presenting Country in Colour, an Exhibition and Market Day of Hermannsburg School Watercolour Artists, in the public gallery at AIATSIS from Friday November 28, 9am-4pm. The market day is a chance for the public to browse and buy a range of beautiful original watercolours and meet some of the artists responsible for the works. There'll also be a free public exhibition of artworks from November 25 to December 12.
Steampunk at Watson
It's an art movement that feels fresh even today, to say nothing of how it must have appeared in the 1960s. Steampunk – often mentioned in the same context as Surrealism – is a sub-genre of science fiction that appeared in the 1960s, "encapsulating futuristic and post-apocalyptic ideas embedded with industrial machinery, fantasy, horror and pop elements". It's a concept the Marsden Arts Group has embraced wholeheartedly, with two guest artists, Barak Zelig and Stephen Harrison, exhibiting with the group in a show exploring Steampunk, including paintings, photographs and sculptures.
Steampunk is showing at Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson, until November 30.
Talking beautiful buildings…
As part of DESIGN Canberra, Graeme Dix, chief architect at Johnson Pilton Walker, will be reflecting on how the National Portrait Gallery – the amazing building, that is – has embedded itself in the capital's landscape and consciousness.
A building for the future is on at the National Portrait Gallery at 2pm. Entry is free.
Wesley Uniting Church
Applications are now open for both Music and Organ Scholarships for 2015: "These will be awarded by the Wesley Music Foundation in association with Wesley Uniting Church. Scholarships have been awarded each year since 1994. Music Scholars are outstanding voice and instrumental students at both tertiary and secondary level who demonstrate that they can benefit from opportunities to practise, perform and make recordings as a soloist or in ensemble in the unique spaces and facilities of the Wesley Music Centre and Wesley Uniting Church in Forrest. All scholarships are awarded on a competitive basis." For more information, visit wesleycanberra.org.au. Applications close December 1.
Live at Albert Hall
The Canberra City Band Group is presenting their 89th (that's some milestone) anniversary concert on Wednesday November 26 at Albert Hall, but the twist this year is that the whole thing is being recorded live under "studio conditions, where the concert-going public will gain a rare glimpse into the world of live recordings, and see first-hand the disciplines required to capture the excitement of demanding wind ensemble repertoire as it happens". Canberra City Band was first formed in 1925 to provide a musical outlet for the workers building Canberra. It reformed after the depression and WWII, becoming fully orchestrated as a concert band in 1947, making it one of Australia's senior community wind ensembles.
The concert at Albert Hall, on Wednesday November 26, starts at 7pm. Tickets $20/$15, or $50 for families. Bookings: tickets.canberracityband.com.
In the balance at Form
There's a lovely new show opening this week at Form in Queanbeyan, with nine artists responding to the concept of balancing. Ceramicist Bev Hogg, for example, looks at the many challenges and trade-offs in finding a balance in our relationship with animals and our environment. "These works tease out intersecting ideas and relationships of animals and people in shared environments," she says. "A narrative that explores the impact and contradictory response of humans to their natural world and how we might live in a shared landscape reconsidering the value of our wild animals." Printmaker Heather Burness will be drawing on her "punctuated journey moving up the flow of the Murray River".
"Understanding happens after, or further downstream. We are all bound by the river, interwoven to its flow. Its catchment is all of us." Other artists featured in the show are Angela Bakker, Verney Burness, Ngaio Fitzpatrick, Lisa Maddern, Angela Coombs Matthews, Claire Primrose and David Weir.
Balance is showing at Form Studio and Gallery, 1/30 Aurora Avenue, Queanbeyan, from November 24 until December 14.
Watercolours near Hall
First-time exhibitor Jane Eustice is showing a series of watercolours alongside Isla Patterson and Nell Anderson at the Brindabella Hills Vineyard Gallery, for the next few months. "Many of the works are from the local Hall area, capturing the local landscape and animals of the region," says the gallery. Hall and Beyond is showing at the Brindabella Hills Vineyard Gallery, on Wallaroo Road near Hall (follow the signs to Woodgrove Close), until February 1.
