[ 18 May, 2012 to 20 May, 2012. ]

And so we come to the end of another fun filled week in the Capital.

What’s worth seeing and doing around town this weekend?

Just leave your ideas in the comments.

The Folk Festival is a strange beast for a few reasons:
– It relies on vast armies of volunteers working for free (often in highly professional capacities).
– It charges like a wounded bull. Seriously it hoovers money out of my wallet harder than any casino I’ve visited.
– It pays the most cursory to negligible [...]

[ 1 May, 2012 to 21 May, 2012. ]

Gosh, even art exhibitions get trailers now!

christineryan1 has posted this to YouTube with a note:

Michelle Harris is a quiet and extremely talented photographer and illustrator who hates the spotlight, unlike me. Her exhibition “I’m like a bird” was opened by ACT Minister for the Arts, Joy Burch on May 1. Michelle’s first solo exhibition runs [...]

[ 11 May, 2012 to 22 July, 2012. ]

The National Gallery has announced the opening of unDisclosed: 2nd National Indigenous Art Triennial:

unDisclosed features the work of 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists from regional, remote and urban communities and is curated by Carly Lane, a Kalkadoon woman from North West Queensland with a background in curatorship, anthropology and art.

The artists featured [...]

Somehow we missed the appearance of two works by Jon Tarry in Civic West last November.
And yet there they are!

[ 11 May, 2012 to 13 May, 2012. ]

As another productive week draws down it’s time to consider the merriment of the weekend.

What is worth seeing and doing around Canebrra over the next few weeks?

Just leave your suggestions in the comments.

[ 11 May, 2012 to 20 May, 2012. ] This year’s festival brings the best of Australian, local and international classical, contemporary and jazz performers for a week of music in and around some of Canberra’s iconic landmarks.

Canberra has a reputation for having a large and vibrant music scene at least in proportion to the fairly small population of the city.
Though traditionally a stronghold of metal in the suburbs and jazz/avant garde among the School of Music graduates there is also some truly excellent punk rock music to come out of [...]

Local artist Luke Chiswell has given us some of the more thoughtful pieces adorning the stormways of Canberra.
Recently he got featured in Frankie.
Last night we were rather thrilled to discover he was opening an exhibition at Honkytonks.
And I was able to buy one of his t-shirts which I might never take off.

[ 4 May, 2012 to 6 May, 2012. ]

After a rare full week of work there’s a properly deserved weekend coming up here in Canberra.

So what’s worth seeing and doing around town this weekend?

Just leave your thoughts in the comments!

Local artist Victoria Lees has been mystifying and amusing Canberrans at festivals around town, and notably down the middle of Northbourne Avenue, with her geometric string sculptures.
I asked her about it via email last week and this is what we got:
John Johnboy Griffiths (JG): Thanks Victoria,
So to kick off,
How many of these installations have you [...]

Tiffany Smith has sent in some pictures of the artwork Woden’s still buzzing about.
Got an image of Canberra you want to share with the world? Email it in to images@the-riotact.com .

A friend of mine is the only Australian finalist in the international Hooping Idol competition. She’s down to the final 15, and she’s a proud Canberran plus an amazing hula hoop practioner.
See her first video entry here, completely pro-Canberra:
And you can see the latest entry plus vote at http://www.hooping.org/tag/hula-hoop-idol/
If you like her work, vote [...]

The Liberals’ Vicki Dunne is starting to ask some useful questions about the public art program:
Since 2007, the ACT Labor Government has spent on average around $4,300 each day on street sculptures, ACT Shadow Arts Minister Vicki Dunne said today.
“The 37 works I have been able to identify which have been installed across the [...]

[ 27 April, 2012 to 15 July, 2012. ]

The National Gallery has lifted the lid on their latest exhibition:

Eugene von Guérard (1811–1901) is arguably Australia’s, and certainly Victoria’s, most important colonial landscape painter. Born in Vienna and trained as a painter in the European art centres of Rome, Naples and Düsseldorf; von Guérard migrated to Australia in 1852.

Von Guérard’s meticulous landscapes are remarkable [...]

Wild rumours were circulating this morning that the Board of Gorman House had been sacked or resigned.
Gorman House has informed us there have been no sackings or resignations.
So there.

[ 27 April, 2012 to 29 April, 2012. ]

It’s been a damn funny week with a public holiday in the middle to confuse us all.

But the weekend is hard upon us!

What’s worth seeing and doing around town?

Just leave your suggestions in the comments.

[ 2 May, 2012 to 21 May, 2012. ]

Local artist Paul Summerfield has put out a media release and artists’s statement on his new exhibition “Sky Aquarium” opening at The Front in Lyneham next week.

In this refreshing body of work, Summerfield has used his unique digital painting style to create fantastical landscapes that evoke glimmers of other worlds, past and future.

All are welcome [...]

I thought readers might be interested in seeing the wonderful new mosaic at Birrigai.  
It depicts the history of life on Earth and is around 50m long!

Canberra’s Owen Campbell got a second shot on Australia’s Got Talent, said what the judges wanted to hear and moves on in the show.
I’m glad for him he gets the continued exposure. Glad for the Canberra music scene that one of their own is finally getting mainstream exposure which will get more attention for the [...]

Commonwealth Arts Minister Simon Crean on Friday announced the reappointment of Ron Radford for a further two years as Director of the National Gallery.
Tim Fairfax is taking over the chair of the Gallery’s council from Rupert Myer, in an interim capacity.
“My decision regarding longer term options for the Gallery Chair’s position is yet to be [...]

The giant owl sculpture in Belconnen that has been the source of so much debate is gone. Just the concrete base remains…
Here’s how the mystery unfolded on Twitter on Friday night, to a deal of amusement, courtesy of Canberra Times cartoonist David Pope’s feed (I tidied up RTs and rearranged to make sense to non-tweeps), and [...]

[ 1 May, 2012 8:00 pm to 2 May, 2012 10:00 pm. ]

Jay Sullivan is the drunk monk. Well, almost. He is a bald semi-Buddhist and, by his own admission, “has no sex or possessions.” Sounds like a monk to me. Not for the faint hearted but with wisdom to impart, Jay’s new show: “I Am the Drunk Monk” shows why he is not only Canberra’s favourite [...]

According to ANU News, Eleanor Gates-Stuart, a PhD student from the Centre for the Public Awareness of Science, has been commissioned to produce her winning concept StellrScope as part of the Centenary of Canberra Celebrations.
Eleanor’s winning concept is StellrScope, a visual arts production that will explore the Canberra region’s connection to the Australian wheat [...]

[ 20 April, 2012 to 22 April, 2012. ]

It’s not shaping up as a great weekend to be outdoors. So what’s worth seeing and doing around Canberra this weekend as the wet weather rolls on?

Just leave your suggestions in the comments.

[ 22 April, 2012 to 6 May, 2012. ] “The Elephant Stamp”, a fine-art photography exhibition by Jeff Moorfoot, opens at 5pm, Sunday April 22 at Manning Clark House, 11 Tasmania Circle Forrest ACT.

I came across the newest addition to the plethora of taxpayer funded public art installations bestowed upon the unwary populace of Canberra yesterday.
For once I think the Gov has got it right – it really captures the spirit of Theodore – and represents the spirit of the southern suburbs beautifully.

more

I just went to check out what is new at the Canberra Museum And Gallery, and I have to say, I’m impressed.
The two exhibitions introduced on 24 March; Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today, and Mirror by Jeannie Baker are both fantastic.
As I’m not someone who ever goes out of their [...]

[ 10 May, 2012 6:00 pm to 27 May, 2012 6:00 pm. 10 May, 2012 6:00 pm to 27 May, 2012 6:00 pm. 10 May, 2012 9:00 pm to 27 May, 2012 9:00 pm. ] Top 100 – the latest project from Canberra artist Karin Maier, is a collection of songs and stories.

Most songs tell a story, for both the songwriter and the listener. Songs end up forming a soundtrack to events in your life. You know what it’s like – hearing a particular song can trigger a memory, a [...]

When the government pledged $3.8 million for a capital works project in conjunction with the earlier decision to move Megalo Print Studio to the Fitters’ Workshop, they probably weren’t expecting the backlash they received.
The Standard Committee on Education, Training and Youth Affairs have just published a report about, as the title plainly states, ‘Future Use [...]

Last night I was listening to Brisbane community ration 4ZZZ’s chat to slam poet Darkwing Dubs mostly to hear what they had to say about Canberra’s Bad!Slam!No!Biscuit! poetry slam.
So I was a bit surprised to learn from this unlikely source that Canberra’s champion of the spoken word, Adam Hadley (aka Hadley, aka Jacinda), is moving [...]

[ 13 April, 2012 to 15 April, 2012. ]

It’s been a short week (you know you’ve got a proper job when you come to hate the disruption of long weekends instead of celebrating the chance to bludge) but wishing won’t make it otherwise and here comes the weekend.

What’s worth seeing and doing around Canberra?

Just leave your thoughts in the comments.