To say Megalo Print Studio's fate has been ''conflicted'' is perhaps an understatement, so it seems pleasingly ironic that that is the name of the group's latest exhibition. I am referring of course to the protracted wrangle over whether Megalo should be allowed to relocate to new premises at the Fitters Workshop in the face of vocal opposition by certain music and political quarters singing from the same sheet who felt its acoustic would be lost. Conflicted is a collection of recent work produced by the staff of Megalo Print Studio + Gallery. Alison Alder, Surya Bajracharya, Ingeborg Hansen, John Hart, Megan Jackson, Peter Jordan and Millan Pintos-Lopez are printmakers with experience across a range of printmedia, including lithography, intaglio, screen and relief printing processes. The works promise to be diverse, engaging and dynamic. Director Alison Alder says the artists and community members who use the current Megalo studios in Watson often express curiosity regarding what sort of art practice the Megalo team engage in ''out of hours''. ''This exhibition provides an opportunity for the public to see the private work of this group of artists,'' she says. ''The Megalo team is committed to both their work and their art - hence the conflict. When does work begin and where does work end?'' See Conflicted at 49 Phillip Avenue, Watson, until July 21.
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May Lane and the power of street art
A groundbreaking exhibition of street art by leading Australian and international graff artists entitled Mays: The May Lane Street Art Project opened at Belconnen Arts Centre last night. It's a survey of the artworks created at May Lane in the inner city suburb of St Peters, Sydney, between 2005 and 2010. Tugi Balog has been documenting the May Lane project since 2005 when he turned the walls of his business into an outdoor gallery space for street artists. As a result, May's has a collection of more than 100 panels by celebrated Australian and international street artists spanning the life of the project and incorporating all the artists who have created work in May Lane. This exhibition features a selection of 25 works from the May's collection and is the first comprehensive exhibition of street art to tour nationally. There are also workshops by well-known street and graff artists from the Canberra region, floor talks by some of the Mays artists, a street jam with music dance and street art workshops and an artists' forum with next gen creatives.
Painting the world
Travellers amid Streams and Mountains is a new exhibition of Brett Bailey's landscapes inspired by the Canberra region painted using traditional Chinese and Japanese techniques. Bailey was a finalist in the 2009 Art Gallery of NSW Wynne Prize and his works are held in public, private and corporate collections in Australia, China, the United States, Japan, Britain and Ireland. This exhibition showcases his latest body of work, which illustrates his continued assimilation of Chinese and Japanese ideas of ''painting the world'' and the loving scrutiny, internalisation and evocation of the Australian landscape. At ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson.
Tamlin's layers of reality
This is the final weekend to catch Ross Tamlin's Melange, a collection of the corrugated iron paintings for which he is best known at Paintbox Fine Art. Director Steve Watson says when Tamlin started painting he supported his art practice by working as a paint laboratory chemist. ''All of his skills and knowledge come into play with the unexpected and the surreal woven into his carefully crafted paintings which range from brightly coloured overlapping pieces of corrugated iron crowded with place names, stacks of multi-hued shipping containers, to solitary ships stranded in surreal landscapes far from the sea,'' he says. ''Tamlin creates remarkable illusions with many layers of carefully applied oil paint overlaid with varnish creating images that appear as three dimensional sheets of weathered corrugated iron, haphazardly nailed together. He has created a number of these paintings with Canberra place names for this exhibition.'' Paintbox Fine Art, 32 Lonsdale Street, Braddon. Open today and tomorrow, 11am-5pm.
Songs of praise from Amarcord
If you fused the Backstreet Boys and an East German Lutheran boys' choir, you might end up with the sound of Amarcord, the acclaimed a cappella group which owes much of its success, and rich, engrossing sound, to Bach. Established in 1992 when the five singers were still at school, their evolution as an ensemble went hand in hand with East Germany's integration into the west. Amarcord's singers met as choirboys at J.S. Bach's church St Thomas, Leipzig, where the composer's presence continues both musically and physically. ''We were singing right beside his grave,'' says bass Holger Krause. July 24, 7pm, Llewellyn Hall, ANU School of Music. For tickets visit www.ticketek.com.au or contact 132 849.
Vocal Jewels of the Renaissance
And to some sublime local voices. Joan Milner's six-voice female vocal ensemble Polifemy is giving a free concert of music entitled Vocal Jewels of the Renaissance, at the High Court on Sunday, July 15, at 2pm.
Musical delights at Wesley
Canberra-based pianist Robert Schmidli will perform the second of his three Lunchtime Live series concerts on Wednesday, July 25, at the Wesley Music Centre, from 12.40pm to 1.20pm. The program comprises works in the Classical, Romantic and Twentieth Century periods. It includes Haydn's Capriccio Hob XVII/4, Prokofiev's Sonata in C major Op 38/135 and Liszt's Scherzo and March.
