What's on in the Canberra arts scene, July 1, 2017

Little Memories comprises a number of quiet, soulful portraits and charmingly eerie still life paintings. These sensitively rendered works reverberate with emotion and mystery. Boyd is an artist whose work is driven by her fascination with the psychology of childhood and the fragility of early memory. From her home studio in Canberra, Boyd paints with acrylics in a loose, realist style from a variety of source imagery including vintage knitting and sewing patterns, as well as her own photographs.

Her paintings depict scenarios and objects that seem at first innocuous, but through use of her understated pallet and skilful use of light and shadow, each work hints at something more dangerous. The works often convey an ambiguous, hard-to-define emotion - suggestive of a narrative which winds around the painting. This subtle "unsettling" effect stays with the viewer for a long time after seeing these beautiful works. Until July 16, Aarwun Gallery, Nichols.

And speaking of school holidays … who doesn't love a good theatre experience for the kids.

At the Canberra Theatre, attend Funatorium's Mad Hatter's Tea Party, where audience participation is all part of the fun. You can book special on-stage seats for close up action, hosted by the wackiest characters serving mind boggling tricks and sweet surprises. Tickets from $35. July 12-15. Bookings via canberratheatrecentre.com.au

Pied Piper Productions has Jack and the Beanstalk running at St Paul's Anglican Church in Manuka. Everyone knows the story, silly boy, and this production has toe-tapping music, wonderful costumes and an enthusiastic young cast. Suitable for the whole family. Until July 6. Tickets $7 at the door. Cash only. $6 each for groups of 10 or more. Bookings essential for groups. Phone 6295 9172 or bookings@pied-piper.com.au for more information and session times.

Kenneth Grahame's classic Wind in the Willows gets a makeover at The Q. The charming, classic tale of adventure and discovery is now a one-man adaptation. Shaka Cook is Ratty, Mole, Badger and the incorrigible Mr Toad all as one, frolicking through a magical set with plenty of surprises throughout, and playful costuming and props. For children aged 4-12 and anyone who enjoys messing about in boats. Last chance to see it today at 10.30am or 1pm. Tickets $15 or $55 for a family of four.

In case you missed them at the National Folk Festival earlier in the year, the charming duo Charm of Finches is returning to Canberra for a performance at Smith's Alternative. Sisters Ivy and Mabel Windred-Wornes are only teenagers but their music is soulful and dreamy and just a little quirky. One of the stand-outs at the NFF, for this show they'll be joined by Melbourne's Leah Senior, touring her new album Pretty Faces. Paying homage to her dark folk roots, there's a hint of pop and psychedelic undertones. Wednesday July 12, 7pm. Alinga Street, Civic

The Belconnen Community Gallery "RESPECT" series presents Inner Spirit, an exhibition of paintings by arts students at the CIT Yurauna Centre, in celebration of NAIDOC Week, form July 3 - 21.

An Aboriginal person's connection to their totem is a symbolic, spiritual connection to land. The Yurauna Centre Cultural Arts class connected their inner spirit to their totem using lines, techniques and traditional beliefs. Using traditional colours and patterns, the artists have portrayed their creative voice, allowing their spirit to speak through art. Chandler Street, Belconnen.

This is not a place is an exhibition by Canberra-based artist Clare Jackson. Her series of etchings explore personal experience through depictions of reminiscent yet constructed places. Intrinsic to Jackson's practice is an interest in time, memory and the traces they leave on our surroundings. While there is continuity to these elements, they are also ever changing. The exhibition consists of multiple series of works on paper, influenced by recent artist residencies undertaken in Estonia and Woy Woy Bay (NSW). These small pictorial landscapes make use of intaglio techniques, such as aquatint, to create personal symbolic spaces depicting architectural details, coastal suburbia at night and space shuttles landing on earth. At Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, until July 22, 2017. Tues-Sat 9.30am-5pm.

Photographer Nora Stewart captures intricate portraits of the landscape around her Bywong home, close ups of eucalypts, bark and leaves. Using her phone, she began to share her photographs on social media a few years ago @natureartistaustralia and is now preparing for an exhibition in Paris. In the meantime you can see her work at the Old Bus Depot Markets every third Sunday and at the monthly Hall Markets, this Sunday, July 2, from 10am-3pm.