ANU Drill Hall Gallery
The Drill
Since the ANU Drill Gallery is not open at this time, the gallery staff are presenting various kinds of online entertainment. There are music playlists selected by artists, staff and friends of the gallery, essays, talks and collection highlights. For an example of an artwork from the collection, Danie Mellor's 2011 piece By the shores of History (A search for meaning; search for a long time ago) was acquired by the ANU in 2011. This piece is part of the Blue and white series and is connected through theme and imagery with Mellor's early career works and continuing research into colonial and post colonial visual narratives. By the Shores of History (a search for meaning; search for a long time ago) imagines a group of rainforest Aboriginal warriors searching for meaning around the early incursions of Captain James Cook. This montage of scenes from their journey sees them land at the memorial erected for Cook at Kurnell on the land or the Gweagal people. They find no answers to the questions posed by their search, however, only an edifice which stands silently looking over the waters of Botany Bay. dhg.anu.edu.au.
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Craft ACT
Craft ACT has two new exhibitions showing online. A Common Thread reinforces the importance of collaboration, especially during uncertain times. Emerging artists Sam Gold (South Australia) and Harriet McKay (ACT) have openly exchanged knowledge of their respective materials, artistic philosophies, making processes and aesthetic inspiration to bring new perspectives to contemporary craft and design. It is a contemporary and multidisciplinary collaboration encompassing textile painting, ceramic sculpture and installation. The exhibition is fundamentally concerned with how connection to a material connects us as humans.
Transference is a collaborative exhibition by ceramic and glass artist Robyn Campbell (ACT) and ceramicist Jo Victoria (NSW) that expresses their shared fascination with light and surface, and the potential of glass and porcelain to convey fragility and transience. By exchanging deep knowledge of their respective materials, through a supportive process of learning, teaching, experimentation and play, the artists have developed a new body of work in which the intangible elements of light, shadow and reflection are significant, changing the pieces as natural light and perspectives shift. Both artists also take inspiration from the natural world and the landscapes they live in - Campbell being inspired by the Canberra landscape known as the "bush capital" and Victoria finding inspiration from the beautiful coastal landscape of Mossy Point, NSW. Both exhibitions are showing online until June 27. craftact.org.au.
Aarwun Gallery
David Hinchliffe has had more than 60 solo exhibitions including paintings, sculpture and photographs around the world. He says his recent work "deals with the urban environment in its many forms in cities around the world as well as an abiding affinity with the Australian landscape. It is a response to light. I like the movement of light across a surface - whether it's a valley, a river, a street or the human form. I particularly enjoy the shapes, the noise and the shadows of city landscapes - whether it's the drama of lower East Side in New York, the reflections in the canals of Venice, the romance of Paris streets, the quirky laneways of Melbourne, the crowded pedestrian footpaths of Brisbane city, or the treed streets near my home in inner suburban New Farm and studio in Fortitude Valley, Australia." His work can be viewed online at aarwungallery.com/artists.
Home studios
In March, the Covid-19 pandemic caused Canberra's 35-year-old arts-and-music community radio station, ArtSound FM, to shut its studios while maintaining bare-bones staffing in its offices. To avoid going silent, several presenters have cobbled together makeshift home studios, allowing them to continue to prepare their programs. The station's on-air fundraiser begins in late May and runs through the first weeks of June. More information: https://artsound.fm/ or abigailmsykes@gmail.com.
Lucky Jim Live
On Saturday, May 23 at 3pm on Facebook Live, Canberra musician and teacher Jim Sharrock presents Lucky Jim Live, a live-streamed show for primary-aged kids and their families with play, song and dance. For more information on this and other upcoming Belconnen Arts Centre events visit the website: belcoarts.com.au.
2021 Fellowships
The National Library of Australia's Creative Arts Fellowships offer practising artists and writers the opportunity to develop an artistic concept or work that is inspired or informed by the Library's collections. Two fellowships are available: the Creative Arts Fellowship for artists working in any medium other than writing, including music, dance, visual arts, emerging or experimental artforms; and the Creative Arts Fellowship for Australian Writing. The recipients will receive $10,000 for travel, accommodation support and project expenses and will undertake a four-week residency at the National Library in Canberra with special and supported access to collections, and access to office facilities. The National Library invites applications from individual creative practitioners who are Australian citizens or permanent residents and who are practising in a professional forum. They can be at any stage of their professional career and working in any art form or writing genre. Applications for the 2021 program close at 5pm (AEST) on July 20, 2020. More information on the Fellowships and the online application form are available on the National Library of Australia's website: nla.gov.au/awards-and-grants/creative-arts-fellowship.