Craft ACT shows
Two new exhibitions are now on at Craft ACT until August 22. They feature artists who have responded to the world around them through furniture, objects and wearable artworks. These emerging and early-career designers have creatively responded to mundane statements, everyday objects and urban landscapes, to express the future of contemporary design. Differing Perspectives is by emerging makers and JamFactory Furniture Studio associates Calum Hurley and Jordan Leeflang, both from South Australia. It's an exhibition of sculptural objects and furniture pieces that respond to different photographs of metropolitan Japan. NSW artist Zoe Brand's You Are Doing It Again is an exhibition of wearable artworks where general musings about an unprecedented time are put front and centre, multiplied, divided, made colourful and offered anew. Part antidote, part lucky charm and part warning to those closest to us, Brand offers up a series of pieces that straddle the line between the comic and the tragic. Brand will give a floor talk on Saturday July 18 at 1pm (limited space, bookings essential). craftact.org.au.
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Small and Humble
The Gallery of Small Things goes to Humble House gallery (HHg) for a collaboration bringing together contemporary art in a traditional Chinese setting. GOST owner Anne Masters invited nine artists - Ellen Rosalie Gunner, Amy Hick, Pia Larsen, Jacqueline Lewis, Nic Mason, Phil Page, Isobel Rayson, David Suckling and Amanda Westley - to participate in a special group exhibition that is "small and humble". HHg owners Roger and Weilian Carter and exhibition manager Kylie Fogarty have provided a dedicated art gallery space for the artists to make small and large works. GOST is less than six metres square and now selected artists can make works for a gallery space of nearly 130 metres. Visitors can view the exhibition online or visit Humble House Gallery at 93 Wollongong Street, Fyshwick, from Wednesdays to Sundays, 10am to 4pm until August 2. galleryofsmallthings.com/exhibition. and humblehouse.com.au/exhibitions.
Bonjour and G'Day
Val Johnson's exhibition features her paintings from recent travels in France and outback Australia. Each place has its own identity - the soft purples and greens of France, and the reds and oranges of outback Australia. The paintings include oils on canvas, miniatures in gouache and watercolour, and some work from sketchbooks, to show the viewer how the ideas for her work often come from travelling "diaries". Johnson's artistic career began in the 1960s. Colours of Cornwall was her first solo exhibition at Strathnairn Arts in 2018. strathnairn.com.au.
Blue Poles project
The National Gallery of Australia's recent closure during the COVID-19 shutdown allowed its team to embark on the most ambitious conservation research project to date on Jackson Pollock's Blue poles (1952), one of the major works in the gallery's collection. Senior painting conservator David Wise began a thorough analysis of Blue poles in the international galleries on level two and the gallery team looked through the archives and unearthed the history of the painting. Delve into the stories in the new online archive, Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles: Action Reaction. The NGA Shop is also having a clearance sale until Sunday, July 12 from 10am to 5pm. Access is via the Australian Gardens and King Edward Terrace. Contact-less payment only. nga.gov.au.
Triple J Unearthed grants
ACT band Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers were among the 16 recipients of grants from Triple j Unearthed to emerging Australian artists. The recipients will receive up to $7000 each to help them record new music, produce music videos and create sustainable merchandise. The grants, which are part of the ABC's wider Fresh Start Fund, are an initiative designed to help independent Australian musicians grow and create local content while supporting the Australian music industry.
