Arts

Adair Dunsford. A French oil painting which is part of the Naracoorte Regional Art Gallery’s permanent collection has been cleaned and restored. The picture, entitled Marche aux Fleurs or Flower Market by Edouard Cortes has been brought back to life through a grant from mining company, Australian Rare Earths.

The lack of a TAFE, children with special needs, the health bureaucracy, E-tag regulations, arts, rare earth mining, radiation therapy and plastics were among 16 questions asked at last week’s Country Cabinet forum in Naracoorte. During a two-day whirlwind visit SA Premier Peter Malinauskas, his ministers and all department chiefs collectively met with hundreds of people as they travelled to various special spots within our region.

The Maldon Folk Festival returns this weekend, with a sensational program that features performers from across Australia, the US and England ... Where to start?!  Let’s begin with Gina Jefferey, who must surely be one of the queens of country music.

Wiradjuri woman, artist and creator of Marara Designs Shelby-Rae Kschenka of Narrandera has entered a brand collaboration with the iconic Australian clothing company Sportsgirl. Shelby-Rae will work with the company to create a ‘meaningful, intentional and sustainable’ Acknowledgement of Country that will be present in all 130-plus Sportsgirl stores via physical in-store plaques and online.

The Festival of Small Halls stopped in at Pilton Soldiers Memorial Hall, performing in front of a big crowd. Lee ann Weekes from down the road at West Haldon opened the show. She was followed by Brisbane-based cellist Monique Clare and Canadian musician Shane Pendergast.

The Allora mural designs have been completed and are ready for the Allora community to vote on the winning design. Artists Jordan and Steve have supplied an explanation on each of the designs and have taken on board the ideas so generously shared by the Allora community.

The stunning beauty of Grafton’s famous jacaranda trees is being captured forever on canvas by internationally acclaimed South Korean artist Kim Chang Han, who is visiting the Clarence Valley for the 2023 Grafton Jacaranda Festival … Mr Han said painting is one of his greatest enjoyments in life…

If you’re interested in Celtic music, here’s an event not to be missed: the Celtic Piping Club is hosting an event at the Ray Bradfield Room in Castlemaine on Saturday 4 November, starting at 8pm.   Internationally acclaimed duo Colm Broderick on uilleannn pipes and Francis Cunningham on concertina will be performing.  

Thanks to photographer extraordinaire Rob Leeson for this great photo of Newstead farmer Tony Butler, and Kelpie Mac, in a paddock of wheat. In recent weeks, the local region has received around 40mm of rain, and this has been a bonus for farmers.

Travelling singer-songwriter Josh Arnold visited Nobby State School last week to help finalise the new school song with the assistance of the students, who helped encapsulate what the school is all about ... Josh said it was important for the students to incorporate the village of Nobby into the lyrics.

Serena Kirby. Photographer Nic Duncan recently collected the best portrait print award and the Izzy Orloff award for overall best portrait in WA’s 2023 Pro Photography competition. The winning image for both awards was of Denmark man Andre Steyl who Nic said had been one of her all time favourite faces to photograph.

It’s the Byron Bay Film Festival, so there's always going to be  surf  films ... Topping the bill is Emmy-winning filmmaker Paul Taublieb’s documentary Ground Swell: The Other Side of Fear, which poses the question: what prompts big wave surfers to travel the globe to find absurdly colossal waves to throw themselves into, tackling natural forces in a contest that any rational human would see as insane?

Adrian Callinan and Kathleen Purcell met each other at a football game in Melbourne in 1946. Kathleen had several suitors lining up to woo her, but she fell for Adrian, a dashing flyboy just back from the war.

The end goal of the recent Maldon Inc Kangaroo Art Project was finally realised last Friday when the much-anticipated Mylab Five VET ultrasound machine was installed in the treatment clinic at Red Box Wildlife Shelter. The ultrasound machine will assist volunteer Senior Veterinary Surgeon Dr Mark Sayer in expediting diagnosis of internal injuries in kangaroos.

The exhibition is of Orthodox icons and includes pieces from eleven Australian collections, including six public institutions: Mona, Art Gallery of Ballarat, Art Gallery of South Australia, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, the University of Sydney, and the Abbey Museum of Art and Archaeology, Caboolture.   Contributions from private collectors come from Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney, and London ... This exhibition is the most significant collection of Orthodox icons presented in Australia that can be recalled ... The overall effect is surely one of surprise for the uninitiated and awe inspiring for the person who understands the genre.

Not to be missed this Sunday (15 October) is the Maldon & Baringhup Agricultural Show, which runs from 9am to 4pm (with free entertainment for the children starting at 10am) at the Maldon racecourse ... The [Tarrangower] Times caught up with Kristina Forbes last weekend, who was in the process of finalising arrangements for entries into six (that’s right, six!) categories of the floral art section of the Show.

Castlemaine Theatre Company is bringing Under Milk Wood to the stage, and the production features a significant Maldon contingent. Set in a seaside town and written by Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, it features glimpses into the dreams and lives of various eccentric townsfolk.

Talented local singer and songwriter Lee ann Weekes has released her first single and it has already brought her some success. Lee ann lives at West Haldon and her first single, Don’t Talk to Strangers is a song she wrote paying tribute to the beauty of her aunt’s unconditional love for her husband (Lee ann’s uncle), who courageously battled the effects of dementia before his passing in 2022.

The annual Spirit of the Land festival made its return over the weekend making Lockhart a haven for sculptures and fine arts. The event opened early on Saturday the 7th and finished off on the following Sunday with stalls, galleries, exhibitions and sculptures galore to enjoy.

Horsham Arts Council’s upcoming production of American Idiot is sure to be a crowd-pleaser with a look back into the angst of the early 2000s in America. This rock opera is based on band Green Day’s popular album, American Idiot.