Arts

Nancy Whittaker. Last Sunday it was my delight to chat to Mark Wardle, who is the inaugural featured artist in the new MANet* Arts Focus Gallery ... Mark is quite the renaissance man as he is so much more than a genius creating works of art out of any well-seasoned wood he can find, including on his wood heap.  

One of a number of treasured works from National Gallery of Australia’s collection to visit. A $174 million masterpiece by French impressionist Claude Monet will be heading to the Tweed later this year, just one of many artworks shared with regional galleries under the Australian Government’s Sharing the National Collection initiative.

Rhea Pfeifle. It felt as though the music from the Orenda Trio and the Sarabande Early Music group was overflowing from every nook and cranny of 5 Payne Road ... With their expert rendition of complex and evocative works by female composers Clara Schumann and Luise Adolpha Le Beau, and a captivating finale featuring Brahms, the Orenda Trio brought each piece to vibrant life to the very appreciative audience.

Following on from films shot in the area over the last several years, Backyard Ashes, Stakes, The Merger and the short Inside Water, another production is once again making its way to country NSW, this time in Narrandera. The feature film, "When The House Is Empty" directed by Timothy Hills, is being shot in Sydney and Brisbane as well as the Narrandera area.

The streets of Ganmain came alive for the weekend for the second ever Ganmain Arts Festival. The festival featured art in different forms such as sculpting, painting, photography and even an ecofabric creator.

Australia’s largest regional writers festival explores the theme of 'Wild Imagination' - Featuring more than 120 writers, thinkers and commentators ... The festival also offers  writers’ workshops, an engaging program for children and several feature and satellite events in venues across the Northern Rivers.    

There will be plenty happening from Thursday July 20 and running for 10 days in Warwick and surrounds. An easy 20 minute drive north of Warwick and you’re in Allora "The best little town on the Downs".

Renee Pettitt-Schipp is the author of the award winning collection of poetry  The Sky Runs Right Through Us and her latest offering, The Archipelago Of Us, is her first work of prose ... Renee recently chatted with Australian Rural and Regional News contributor Serena Kirby about her early interest in writing, her love of poetry and what she has in the pipeline as future works.

Get ready to embark on a transformative journey through the artistic realm of Merri Hogan, a remarkable and accomplished artist whose talents know no bounds. With a seamless transition between mediums, Merri has captivated audiences with her sculptures, paintings, writings, photographs, and more.

Of the two budding NT government art galleries, one is making news: The one in Darwin, because construction is under way. At the opposite end of the Territory, and of government attention, there is no news about the Alice Springs “national” Aboriginal gallery because its senior director, Tracy Puklowski, is not able, not willing, not permitted, not whatever to answer media questions.

The Maldon in Winter festival kicks off tonight (Friday 23 June) with the long-awaited for Kangaroo Art Trail coming to life! Twenty-four life-sized kangaroos lovingly decorated by an array of local artists and community groups are creatively displayed in shop windows along Main & High Streets in Maldon throughout the festival.

Maldon Primary School students have decorated kangaroos for the Kangaroo Art Installation. This art installation is part of the Maldon Winter Festival. Students decorated three kangaroos using a variety of mediums. Students in all grades contributed to the kangaroo artwork.

One of the standout stalls at the recent High School Market Day would have to be the leather goods made by one of the students under the business name Rennie’s Leather Works. Thomas Hicks has been creating the leather goods now for almost two years and spends about 10 hours a week creating wallets, purses and belts that not only get sold at High School events, but also has started doing a stall at the fortnightly local Community Lawn Sale.

The winners of the fourth annual Rural Aid Spirit of the Bush photography competition have been announced. Five of the twelve winners were captured in Queensland, four in Western Australia and three in New South Wales ... "A powerful love of livestock and the land really shines through in this year’s pictures": Rural Aid CEO John Warlters.

The Grong Grong School of Arts hosted a successful fire circle session at the Royal Hotel over the weekend ... "We ended up with 17 musicians, many of whom didn’t know each other, playing at the pub all day… they came from Griffith all the way to the border and just drove up for the day, it was great": Gemma Purcell.

The last of the foal shows are done for the year, the royal show horses have a few more weeks rest before the earnest work begins and it’s the quietest time of the year for most horse people. It’s an opportunity to catch up on some reading by the fire while the wind blows cold, or while seated on a 12-hour plane flight – do we revisit some old favorites or go and find something new to read?

HM Woodhouse-Herrick. Former Nhill resident Tim Rath was heard recently on Matt Tribe’s Saturday morning show on ABC Radio. Tim was on to talk about his book: The Footy Jumper Book, which traces the history of the humble guernsey from the hessian sack days of Moonta FC in regional SA back in 1876 through to Neil Craig’s remarkable one-piece lycra invention for Norwood in 1994.

Vuu deftly handles multiple time shifts throughout the novel until it all comes crashing together at the end. The final chapters contain twists enough to keep any reader happy, and the emotional punch of the climax is powerful. This is one the most intriguing crime novels I have read and the story stayed with me long after I closed the book for the final time. I look forward to reading her second novel.

The winners of the highly anticipated 2023 Victorian Architecture Awards have been unveiled, celebrating collaboration and sustainability in design and paying tribute to the influential role of architecture in shaping the way we live, work and play across Melbourne and regional Victoria ... The Regional Prize winner, Warrnambool Library and Learning Centre was heralded for its triumphant contribution to the local community, further receiving an Architecture Award for Public Architecture.

Fitting neatly into co-curricular studies and specifically, the Connecting to Cattana Wetlands program, year 6 students at Trinity Anglican School (TAS) White Rock campus were treated to a special presentation this week about migratory shorebirds by zoologist, microlight pilot adventurer and children’s book author, Milly Formby ... TAS’ year 6 students were captivated by Milly’s presentation which provided a practical perspective to their studies of Cattana Wetlands near Smithfield...

The Tennant Creek IGA has been given a colourful makeover thanks to the talented artists from Proper Creative. The award-winning company from Darwin has 15 years experience in art in public spaces, and the colourful wall art depicts a map of the town.

A crowd of 40 gathered in the oldest town in the Riverina to celebrate the creativity and craftiness in the amateur 2023 Bush Sculpture Competition ... Materials to build the sculpture were plentiful on the farm at ‘Parkleigh’, located between Moulamein and Swan Hill...