Art after dark
In the Inner South, no less! The Arts Hub of institutions clustered around those old, leafy inner suburbs are once again teaming up with a program of Things To Do and See from 5pm til late on Friday November 11. The Rat Patrol bike ride will take in M16, Bilk, CCAS, PhotoAccess, Artsound, Canberra Glassworks and Megalo, with an exhibition, party or workshop at each joint. Check out art late at night – a great new show is opening at M16 -, make your own middy and eat burgers at the Glassworks or tour the Artsound studios – but here's hoping this crazy weather, er, holds? Or not, depending on the day. Check out Inner South Arts Hub: Art After Dark / Art + Ride on Facebook for the full program. And while you're at it, make sure you pick up from of the Hub's beautiful new event posters, with quarterly event listings from art organisations across Canberra. Anyone who's lived here for more than, um, 15 years, will recognise the inspiration – the old Electric Shadows Cinema poster that everyone – everyone! – had either on their fridge or toilet door. Nostalgia!
Memoria, platea at M16
If you love a good opening party, one of your stops on the After Dark ride should definitely be the opening of this beautiful new exhibition at M16. Six very different artists from very distinct cultural backgrounds – Tiff Brown, Sarit Cohen, Mark Mohell, Macdonald Nichols, Peter Ranyard and Peter Rohen – use their different media to "investigate themes of place, memory, identity, travel, nostalgia and diaspora. Using ceramics, painting and photography, each artist, with their own methodology, but all with a similar visual and conceptual frame, come together for this exhibition to present a contemporary artist's urban existence." As a collective, they say, "One of our deepest needs is for a sense of identity, belonging and to feel, somehow, immersed in a chosen place". Memoria, platea (latin: memory, place) opens November 11 at M16 Artspace, 21 Blaxland Crescent, Griffith, and runs until November 27.
The Tin Shed's Unfolding
The Tin Shed Art Group are opening their 22nd – milestone! – art show at Watson Arts Centre this week, with what, it turns out, has been their most challenging theme yet – "unfolding": "Starting from a range of diverse topics, including granite, wallpaper and Sudoku, through to nature's challenges, trees and flowers, as well as estuaries, windows and seasonal night skies, the TSAG has responded well to their 2016 mentor, Claire Primrose of Form Studio and Gallery, by pushing their initial ideas through to very different and often complex outcomes." The show is always an absorbing one, with a diverse range of artists with an equally diverse range of preoccupations. Unfolding opens at Watson Arts Centre, 1 Aspinall Street, Watson, on November 10 and runs until November 20.
Habitual // Ritual at ANCA
Now here's a show I can get behind – elevating the domestic! Otherwise known as "artists do housework, too", or "glamorise what you do" or, indeed, "life is nuts". Curators Sabrina Baker and Anja Loughhead have brought together 10 artists from across the country with works in sound, ceramics, painting and print, all of whom look deep into the "nooks and crannies of everyday life": "These selected artists revel in the monotony of their piles of washing and see the humour in our pursuit of an ideal home. They elevate the microwave and the humble meat pie and interrogate the very essence of our dwelling spaces… HABITUAL // RITUAL is a reflection upon the way in which domesticity informs the process of making, a celebration of the nuances of the everyday." HABITUAL // RITUAL opens November 9 at ANCA Gallery, 1 Rosevear Place, Dickson, and runs until November 27. ANCA is also holding an open day at its Mitchell campus on November 12 to mark its 25th anniversary. The day will be a chance to meet the artists and – most importantly – stickybeak in their studios. There'll be some old photos on show (of the "then and now" variety), live street art by the one and only Byrd, as well as food, drink and music. ANCA Open Day is on Saturday November 12, 4-8pm at 96 Hoskins Street, Mitchell.
Lucidus at Megalo
Childhood memories are a thing for most of us – usually a defining thing. But not many of us can parlay such memories into beautiful woodblock prints like Melbourne artist Ellie Malin. She grew up abroad, and uses the experiences in her work, exploring their effect on her cultural identity. Her artworks are informed by her love of travel and her childhood memories, and also by "the most meaningful to the insignificant moments in life, in all their beauty… An image's origins may begin as something quite recognisable as I slowly take on a process of deconstructing it into pure simplified shapes and colour," she says. "In effect I'm pulling things apart in order to simplify their appearance." Lucidus, by Ellie Martin, is showing at Megalo Print Studio + Gallery, 21 Wentworth Avenue, Kingston, until November 12.
On your wavelength
ArtSound is holding its annual open studio and fair this weekend – part of the station's big fundraising push towards operational costs and development. Let's help to keep it going! From 9am to 4pm on Sunday, November 6, visitors and members alike can take a tour of the studio, listen to live music and buy second-hand books and music. The lawns are also great for picnics. For more information about Members Week and the open day, visit artsound.fm.
Dinosaur Designs in Bega
The weather's starting to get a little coastal around these parts – or at least, conducive to visiting the coast. If you're down Bega way, make sure you check out the debut exhibition by the creative duo behind Dinosaur Designs, a brand that's still going strong after 30 years. Can you believe it? Although best known for their jewellery and homewares, the show features large-scale sculptural forms that celebrate the 30-year creative partnership of Louise Olsen and Stephen Ormandy – plenty of colour clashes and exuberant designs for which the pair have become famous. The Art of Dinosaur Designs is showing at Bega Regional Valley, Zingel Place, Bega, until December 3.