Sunday Arts Magazine

10 Jul 2016

Smokey, Nigella, GSPF, Mill on the Floss, Without Pier Gallery

Arts, Comedy, Literature, Music, Performing Arts, Visual Arts

Brendan is away today so David is joined by Ande K who presents Black, White and Rainbow about Indigenous affairs and culture–on Wednesdays at 10pm on Joy. He also used to do the news for Friday Drive (David’s other show). David is playing hit Smokey Robinson songs throughout the show because it was announced last week that he will be the 2016 recipient of the prestigious Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. It’s an award given to a composer or performer for their lifetime contributions to popular music. Ande is a full-time artist and David chats with him about his particular form of indigenous art.  Every area in Australia has different artforms and Ande’s original home in the Gold Coast has artwork containing both dot and lines and reflects the weather, features and colours of coastal areas. Ande also talks about how he became an artist, when he first started selling paintings commercially, his own contemporary style of painting, and where he’s going next with it (especially 2D/3D art).

Special guests today are:

13:36 to 28:19 mins–Raelene Isbester is a theatre performer here to talk about her cabaret show Nigella – Love Bites on from 12 to 17 July at The Butterfly Club. It is an hour long musical about the cooking goddess. From Orange in NSW, Raelene did a Bachelor in Music Theatre in Mackay Qld and came to Melbourne doing auditions and working with trios. She has done many musicals and gigs over the years including overseas ones. Competition is fierce so she decided to also create her own work and opportunities. The idea of Nigella emerged through a friend saying she looked like her and had elements of her and others suggesting she do a cabaret on her.  She did some research and found that, surprisingly, no-one had ever done a cabaret on her.  Raelene and team put together a 10 minute segment for the Short and Sweet Festival in February to see how her version of Nigella would be received. She ended up winning Best Cabaret and Best Performer which included a prize to perform at The Butterfly Club. She buckled down to write the script, doing more research and working closely with director Simon Trevorrow and composer Shannon Whitelock.  Raelene details how they put the show together and how it takes the audience on a journey having both a comic and more serious tone with songs to match. It’s a homage to Nigella and a positive piece overall.

30:13 to 46:31 mins–Nicky Pastore is the Festival Director from the Gertrude Street Projection Festival  (GSPF) on from 15 to 24 July, 6pm to Midnight at Gertrude St, Fitzroy. Gertrude St is an iconic street in Melbourne and has ‘everything’ that you might want in it. Over 10 days each year the festival takes over a number of sites including shop fronts, building facades and laneways with ‘projection art’.  There are also ‘special events’ that involve digital media, music events & VJs in the festival hub and different events around Gertrude St.  At Atherton Gardens Estate there will be sculptural artworks and artbox truck which will have screenings and live events. On Atherton Towers (part of the Commission flats) there will be huge projections done via a giant analogue projector system using a series of 6-10 slides with the images not going through the windows and disturbing residents.  Nicky explains how this ‘projection-mapping’ works. This system is used on all the buildings. Nicky then outlines her path to becoming director when as a multi-media student at RMIT and part of a digital media collective she was told about GSPF.  Nicky talks about Gertrude St’s uniqueness including no banks or supermarkets, beautiful historical buildings and uniquely different stores.  Nicky also outlines other events at Little Woods Gallery in Langridge St & Seventh Gallery.

47:22 to 1:11:00 mins–Director Tanya Gerstle and actor Grant Cartwright are here to talk about their production The Mill on the Floss –based on the Victorian novel by George Elliot (Maryanne Evans) on from 28 July to 13 August at Theatre Works in St Kilda. In the 1990s a London group ‘distilled’ the novel down to a ‘theatre piece’ which is what this group are adapting. Tanya was an actor but ‘under the guise’ of training herself to be a director at a time where a professional female director was unheard of. Her solution was to go find teachers and colleagues in Europe which was an invaluable experience.  She returned after about 6 years and found the landscape different here.  Tanya taught at the VCA and directed about 3 shows a year.  Now she’s freelance and has her own company OpticNerve Performance Group which Grant is a part of too.  Grant is from Newcastle and came down here to study at the VCA; where he met Tanya. He’s worked between Melbourne and Sydney chasing acting work. This show will be his 3^rd one with Tanya.  Tanya’s company has 6 weeks residency at Theatre Works and once the show starts, will also be doing workshops during the day. Tanya and Grant describe in detail what is different about how the company works–essentially it’s a physical & expressionistic way of telling a story. As for why this story–Tanya explains she’s always interested in finding material where there’s a tension (Victorian restraint meets physical theatre) and where women explore all their humanistic possibilities and/or are held back.

1:11:18 to    mins–Terry Earle is the owner/director of Without Pier Gallery in Cheltenham which exhibits contemporary Australian Art. He is here to talk about a current exhibition of modern abstract art featuring 4 artists Magdalena Dmowska, Kirsten Jackson, Jill Lewis and Trevor McNamara on from 17 to 31 July. Terry had been in a senior position at ANZ bank for 27 years and took the opportunity to take a substantial package, when they downsized, and doing his own thing.  He’d always been interested in promoting Australian art and artists. Terry has been in the tough gallery business for 21 years and outlines why he thinks he’s succeeded in the business while many other galleries didn’t–including owning the building, position, exposure, huge size and well-to do locals. His, gallery is now very well -known now throughout Melbourne and Australia. Terry and his team are very attuned to current trends and what people are looking for, and are always on the lookout for artists whose work is different from what they currently carry. He gives some examples of styles and trends. Terry then talks about each artist and their art from the current exhibition, particularly Trevor McNamara who David knows. He also outlines their disciplined process of how they choose what artwork to bring in to the gallery including ‘trialing’ artwork to gauge interest before offering an exhibition. Lastly Terry talks about one of his most successful artists Betina Fauvel-Ogden who has just won the Archibald Packing Room Prize with her portrait of Masterchef George Calombaris.

 

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