Ensemble Offspring’s next concert is entitled To Listen, To Sing. It features a quartet of flute, clarinet, cello and percussion performing a program featuring works by First Nations composers Brenda Gifford, James Henry, Nardi Simpson, and Eric Avery. The concert will take place at the Gunning Courtroom on Sunday 23rd August at 4pm. For further information visit the Gunning Focus Group’s website.
Tuggeranong Arts Centre has three new exhibitions.
Firstly, in Chaos and Order Karen McSwan Silsby’s abstract paintings emerge from a deep impulse to impose structure on a world in flux.
Next, Weaving the Coast by Christiane Keller celebrates the distinctive coastal environment cherished by many Canberrans and demonstrates how waste materials can be transformed into enduring art.
And lastly, Toxic is a solo exhibition of sculptural and wall-based works that examines bullying and Toxic workplace cultures.
All three exhibitions will be on display from Friday 21st August until 19th September. For more information visit the Tuggeranong Arts Centre’s website.
The National Library of Australia presents The memory collectors: Conversations with oral historians. The Library’s Dr Barbara Lemon joins esteemed oral historians, Dr Shirleene Robinson and Dr Barry York for a conversation about lessons on humanity, memory and the art of listening. The event will take place on Thursday 20th August at 6pm. For more information and to register for the event visit the National Library of Australia website.
The Grainger Gallery has two new exhibitions. Firstly Afternoon of the Harpies by Judith Nangala Crispin and Stephen Harrison is an exhibition of fantastical creatures, insect angels, vessels for incarnation, carpets and luminescent fish-trap spaceships. Then there’s Spirit Dwellings by Sarah Hickey. In these paintings larger than life figures emerge in landscapes alongside birds, horses and botanical companions. Both exhibitions will be on display until Sunday 30th August. The Granger gallery is at Dairy road Fyshwick & opening hours are Wed – Sun 11am – 5pm.
The ANU School of Art & Design Gallery has the FUSE Glass Prize, a non-acquisitive biennial prize for Australian and New Zealand glass artists. This exhibition features 18 selected Finalists (12 Established Artists and 6 Emerging Artists). The FUSE Glass Prize will be on display until Friday 4th September. The ANU School of Art & Design Gallery is on the Cnr Ellery Cres and, Liversidge St, Acton.
The next Apeiron Baroque concert will be a Children’s Concert featuring 30 minutes of music, and instrumental show and tell in a relaxed and informal setting. This performance will be at the Wesley Music Centre on Sunday 23rd August at 3pm. Then later that day at 4:30pm at the Wesley Music Centre Apeiron Baroque presents The Green Piper. Featuring special guest Simon Rickard, a former graduate of the Canberra School of Music, and a professional gardener and writer, giving a gardening-themed presentation alongside Baroque Music. For further information on both concerts visit the Apeiron Baroque facebook page.
At the Q Gallery, Les Fleurs is a group presentation of works which celebrate flowers. The exhibition will be on display from Friday 21st August until Wednesday 9th September. The Q Gallery is at Edgar Street in Ainslie and opening hours are 2:30-6:00pm Wednesday to Saturday and 10:00am-3:00pm on Sunday.
Craft and Design Canberra has four exhibitions.
Firstly, Dwell by Suzanne Knight presents a body of tapestry weavings that explores the intertwined histories of migration, settlement and ecological change.
Then, Correspondence continues Jude Muduioa’s interest in accumulation as both a making process and a way of thinking, with each element is formed by hand before becoming part of a larger whole, where no single component dominates.
Next, Vessels of Dialogue by Sarit Cohen is an exhibition of ceramics exploring architectural moments shaped by the artist’s memories. Influenced by a nuanced understanding of the Bauhaus and the Decorative Arts movement of the early 20th century, the exhibition features whimsical sculptural vessels and objects.
And lastly, Fragile Structures: The Architecture of Decay is a collaboration between visual artists Madeline Cardone and Fran Romano. Working in glass and ceramics, the artists are fascinated by the built environment, ruins, decay, voids and architectural phenomenology to explore how space is articulated, divided or transformed by materiality.
All three exhibitions run until 12th September. Craft & Design Canberra is in the North Building on London Cct in Civic. Gallery hours are Wednesday to Saturday 12pm -4pm.
From the Mountains to the Sea brings together a curated selection of works spanning artist Robyn Sharp’s artistic journey, from treasured pieces in her back catalogue to her most recent paintings. The exhibition will be on display at Alliance Française de Canberra which is at McCaughey St in Turner until Friday 28th August.
At the Q Gallery, The Night Will Enclose Me by Martin Paull. The paintings in this exhibition take inspiration from Canberra’s planned landscape, which in the dark can be on a magnitude that tends towards the epic. Night-lit buildings and well-lit roads, with reflecting signs hanging in the void are like paintings in a gallery. The Night Will Enclose Me will be on display until Thursday 20th August. The Q Gallery is at Edgar Street in Ainslie and opening hours are 2:30-6:00pm Wednesday to Saturday and 10:00am-3:00pm on Sunday.
M16 Artspace has four new exhibitions:
Firstly, in UNRuly, three artists in their installations use the strategy of unruliness as an important generator of form in their object-making practices to explore unruly themes.
Then, Glad tidings is a multi-media exhibition by Susan Chancellor focussed on a section of a tidal estuary close to her studio.
Next, Position/Trajectory by three artists brings together three distinct drawing practices that navigate the fleeting, the fading, and the luminous.
And, Tribute to John Lennon by Karen Bondietti features artwork based on the Beatles and is a tribute to John Lennon when he sings ‘So This is Christmas’.
All four exhibitions will run until Sunday 23rd August. M16 is at Blaxland Crescent, Griffith and gallery hours are 10am – 4pm, Tuesdays – Sunday.
At Canberra Glassworks Lynda Draper’s GR’AFT draws on the ancient practice of grafting—the joining of separate living forms to create new growth—as both process and metaphor. This body of work brings together glass, ceramics, and bronze through collaborations with skilled artisans. GR’AFT will be on display until 25th October. Canberra Glassworks is at Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Gallery hours 10am – 4pm Wednesday to Sunday.
The Mockingbird Theatre Company presents Paula Hawkins’ The Girl on the Train. Rachel Watson longs for a different life. Her only escape is the seemingly perfect coupleshe watches through the train window every day. When Rachel discovers that the woman she has been secretly watching has suddenly disappeared, she finds herself drawn into a dangerous mystery where memory cannot be trusted. The Girl on the Train will be performed at The Mockingbird Studio at Belco Arts from until Saturday 22nd August. For more information and performance times visit the Belco arts website.
Strathnairn Arts has two new exhibitions. Firstly, Hot Property draws on Katie Hayne’s observations of construction sites in the emerging neighbourhoods of Whitlam and Ginninderry to create paintings that capture landscapes in transition in Canberra’s north-west corridor. Then, Crooked is a group exhibition by the Marsden Art Group that features works across a wide range of media including painting, drawing, photography, ceramics, textiles and mixed media. Both exhibitions will run until Sunday 23rd August. Strathnairn Arts gallery hours are 10am -4pm Wednesday to Sunday.
Belco Arts has five new exhibitions:
Firstly, the Yerrabi Yurwang Child and Family Aboriginal Corporation presents the Yawarj Mara – Strong Pathways – Young Men’s Group Art Exhibition. This exhibition showcases artworks and cultural artifacts created or designed by young Aboriginal men participating in the group.
Then, My Country, My Connection – Full Circle is a series of photographs by Ngunnawal and Wiradjuri artist Alana Harris reflecting her connection to her Grandmother, Grandfather and Mother through traditional connection to their homelands.
Next, Ngiaga (I/I am) by Leilani Dewis is a collaborative series of mixed media works created with other First Nations artists, exploring the unconnected stages of life.
Ngurambang-dhi is a collection by First Nations fashion label Corella & Crow. This collection brings together slow fashion processes, upcycled textiles, and hard working surfaces that honour the storing and materials that shape each garment.
And, lastly, Ngunna Dhaara celebrates Richie Allan’s deep spiritual connection to Ngunnawal Country. These paintings are the journeys he has taken across Country, the places he has immersed himself, the feelings experienced, age old dreaming stories and his inherent need to share these stories through his love of painting.
All five exhibitions will be on display until 23rd August. Belco Arts Gallery hours are 10am – 4pm, Tuesdays – Sunday.
At the Canberra Contemporary in The Gardener’s Bar, Tamara Henderson through processes of decomposition and regeneration, constructs an ecology in which sculpture, painting, film and sound emerge through the same cycles of accumulation, decay and renewal. Both exhibitions will be on display until 29th August. The Canberra Contemporary is at Queen Elizabeth Terrace, Parkes. Gallery hours are Friday to Sunday, 11am – 5pm.
At Questacom Quantum Tomorrow: Imagined Futures is an exhibition that invites visitors on a journey into a near-future Australia, where quantum technology is brought to life in surprising and accessible ways.
At the Museum of Australian Democracy the Press Gallery exhibition takes visitors inside the original working spaces of the Federal Parliamentary Press Gallery, where reporters worked between 1927 and 1988; filing stories under pressure, chasing exclusives and sitting quite literally above the nation’s decision makers. Press Gallery is on display daily from 9am to 5pm at The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.
At the National Archives of Australia, Rear vision: the Holden collection explores the evolution of the General Motors-Holden brand, bringing to life thememories and stories that established it as a beloved national icon. Rear vision: the Holden collection will be on display until 11th October at the National Archives of Australia each day from 9am to 5pm.
At the Canberra Museum and Gallery 2XX People-Powered Radio – Celebrating 50 years tells the fascinating stories of this community-grown station through audio snippets from its 50 years of broadcasting ranging from protests to punk, folk music and independent styles, Aboriginal leaders to women’s rights collectives, and multicultural legends to art lovers. 2XX People-Powered Radio will be on display until 6th September. The Canberra Museum and Gallery Cnr London Circuit and City Square, Canberra City. Opening hours are Monday-Friday: 10am-4pm & 12-4pm on Saturday-Sunday.
At the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House Behind the Lines 2025: ‘Are We Rolling?’ celebrates the year’s best political cartoons. This year’s exhibition theme is the cinema, acknowledging that, like some of our favourite movies, 2025 has been full of thrills and spills, romance and heartbreak, with plenty of unexpected plot twists. Our cartoonists and illustrators have tackled many of the issues that made news, including the federal election, the cost of living, energy policy, interest rates, housing security, the economy, climate change and stories from overseas. Behind the Lines 2025 will run until November 2026. The Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House is open daily from 9am to 5pm.
