IN a late email to “Citynews”, artist Geoffrey Dunn has cast doubts on his own sanity.

Dunn, you see, after a couple of years of not exhibiting at all, has not one but two exhibitions currently on show, and in his views, that’s not exactly normal.

The first, as we have reported, is “2 Tens & A Tomato – Fresh Art and Words from Geoffrey Dunn & Marina Talevski” in which the two artists combine visual art, sculpture, poetry, photography and installation in a joint show running at The Front until Sunday.

Dunn and Talevski are guests at the regular Poetry Slam at the gallery tonight, Friday July 25 where the pair will read works on display and answer questions about the show.

Stranger still is Dunn’s second, “Zoologica: a study of Life through Death,” a series of twelve photographs examining our relationship with the scientific collection of animals and the way we study life via their death.

“2 Tens & A Tomato” is at the Front Gallery in Wattle St Lyneham until July 27. “Zoologica” is at the Kaori Gallery in Hobart Place, Civic, until August 2.

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ANCA Gallery in Rosevear Place Dickson is now calling out for exhibition proposals for the second half of 2015.

ANCA Gallery. Photo: David Flanagan

Curators, emerging artists and interested local and interstate artists and curators are encouraged to apply on the application form,  found at anca.net.au

Applications close 5pm Wednesday August 20.

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Admired Canberra ceramicist Jane Crick took up clay in 1978, but her untimely death in 2013 cut short an artist in her full flush.

Jane Crick, 2 Upright Bottles, 2008

Readers will recall a touching exhibition at Watson of the late artist’s remarkable collection of teacups not long after her death.

Now in a retrospective exhibition at Watson Arts Centre, Crick’s friends, students and admirers as well as new viewers, will have an opportunity to take a walk through her ceramic career and celebrate her contribution to the world of ceramics.

The works exhibited are not displayed in any chronological order, and it will be evident that Crick was “a prolific experimenter with both forms and finishes,” so that dating some of the works has not been possible. Many pieces are instantly recognisable as her ‘signature’ forms that she produced regularly over a number of years but others not so.

Crick’s enthusiasm for clay led to a long involvement with Canberra Potters’ Society. As a teacher for the society she was responsible for introducing many people to the joys of clay and working with them, often over many years, to develop their skills and creativity, so she had a loyal following of students, a clear indication of what she brought to her teaching.

She joined the management committee in 1991 and taking on every office bearing position,

The proceeds of sales will help fund the Jane Crick Memorial Award for Handbuilding, a new Canberra Potters’ Society Members’ Exhibition award sponsored by her family.

Jane Crick Retrospective, at Watson Arts Centre, Aspinall Street, Watson, until August 17, Thursday to Sunday 10am – 4pm. Opening event 2pm Saturday July 26, all welcome.

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ACT arts organisations have, from time immemorial, just loved rebranding, and yesterday the Minister for the Arts, Joy Burch, launched the rebranded ACT Community Cultural Inclusion Program.

Joy Burch

Yes it’s quite a mouthful, but it serves to cover a range of local creative and inclusive initiatives in contemporary arts and community cultural development funded by the ACT Government. We used to call them Multicultural, Indigenous and arts ability programs, but those terms, it appears, are too easy to comprehend.

Ms Burch described the launch of the program, which is run out of the Belconnen and Tuggeranong Arts Centres, as a celebration of “recent achievements, its new forward program, a fresh image and the creation of a dedicated accessible website combining projects at both centres.”

“The CCIP [yes it already has its own acronym] demonstrates the ACT Government’s commitment to inclusion through community cultural development by funding participation in the arts for those most vulnerable in our community,” the Minister said, also rejoicing in “a new phase of collaboration between the centres – with new branding, an informative and accessible one-stop blog site and some new faces in the program’s team.”

“The blog site, she explained (http://ccinclusion.com) will promote upcoming arts programs and enable individuals and organisations to contact the team for advice or assistance in developing their own community arts projects. All this would allow the Belconnen and Tuggeranong Arts Centres’ inclusion officers to “work together to share ideas, exchange information and develop complementary programming.”

And so on. We trust all this won’t obscure the worthy intent of these program and that it won’t cost the earth in new letterhead.

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OPENING night of “Abstraction-creation JW Power in Europe 1921-1938”, at the National Library, was a chance to celebrate and acknowledge this significant Australian artist.

Power (1881-1943) spent most of his artistic life in Europe and it is this extraordinary exhibition that brings together the library’s collection of his almost too perfect sketchbooks, designs and art books with the paintings from the University of Sydney collection of this avant-garde artist.

Sydney born into a wealthy family, he became a doctor and went to England to further his studies, which probably made his surgeon father and architect grandfather very happy, but Power had a passion for art realised in later life.

He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps and his meticulous drawing and architecturally influenced abstract painting makes me believe that, as a surgeon, his stitching would have been perfect.

But it’s the sketchbooks that offer an insight into his travels. From Paris to Bruges, Avignon to Africa and in Sydney in his youth, his constant sketching in an eclectic mix of books is a treasure trove of Power’s talent. It would seem he never made a mistake.

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THE opening credits began with Universal’s logo, never a comfortable start for any aspiring film. Then up popped the logo of the BBC, which has made scads of good movies. Could that presage a mote of salvation, I wondered, for the quality of a film that, from pre-release publicity, promised little? There wasn’t. It wasn’t even that good.

The concept, the brainchild of writer/director/female-impersonator star Brendan O’Carroll, is popular on British TV. As if SBS’s dumb rude TV series “Housos” weren’t enough, Channel 7 has broadcast it in Australia. Earlier this year, a stage version of Mrs Brown’s antics toured Australia.

The tax-man says Agnes Brown owes four million pounds. Ruthless Russian investors and a venal developer want to exploit the Dublin F&V Market site where three generations of Agnes’s family have had a stall. Can students at the Blind Ninja training college break into the National Records office to get the tax receipt copy Agnes swears (something she does copiously during the film) will prove she’s paid? What justice can she expect from a drunken judge hearing argument from her lawyer suffering from Tourette’s syndrome?

A market opening-time dance routine by troupe of pram-pushing overweight stall-holders closes the film’s prologue and later there’s an interlude of Irish dancing. These work because they don’t try to provoke laughter. The rest tries unsuccessfully. The concept hasn’t got the legs to carry it more than half an hour of TV sitcom time.

At all cinemas

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FROM Egypt-born Canada-reared director Atom Egoyan comes a forensic docu-drama about the 1993 murder of three small boys that came to be known as the “West Memphis case”. Three teenaged boys were tried and found guilty of the crime.

The screenplay by co-producer Paul Harris Boardman examines the belief of private investigator Ron Lax that they were innocent. Colin Firth gets the film’s top billing as Lax, in real life a high achiever in his profession until his death last year.

Playing Pam, mother of one of the victims, Reese Witherspoon delivers unimpressive anger, hysteria and grief.

The underlying thesis of the crime is that the three accused were engaged in a satanic cult. In a semi-rural community where Christian fundamentalism strongly influenced the population, that coupled with the violent and sexual elements of the crime led to prejudices surfacing outside the court-house. Lax worked pro bono to show that while heavy metal bands, drugs and possibly aberrant sexual practices influenced the defendants, the State had not proved its case.

Egoyan is a skilled director with an impressive filmography. His films often offer a dialectic here suffering from a ponderous pace that constricts our interest in discovering its truth and its dramatic values. That’s regrettable.

At Dendy and Palace Electric

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A great many good things are coming to an end as the redevelopment of the Canberra House annex comes to fruition.

Among them is the trees along West Row, which have been cut down and their stumps painted with poison to make sure nothing lives.

Here’s a picture of them just after they were slated for destruction.

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TODAY Canberrans have been treated to six (!) exciting videos from their ACT Government pumped onto YouTube to convince us that spending hundreds of millions of dollars on a tram line to Gungahlin is really a clever idea.

They’re all nice and short so as not to trouble anyone’s attention span and are all made with either blue or orange backgrounds.

“Cracked” back in 2010explained the popularity of the orange and blue combination with video makers (item 4):

Not everybody wants to get fancy with that their digital coloring. But everybody wants to get lazy.

In any event we welcome our new light rail overlords.

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LINA Blair of Nicholls has collected a $1,000 prize for reporting a wayward shopping trolley from Woolworths Gungahlin through Trolley Tracker.

Since Trolley Tracker began it has taken over 1.3 million reports from people like Lina, helping to return over two million lost trolleys to their home stores and protecting the local environment.

Information on trolleys is reported directly to one of hundreds of trolley collection teams around the country who retrieve the trolley and return it to its home store.

[Photo Lina Blair with Woolworths Gungahlin Acting Store Manager Felice Massari]

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THE Labor members for Ginninderra are celebrating the retention of the Mount Rogers as an off-leash dog area.

“This is a good decision by the Minister, TAMS have clearly heard the views of the community and we are very pleased for this result” Mary Porter said.

The MLAs (Chris Bourke, Yvette Berry and Mary Porter) also congratulated the Mount Rogers community for their active participation in the consultation process and called on Canberrans to draw from this experience when being consulted by the ACT Government.

[Photo: The Kelpies of Few Accomplishments]

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ACT Policing has seized 23 cannabis plants following the execution of a warrant on a home in Ainslie yesterday (Friday July 25).

About 5.10pm yesterday, police attended the location after receiving a report of a possible grow house inside the home.

The owner of the home had gone to inspect his rental property when he observed a number of items indicating a hydroponic setup. The owner has called police and left the property.

Police conducted an external search of the property which confirmed the complainant’s observations and a crime scene was set up.

About 9.10pm, police executed a search warrant on the home and located a hydroponic setup within two rooms and 23 cannabis plants.

The plants were seized along with the hydroponic setup, including transformers, leads, irrigation and lighting.

An offender has been identified and enquiries are continuing with the man to be summonsed at a later date.

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Simon Corbell.

SIMON Corbell says the Domestic Violence Prevention Council will undertake a review into domestic violence deaths in the ACT.

“The review will consider actual cases of domestic and family violence that led to the death of a victim to determine what can be done to prevent the violence and what warning signs we need to look for,” Simon said.

“The specific terms of reference, including the time frame for the cases to be considered and how victims’ families should be involved in the process, will be prepared and settled by the Domestic Violence Prevention Council with stakeholders.

“The review will also assist in achieving the objectives of both the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children 2010-2022 and the ACT Prevention of Violence against Women and Children Strategy 2011-2017.”

Under these strategies the ACT Government has committed to driving continuous improvement through sharing outcomes of reviews into deaths and homicides related to domestic violence with other states and territories.

“Domestic and family violence has a very human cost, claiming the lives of more than 100 people in Australia every year, and the government and community needs to build a strong foundation to ensure that the loss of life ends.

“This review will help the Domestic Violence Prevention Council provide a robust and independent picture of domestic and family violence in the ACT and help to inform government decisions about domestic and family violence mechanisms in to the future.

“The findings of the review may also help to identify issues that point to the need for legislative, policy, practice and service changes across government and the community sector. I look forward to updates from the Domestic Violence Prevention Council on the progress of this important work.”

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WRITTEN by prolific Canberra songwriter Andrew Hackwill and Michael Heming, “The Rokitelly Man” is an engaging new original musical, complete with tuneful, toe-tapping songs, imaginative choreography by Kathryn Jones, a witty set design and colourful costumes.

Miles Thompson (as Jeremy) and Alex McPherson (Cindy) in “The Rokitelly Man”. Photo by Nick Brightman

It tells the story of Jeremy, a packaging department assistant in a failing toy emporium, who invents a best-selling toy robot called “The Rokitelly”. The success of his invention turns around the fortunes of the company resulting in Jeremy becoming the new head of the toy design department.

Director Richard Block has assembled an attractive cast headed by Miles Thompson, as the gormless Jeremy, and Alex McPherson as Cindy, the girl he loves and loses.

There are amusing characterisations from Debra Byrne, who delightfully channels Hyacinth Bucket as the over-bearing proprietor of the toy emporium; Max Gambale as the suave marketing manager and Joe McGrail-Bateup is the opportunistic former toy design head who becomes a victim to Jeremy’s success.

Miriam Miley-Read almost steals the show with a delightful comedy performance as the deliciously ditzy Angela.

Though it’s a shame that the dull, pre-recorded backing tapes drain away much of the necessary oomph and spontaneity of the musical numbers, that un-ironed costumes spoil the gloss, and an inexplicable change of style in the last 10 minutes plunges an otherwise frothy entertainment into some kind of Brechtian morality tale, there is still much to enjoy in “The Rokitelly Man”.

It is presented by Dramatic Productions and Ickle Pickle Productions.

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POLICE are seeking witnesses to a collision which occurred yesterday (Saturday, July 26) on Flinders Way, Griffith.

About 1.15pm, a motorcyclist was travelling southbound along Flinders Way, towards Mugga Way, when it was struck by a car exiting the soccer field car park at Canberra Boys Grammar School. The car did not stop and was last seen on Monaro Crescent, Red Hill.

The car is described as a gun-metal grey Hyundai iX35 SUV with an ACT registration. It is suspected the car will have sustained damage to the front left wheel area. A partial registration of the car has been provided to police.

The rider sustained minor injuries while the motorcycle has significant damage.

There is a statutory reporting requirement in the ACT, which means a collision must be reported by both parties within 24-hours.

Call 1800 333 000 or act.crimestoppers.com.au; information can be provided anonymously.

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Firefighters are working to extinguish a fire in a house on Fulton Street, Macquarie.

Fire has been knocked down and has significantly damaged the house.

Update to follow.

6:57 AM

Fire has been extinguished.

No damage to neighbouring property.

ACT Fire & Rescue are currently ventilating the property.

Three fire pumpers on scene, the Breathing Apparatus Support Van and two commanders.

Update to follow.

7:12 AM

Time of Emergency Triple Zero (000) call 6.19am.

ACT Ambulance Service intensive care paramedics have treated three male patients aged in their 20′s.

One patient has been treated for superficial burns to lower limbs and the two other patients have been treated for smoke inhalation. All have been taken to the Canberra Hospital.

Crews have commenced investigations into the cause of the fire.

7:37 AM

Fire started in a bedroom.

Cause of fire non-suspicious and suspected to be from clothing coming into contact with a heater.

Estimated damage of the three bedroom duplex to be $100,000.

ACT Fire & Rescue has now departed the scene.

9:38 AM

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Walking down Bunda Street one can’t help but admire Liberal Senator Zed Seselja’s enormous head covering the exterior of his electoral office.

But glancing through the door one is struck by the little shrine of photographs of great conservative leaders.

Tony Abbott, a black and white of Margaret Thatcher, and resplendent afore the stars and stripes Ronald Reagan himself.

Apologies for the quality of a photograph taken on the fly through two doors.

Seen something around town? Email it in to john@citynews.com.au .

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