Creativity to the fore
Creativity to the fore.
Floriade 2020
On until October 11, the “reimagined” version of the annual flowerfest is all about neighbourhood plantings and communal gardens. Around a million bulbs and annuals create a “tulip trail” through the city and suburbs, thanks to the event’s horticulture team and more than 90 Canberra community groups. A map sets out where to see the best of bedded, boxed and potted blooms. Giles Street, Kingston, is a good spot to walk amid pavement plantings of five varieties of tulips and clumps of pretty blue angel pansies. City Hill, surrounded by Vernon Circle, Civic, has been temporarily renamed Daffodil Hill for its 100sq m sea of yellow. According to organisers, “The rabbits that call City Hill home love munching on tulips, but don’t think daffodils are delicious ...”
National Portrait Gallery, Parkes
Centrally located on King Edward Terrace and with underground parking (a bargain-basement $3 an hour), the NPG has just hosted the Darling Portrait Prize and the National Photographic Portrait Prize but the Pub Rock exhibition (free entry) is on until February 14. Expect energetic performance videos, posters, and formal and stage photos of the likes of The Easybeats, Little Pattie, Johnny O’Keefe AC/DC, Midnight Oil, Cold Chisel, INXS, The Bee Gees, Kylie Minogue, Paul Kelly, Yothu Yindi, Daddy Cool and Marcia Hines. There are rock-themed graffiti walls and portraiture such as Howard Arkley’s 1999 canvas of Nick Cave (pictured), plus NPG has a first-class gift shop. Book online for timed visits.
Bisonhome, Pialligo
Brian Tunks’s Asian-inspired ceramics and coloured glassware are shown as table settings and shelf decorations at a delightful heritage cottage store in semi-rural Pialligo alongside plant nurseries and fellow creative businesses near Fyshwick. It makes the shopping process a breeze to see Bisonhome pieces mixed and matched but next time I’ll arrive with a truck for my haul of platters, dishes, bowls, cups, jugs, vases and the like. Ceramic colours are all muted blues, greens, greys, pinks and a pretty persimmon, while the glass objects are available in bolder shades, including the generously proportioned Isla vase ($89). There’s also a shop on Lonsdale Street, Braddon.
