MOST - Marrickville Open Studio Trail - 26 July

"The Marrickville Open Studio Trail (MOST) returns this Saturday 26 July 2008 as part of the 2008 Sydney Biennale, providing an opportunity to peek into the lives of over 100 artists, where they work and exhibit. Audiences will follow a trail of open studios across the Marrickville area and explore the world of local contemporary art.

MOST will run from 10am to 4pm, providing an important opportunity for local artists to promote their work, engage with new audiences, and discuss and sell their work.

Participating artists will be encouraged to provide artworks for sale and demonstrate how their studios works.

Studio Location Maps can be collected on the day at the Sandringham Hotel Art Market (387 King St, Newtown) from 10am or from any of the participating studios.

Participating studios include -

* Addison Rd Gallery Upstairs Studios - My Le Thi, 1st Floor, Addison Road Gallery Upstairs Studios (end of 1st Floor) 142 Addison Rd, Marrickville
* Addison Rd Centre Artist Studios - 142 Addison Rd Centre Marrickville
* Alpha House Artist Co-operative - 226 Union St Erskineville
* Amy Jones - 6/1 Gladstone St Newtown
* Astrid Dahl Studio - 66 Railway Rd, Sydenham
* At The Vanishing Point - Contemporary Art - 565 King St Newtown
* Brett Hayes - 11/12-22 Newington Rd, Marrickville (Entrance located at back of building)
* Christopher Downie & Jeanette Landstedt - 36 Shepherd St Marrickville
* Crash Corporation - 4 Harnett Ave, Marrickville South
* Dimitri Kuznichenko - 28 Floss St Hurlstone Park
* Diamando Koutsellis - 1/5 Fairmount St Dulwich Hill
* Edith Artists - 9 & 10 Edith St St Peters
* Factory 49 Inc (Showroom) - 49 Shepherd St Marrickville
* Gallery 110 on Crystal St - 110 Crystal St Petersham 2049
* Gilbert Grace - 6/69 Constitution Rd Dulwich Hill
* Irminsul - 146 Edinburgh Rd Marrickville
* Jenny Kyng Studio - 39 Cook Rd, Marrickville
* Lennox Street Studios - 111 Lennox Street Newtown
* Maggie Stein - 11 Clara St Newtown
* Mary Street Studios - 75 Mary St St Peters
* Matthew Syres Photography - 8/10 Cambridge St Enmore
* Morna Molesworth - 803/31 Station St Newtown
* Mosaico Art & Design Studio - Ground Floor 111 Lennox St Newtown
* Painting the Roses - (Upstairs) Studio 3, 199a King St Newtown (cnr of King & Egan Sts - enter via Egan St)
* Preservation Australia - Unit 10A Level 3 32-60 Alice St Newtown
* Rosedale Street Gallery - 2A Rosedale St Dulwich Hill
* Shepherd Studio - 12 Shepherd St Marrickville
* Silver Street Studios - 114 Silver St Marrickville
* SNO Contemporary Arts Projects - 1st Floor, 175 Marrickville Rd, Marrickville
* Splinter Workshop - Building 1 Factory 1 Level 2 / 75 Mary St. St Peters
* Stone Villa Studios - 19 Railway Rd Sydenham
* Studio 109 - 109B Marrickville Rd Marrickville (Entrance Meeks Rd)
* Tooth Studios - 67 Sydenham Rd Marrickville
* Tortuga Studio - 31 Princess Highway St Peters
* Ultimo Project - Addison Rd Centre, Hut 24/ 142 Addison Rd Marrickville

Please ring 02 9335 2281 or coevent@marrickville.nsw.gov.au for more information."

W: http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/community/artsandculture/most.htm

LTC: Entrepreneurs who break through barriers - Thu 27 March

This month's Last Thursday Club's topic is: Entrepreneurs who break through the barriers.

"Today’s fast-moving business environment means high performers push to the top while many get left behind.

Get the ammunition you need to punch through to the top at this month’s LTC event. Naomi Simson, founder of RedBalloon will show you how to build a business that breaks barriers to achieve the best possible outcome.

Dr Adam Fraser has studied high-achieving people for over 13 years to discover cutting-edge methods that you can use to sustain peak-performance at work."

W: http://www.lastthursdayclub.net/

Hope Street Markets Autumn 2008 - 17 & 18 May

The Hope Street Independent Design and Art Markets will be on again Saturday 17th May from 11am - 6pm and Sunday 18th May from 11am - 5pm.

The markets are expanding and this time they will be held at the Paddington Town Hall, Corner of Oxford St and Oatley Rd, Paddington.

They're currently accepting stallholder applications. If you're interested, then you need to get your application in by Friday 11th April.

W: http://www.hopestreetmarkets.com/

Semi-Permanent - Sydney 4 & 5 April

The Semi-Permanent event is on again at the Bayside Auditorium, Darling Harbour.

The Sydney speakers will be: Pixar, Spencer Platt, Lifelounge, Alex Trochut, Anthony Lister, Debaser, Ben Frost, Superfad, The Directors Bureau, Sixty40, Amy Sol, and North Kingdom.

Dates and cities are: Sydney 4 & 5 April, Perth 8th April, Brisbane 12 April, Auckland 15 & 16 August.

For more info on the speakers and the event go to: http://www.semipermanent.com/

Jessica Porter's artwork featured on CG

Jessica Porter recently (Nov/Dec 2007) held an exhibition titled 'Forgot to Remember' with Fil Molitor and Kate Beckingham at the Somedays Gallery in Surry Hills, Sydney.

"Jessica’s work is driven by a desire to understand human behavior. She is stirred by the force within us to assume that what we know is right and best. Jessica is preoccupied with finding the truth and meaning underlying things and she weaves this into her work. Through use of symbolism, abstraction, and illusions, her work often hides a secret tale.

She thrives on creating images that ask the viewer to question what they see and prompts them to consider a new perspective. Surrounded by stereotypes and hasty judgments, Jessica is moved to show viewers that what they see may not be what others see. Her work forces the viewer to make up their own mind about they see. Truth is in the eye of the beholder."

Jessica's artwork is striking and bold. Have a look at her work from the 'Forget to Remember' exhibition, illustrations she did for the Total Cardboard journal, and some of her other artwork.

W: http://www.chaosgeneration.com/gallery/jessica

Hope Street Markets - Feb 1-3

The Hope Street Markets are on again at 182 Campbell St, Surry Hills.

The markets feature independent designers selling their products including: artwork, jewellery, clothing, zines and more. For a list of designers being featured at the upcoming market go to:
http://www.hopestreetmarkets.com/designers.php

Opening times are: Fri 1st Feb 6-9pm, Sat 2nd Feb 12-9pm, Sun 3rd 12-5pm.

W: http://www.hopestreetmarkets.com/

Sydney Festival Jan 5-26

The Sydney Festival 2008 will be held between January 5-26.

"For three weeks each January the Festival offers a rich program of around 80 events involving upwards of 500 artists from Australia and abroad covering dance, theatre, music, visual arts, cross media and forums...

Sydney Festival also presents a number of quality, free outdoor events such as the long-running Domain Concerts which attract up to 100,000 people a time. From 2008 the Festival will take to the streets with a new free event entitled Festival First Night, a large-scale celebration of music and performance which will draw up to 200,000 people into in the heart of the city..."

W: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au

Events listing page: http://www.sydneyfestival.org.au/events/events.htm

Anne Wendlandt of Enna

Anne Wendlandt of Enna-online is a designer, craftster and shop owner. Her illustration work and the products she makes is beautiful, colourful, and cute. Her physical store is in Hannover, Germany.

Decor8 interviewed her recently: "She has an etsy store, a DaWanda shop, and a store on her website. In addition to all of this, she creates many things by hand, she's a talented illustrator, and a graphic designer along with a shop owner, so Anne is a busy lady.

What does Anne design? I guess a better question is, what doesn't this girl do? :) She does so much. She crafts earrings out of polymer clay that she then hand paints, she designs postcards, pillows, shirts, hoodies, and onesies for baby, plates, iron-on patches, wrapping paper, softies, marketing materials for her business, her website, the signage on the window of her shop, the list goes on and on. She is inspired by so much, she certainly doesn't want to limit herself to just one thing. .."

Anne Wendlandt interview on Decor8's blog: http://decor8.blogspot.com/2007/10/meet-anne-wendlandt-of-enna-hannover.html

Anne Wendlandt interview on etsy 29/11/07: http://www.etsy.com/featured_seller.php?featured_user_id=5035742

Enna store's website: http://www.enna-online.com/

Thread Den - Melbourne

Love the idea of Thread Den in Melbourne.

"Thread Den is a sewing lounge and clothing retail space. Owned and operated by local designers and sewing enthusiasts, we are committed to providing an outlet for locally made and unique clothing...

Thread Den is equipped with sewing machines and overlockers for casual in-store hire. Mend, alter, or re-fashion your clothing; try your hand at making something new; or meet with friends to work on your projects together. There will always be friendly assistance available. For all your special projects, Thread Den have a great range of vintage fabrics and sewing accessories available for sale...

Thread Den aims to become a hub for local emerging designers and fashion enthusiasts..."

Upstairs, 16 Errol Street, North Melbourne, Access via Webbs Lane

W: http://www.threadden.com/

akira fabric sale - dec 6-8

Fashion designer akira is having a sample archive fabic sale from 6th - 8th December from 9am - 5pm.

Address: Suite 5 Level 1, 2-12 Foveaux St, Surry Hills.

Source: SMH Nov 29, p19 of the Essential Style section

Akira's website: http://www.akira.com.au

More Ikea stores in Sydney maybe

In an SMH article, it says that KAustralia's Ikea boss, Kent Nordin "wants Sydney eventually to have four Ikea stores, all bigger than the 25,500 square metres at Rhodes.

The next store will be built in the city's south-east, possibly on the old Tempe tip, on the Princes Highway. The company is also considering areas around St Leonards, in the city's north, and Liverpool, in the south-west..."

W: http://smallbusiness.smh.com.au/starting/sales/ikea,-i-conquered-905833888.html

Dulwich Hill Street Fair - Dec 2

The Dulwich Hill Street Fair will be on Sunday 2 December, 10am - 4pm.

"This year's theme is 'Creating Community', which celebrates the creativity, diversity and character that makes locals so proud to be part of this unique community.

Marrickville Road and Seaview Street will pulse with excitement, bringing you entertainment, children’s activities and rides, demonstrations and workshops, and a wide range of stalls featuring arts and crafts, homewares, clothing, plants, food, jewellery and accessories, information, giveaways and much more.

W: http://www.marrickville.nsw.gov.au/community/events.htm

11th Japanese Film Festival 2007 - Nov 29-Dec 8

The 11th Japanese Film Festival will be on in Sydney starting November 29th. For more infomrmation about the films that will be showing at the George St cinemas, go to the website.

W: http://11thjff.jpf-sydney.org/

Asimo's Australian tour

Asimo is the humainoid robot developed by Honda. He's currently touring Australia. He's at Darling Harbour today and then he goes onto Parramatta, then onto Brisbane.

In the performance, Asimo shows some of the things he can do including shaking someone's hand, kicking a soccer ball, carry a drinks tray and putting it down on a table, mimicking some dance moves, and talk.

W: http://www.asimo.com.au

How should I vote? - Federal election Nov 24

GetUp have put together a questionaire to help you figure out which candidates most match your stance on various issues in the upcoming election.

"Enter your postcode and dive straight in to our quick twenty question quiz. It will match YOUR answers to the candidates in YOUR electorate and produce YOUR own unique personalised how-to-vote card based on which candidates are most like YOU!

How does it work?
We've asked every candidate in each electorate to answer twenty questions that cover a wide range of issues that are of interest to voters. Now you can answer the same quiz and compare your views to the people you are considering voting for. "

W: http://howshouldivote.com.au/

Interesting South conference - Nov 22 Bondi

"This conference is not about brands, advertising, blogging or twitter but a wide variety of interesting, unexpected, original things. We've found 19 fascinating people and asked them speak for 3 or 10 minutes about something they care about. We want to replicate the experience of clicking from one really good blog to another, ranging across sciences, arts, music, jokes and whatever. The idea is to be informal and fast paced."

The line-up of speakers and topics sounds really interesting. Tickets are $25.

When and where: Thursday, 22nd November 2007. From 6.00pm - 9:30pm, Bondi Pavilion Theatre Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach.

W: http://interestingsouth.com/

Florence Broadhurst doco on SBS tonight - Nov 18

SBS are screening 'Unfolding Florence: The Many Lives of Florence Broadhurst' tonight at 9.00-10.30pm.

"In this spirited and highly original documentary, acclaimed director Gillian Armstrong reveals the many lives of one larger-than-life woman - flamboyant design pioneer, Florence Broadhurst.

Born in outback Australia in 1899, she was a singer and dancer in Shanghai in the '20s and ran her own fashion boutique in London in the '30s before sweeping into Sydney society as a painter and charity queen. But it was in her last incarnation that she really made her mark, shaking up conservative Australia with her bold, exotic wallpaper designs. Now, with her prints in huge demand internationally, the times have finally caught up with this glamorous, complicated, unconventional woman, whose brutal murder in 1977 has never been solved." Year: 2006.

Signature Prints sells Florence Broadhurst designs including fabrics, wallpapers, bags, cushions etc: http://www.signatureprints.com.au/aboutus/aboutus_flobro.html

ABC Commercial website: http://www.abc.net.au/abccontentsales/s1581658.htm

Growing Up Camper

Article in Metropolis magazine online on the Camper footwear brand.

"Spain’s family-run shoe manufacturer confronts the pains—and perks—of being a truly global brand.. For a brand of footwear built on heritage, Camper has shown a remarkable willingness to innovate and even, in a recent series of counterintuitive moves, to challenge its original business paradigm..."

W: http://www.metropolismag.com/cda/story.php?artid=2984

Generation C - Feb 1 to Mar 8, 2008

"Complex, contrary, creative: this exhibition showcases work by young photomedia artists from mainland China who reflect the ambivalence of their times. Born in the seventies they are the first 'me' generation - consumerist, connected and self-aware. They are vain yet vulnerable; wired yet lonely. They ride the rollercoaster of 'progress' while wistfully dreaming of the past. Abandoning any notion of the photograph as a document of the real each work is a performance, a visual fable that finds its truth in imaginative resonance rather than hard evidence.

Playful yet earnest, while some artists wield satire like a sword others evoke a quiet melancholy for lost tradition. Others still, weighed down by the burden of duty to family, ancestors, community, state and the competitiveness born of consumerism, simply imagine what it would be like to fade into another world or fly away like a butterfly emerging from a chrysalis."

Saturday 1 February to 8 March 2008
Tue - Fri: 12.00 - 7.00pm, Sat & Sun 10.00am - 6.00pm
Gallery 1, 2 & Foyer
Australian Centre for Photography, 257 Oxford Street, Paddington NSW 2021
T: 02 9332 1455, F: 02 9331 6104

Curated by Alasdair Foster

IMAGE © Liu Lijie Another Episode 2006 Courtesy of Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York

W: http://exhibitions.acp.org.au/exhibitions/future.php

Forgot to Remember exhibition - opens Nov 21

"Jessica Porter, Fil Molitor, and Kate Beckingham are three Sydney creatives encouraging you to explore your Surroundings, past, and present.

If you're looking to take a trip through memories, personal experiences and the subconscious, then head to Somedays for Forgot to Remember, launching Wednesday 21st November.

Whether abstract or graphic is your bag, come and check out a mixture of ink, paint, and photography. The exhibition will get you in the mood with complimentary drinks and bangin' music."

Somedays Gallery: http://www.somedays.net.au/

W: http://myspace.com/forgottoparty