Forest of Hope

It’s the name of the immersive art and sound installation opening on Friday 5 August at the Yarra-me Djila Theatrette at the Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub with large scale paintings by Anne Bennett, projections and sound recordings by Jutta Pryor and original music by bass artist Scott Dunbabin and flautist Megan Kenny. Given the somewhat depressing State of Environment report released by the federal government last week, it sounds like a welcome antidote and where there is action being taken, there is always hope.

Image: HeideMoMA

The 2022 Banyule Art Salon opens the same night from 6 – 8pm and is Banyule’s biggest community art exhibition with this one also dedicated to the great outdoors – forest bathing has kept most of us sane over the past few years and personally I feel very grateful to live in a municipality where park life is abundant.

I’ve long been fascinated by the moon, the stars and the evening sky and I’m not the only one. Night Paintings at Darebin Creek by Fran Lee opens on 26 August at Loft 275 also at the Ivanhoe Library and Cultural Hub while the Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra’s ‘Across the Stars‘ September concert and ‘Nightscapes‘ December concert will be held across the road at the Ivanhoe Girls Grammar School Performing Arts Centre.

In nearby Bulleen, Double Moon by Korean artist Jaedon Shin (pictured above) opened at Heide Musuem of Modern Art last month and runs until October while Tyama: a multisensory experience of nature has opened at the Melbourne Museum and looks quite spectacular and means ‘a deeper sense of knowing.’ Our First Nations people have a different relationship to Country and Bangarra Dance Theatre’s latest production SandSong: Stories from the Great Sandy Desert also looks just as visually amazing.

While there’s another month of winter, there are blossoms and wattle on the trees and if next Sunday is just as nice weather-wise, it will be a fun day out at the Eaglemont Village Heritage Day with bookings already open for the Red Rattler steam train rides and the Eaglemont Village Market also on that day – the Art Deco village is one of my very favourite places in Banyule to visit.

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Reading between the lines

I read Home Fire by Kamila Shamsie while I was away – it’s loosely based on the ancient Greek story of Antigone which I thought was a fitting read in Greece.  It’s relatively short but breathtaking – I won’t reveal the end but it was a cracking read.  I’ve since moved on to one of Mr Rosanna’s books by Gail Honeyman called Eleanor Oliphant is completely fine, which is by turns hilarious and tragic at the same time.  I’m not yet sure what has happened to poor Eleanor in her short life but the beauty salon incident in the early chapters had me laughing out loud while I was at swimming lessons last week.

I also wanted to mention that local writer, editor and publisher Blaise van Hecke from Busybird Publishing is having her book launch this week – a whimsical memoir of short stories based on her unconventional childhood called The road to Tralfamadore is Bathed in River Water.  Also launching this week is the A1 Darebin Art Salon at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre showcasing the work of local artists and For I have learned to look on nature at Hatch Contemporary Art Space in Ivanhoe – an exhibition of tree portraits by local artist Fran Lee using the words of William Wordsworth’s poem.

Despite the cold and wanting to hibernate instead, I dragged myself out on Saturday night as I had a friend in town from Brisbane but ended up having a great night out at Garden State Hotel in Flinders Lane which was going off inside despite it being the middle of winter, having dinner in a cosy booth seat for four at the Garden Grill.  The whole place is very noisy and half of Melbourne was there enjoying the footy on TV in the pub section at the front through to counter meals in the middle and underneath, so I was glad to have booked somewhere quieter at the back where we didn’t have to yell at each other.  The food was excellent – I had the roasted fish special and shared a coconut sorbet dessert with my bestie Jules.  It also helped we had a handsome French waiter called Carlito but besides his looks (!), the service was excellent and it is a place for more serious dining and drinking by the looks of many of the all male tables of diners around us.  I was also spoilt by Jules who gave me a belated birthday present – a handmade bowl (she is a woman after my own heart) by Byron Bay based homewares company Kinfolk & Co. which is now housing my fruit on my kitchen bench.