Let the festivals begin

While the cooler weather may put a dampener on things – the Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show, the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Melbourne Food and Wine Festival all start in the next week.  A couple of my work colleagues take improvisation or ‘improv’ classes on a regular basis and I’m looking forward to seeing one of them in action at the Comedy Festival.

Immerse Your Senses image via Melbourne International Flower & Garden Show

There are also a number of Melbourne Food and Wine Festival events that all sound interesting including the Coburg Food Race and Sagra al Veneto (at Bulleen’s Veneto Club turning 50 this year) starting this Friday 31 March while the Master Hellenic Cooking (Hellenic Republic Kew), High Tea at the State Library and A Day At The Club (Merricote pops up at Thornbury Bowls with 70s menu classics) events taking place on 1 and 2 April also sound great.

Image via Ticketek

There’s also a related La Trobe 50th Anniversary event The culinary journey of Greek Australians dinner taking place at Elryos in Camberwell on Monday 3 April, featuring Dr Catherine Itsiopoulos, Head of School of Allied Health and author of The Mediterranean Diet cookbook who will also be speaking at one of my Bold Thinking Series scheduled later this year.  If I wasn’t going out this weekend I would have booked into this one!

I’ll be back with more later this week.  Stay dry…

Image via 50years.latrobe

Image via Booktopia

Advertisement

Travelling home

It’s a bit of a cultural week for me with the opening of the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival  this week and my pick of the events would have been the already sold out Pleats x Three runway show at 7pm on Friday 10 March at Alcastan Gallery featuring Kara Baker, Nevada Duffy and Edgeley showcasing the work of artisanal company Specialty Pleaters.  I love a good pleat at the best of times and have long been a fan of Japanese designer Issey Miyake.

Pleats x Three image via Eventbrite

Also opening this week is the aforementioned show ‘Travelling Home’ by Art Fix at Lulu cafe and gallery at 506 Queensberry Street in North Melbourne featuring the work of 75 visual artists and poets from 20 countries to explore the idea of home and travel by the contrasts that link them together.  It follows previous Art Fix events in Canada and will also include live music and spoken word performances.  Opening night is this Thursday 2 March from 5.30pm, tickets are $8 at the door with all artworks for sale.

Bruno Malfatti image via Art Fix

Charles Blackman: School Girls opens on Saturday 4 March at Heide Museum of Modern Art in Bulleen.  Blackman’s Schoolgirls series, produced between 1952 and 1955, marked a turning point in the artist’s career as a significant painter of modern life in the post-war era.  This exhibition includes more than fifty major paintings and related works on paper as well as a fascinating array of archival material.

Felix Girard image via Art Fix

There is also an Art Deco walking tour in East Melbourne being held on Saturday 4 March by Architours Melbourne, which sounds like a lot of fun.

East Melbourne Art Deco Walking Tour image via Eventbrite

I’ve been run off my feet (excuse the pun!) the past few weeks gearing up for both La Trobe University’s 50th Anniversary in 9 days’ time as well as my first Bold Thinking Series lecture being held in Bendigo.  Have a great week!