It’s the first show of the month, so Jamie Lewis from Theatre Network Australia (TNA) is dropping into the studio with her TNA Member of The Month. June’s special guest is Natasha Phillips, who runs The Kiln at Arts Centre Melbourne. “Pottery?” I hear you ask. Not exactly, except in the metaphorical sense, if you consider independent artists to be the ‘clay’ from which new work is moulded. Natasha will be telling us all about it, and Jamie will talk about the special event that TNA is presenting as part of The Kiln programme.
What do photocopiers, butterflies, enlarged images, Salvador Dali, milk crates, cans and eagles have in common? They’re all favourite elements of the work of Phoenix, the street artist who works in paste-ups, 3D collaging and installations. You might have seen his work around town and not even known it. Phoenix, together with the street art crew The Ninjas, are presenting a group show of their work Vivarium, and Phoenix himself will be in the studio to tell us what we can expect.
Meanwhile, at the Australian Tapestry Workshop, the amazing Woven Song Embassy Tapestry Project is going on, combining tapestry and opera with indigenous artists and international embassies. The Australian Tapestry Workshop and Short Black Opera join forces here to create nine new works designed by indigenous artists and each of these works have inspired a new musical work composed by Deborah Cheetham. Chris also takes some time out of the studio to visit Deborah and the Tapestry Workshop’s Director Antonia Syme to find out how this all came together and where in the world the nine tapestries will end up.
Then, to wrap up this week’s show, we’ll meet Australian jazz legend Bob Sedergreen, who’s been making his mark on the jazz scene for more than fifty years. With the Melbourne International Jazz Festival currently underway, Chris will be gathering a few friends together at the Southside Jazz Room for a Night of Spontaneous Combustion, where Bob and the band will improvise their way around some classic jazz standards.
That’s all on this week’s episode of Behind the Scenes, with Chris Thompson, right here on Vision Australia Radio.
