THE saying “one man’s trash is another’s treasure” is amplified by Fremantle artist Theo Koning. The veteran sculptor garners all manner of objects from the beach, skip-bins or verges; anything that takes his eye and can be transformed into a stunning artwork. His studio is neatly crammed with an assortment of bits and pieces and…

THERE’S a swag of Australian film directors on Hollywood’s A-list, but back home locally produced fare is often overlooked in favour of American imports. That makes Cinema Australia and Revelation Film Festival’s monthly screenings of Aussie offerings such as his Downriver “hugely important”, writer/director Grant Scicluna says. “[It’s] our first and possibly only big screening…

HER parents had more love for US singer Whitney Houston than each other, says actor and playwright Whitney Richards, hence her moniker. She was just eight when the inevitable divorce came; a time of confusion and foggy memories for the now 30 year old. “I have conflicting memories. Do I remember, or is it because…

FRESH of winning the WA category of the national 2016 Art Music Awards, Louise Devenish will be pairing up with sonic artist James Hullick at the State Theatre Centre on August 23. The second instalment of Tura New Music’s Scale Variable chamber music series, Scattered Experiments is a double bill of experimental percussion, visual and…

A DEAD Mouse and a Broken Coffee Machine is Applecross artist Shannon Lyons’ latest exhibition. “It’s a real mouse which is dead,” she says when asked about the rodent pictured on her press release. “I definitely did not kill it,” she’s quick to add. You can get just about anything from a taxidermist, including a dead…

WITH a 100-strong indie rock choir set to perform, it’s a good thing the revamped Badlands Bar on Aberdeen Street is cavernous. Menagerie is a Perth-based group where the conductor will probably be wearing shorts or safari gear rather than a tux, and the choir could be sporting horns or ears. “Because we are wonderful,…

MOODY lighting, a solitary cellist playing Bach and the fluid movements of a partially obscured figure painting a huge canvas in Judith Wright’s latest exhibition takes art to a different plane. “I’m painting through a series of screens. The front layers are transparent so the audience can see me as I work.” Wright told the…

MAKING music for a living is tough, but a career in the male-dominated jazz scene is even harder for women, Perth Jazz Society president Gemma Farrell says. Which is why the Willagee musician is helping coordinate a course aimed at encouraging young women aged 12 to 25 to see jazz as a career. The six…

JUST don’t wake the panda whatever you do,” Perth children’s author Chris Owen warns in his second book Pandamonia. Webster’s defines pandemonium as a wild and noisy uproar, rumpus or commotion. Change an E to an A and Pandamonium is complete and utter chaos: “Often following the disturbance of a blissfully sleeping panda,” Owen says.…

MATTHEW NGUI has a foot in two countries, but they come together in two artworks showing at the Fremantle Arts Centre; Every Point of View and Swimming: At Least 8 Points of View. Singaporean-born Ngui came to Australia to study at Curtin University, but fell in love and never really went back, dividing his time…