Olley Masters Give And Take

Sun Herald

Sunday July 9, 2006

WILLIAM PETLEY

AN exhibition of the work of Lismore-born artist Margaret Olley opened at the Lismore Regional Gallery recently; shown in conjunction are the still-life paintings of Angus McDonald. Having donated a painting and had her company at lunch raffled off, Olley departed for Sydney. In her possession were two bunches of flowers (she'd admired them), a large pineapple (she loved the look of it and had carried it about all day) and a green velvet jacket. The jacket, which writer Rosie Lee, excited to be meeting Olley, had sat up all night and sewn, caught the artist's eye, stopping her in her tracks. Many compliments later, it was on Oll's back, which it fitted perfectly. It's all hit and run with Olley.

Puppy love

DR Hugh Wirth, president of the RSPCA, told the National Press Club on Wednesday that there were, at any one moment, 400 million stray dogs in the world. The World Health Organisation this year stated that the worst animal welfare problem in the world was stray dogs. On July 29, at the Four Seasons hotel, the RSPCA NSW fund-raiser dinner will be held. Tables of 10 are $1650. Last year, RSPCA NSW provided shelter and care for almost 40,000 animals, investigated more than 12,500 cruelty complaints, plus opened a new $10 million shelter and veterinary hospital in the Hunter Valley. Now, how many stray people are out there?

Postcard from Nimbin

ON Monday, the grassy village of Nimbin seemed like any small settlement, albeit one with the "eccentric" button on high. A leaf motif is prominent and there hasn't been as much crushed velvet seen in public since they lowered Mama Cass into her coffin. The police station is the smartest building - hard drug use wasn't apparent but the place is scruffy. Where's a go-getter mayor forging sister-city status with, say, Amsterdam, Mykonos, Kathmandu or West Hollywood? Why weren't the incognito Guides on the street corners, when surrounded by fields of macadamia nuts and sugar cane, which produce rum and treacle, selling something made with that instead of shortbread? (This is an observation and not intended to put anyone's nose out of joint.)

Collecting new talent

ARTIST David Capra, who lives in St Johns Park, has an Italian father, a mother from the Ukraine and was listed in Art & Australia magazine as one of the top 25 emerging artists in the country. He describes his work as a combination of nonsense, waffling text, in-jokes and a mixture of the banal with the spectacular. Capra, and 11 other young artists, reveal how found items inspire them in iCOLLECT, a dozen short films on show at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra. You can view an online version of iCOLLECT at www.nma.gov.au. Capra credits his grandparents, who survived war-torn Europe (his nonno lived in a well to hide from invading troops), with encouraging his love of art. Someone should produce a film about them.

Life in Cowra is a picnic

THE Cowra Picnic Races were held on Friday. About 30 years ago, the Dunhill and Johnson families - friends for four generations on neighbouring properties - took a hessian tent to the races, pitching it under a lamppost for light. Peter Fagan, a life member of the races, with wife Jenni and their children James, Edward and Sarah, operates Mulyan Wines from the family property, which was purchased in 1886. Apart from farming fat lambs, they grew produce for Edgells, then planted, in 1994, shiraz and chardonnay grapes. They sponsor the Cowra Cup. Also trackside: Milners, Flannerys, Delaneys and, of course, Alma Cowley. The Fagan family philosophy is quality without compromise, but it's fair to say that's the philosophy of most of Cowra.

Good night with a diva

CHAIRMAN of the Sydney Symphony David Maloney describes the coming Divine Night with a Diva as "one of the most exciting fund-raisers we have ever undertaken". On August 30, four-time Grammy-winning jazz diva Dianne Reeves will perform with the SSO. Quay restaurant's Peter Gilmore will prepare dinner, and sponsor partner the Leading Hotels of the World will use the night to promote - and reward current members of - its loyalty program, the Leaders Club. To book phone Caroline on 8215 4619. Reeve, by the by, is the sultress on the tracks of George Clooney's Good Night, And Good Luck.

ON THE RISE

THE curtain rises on Three Little Fears, three plays by three young writers - Alexandra Cullen, Ashley Walker and Maxine Mellor - at the Old Fitzroy Theatre, Woolloomooloo, on Wednesday. It's an initiative of the Australian Theatre for Young People, the patron of which is Mrs Keith Urban. She won't be attending, but on July 20 - the red-curtain night - glamourpuss chairwoman of the ATYP board, Antoinette "Popsy" Albert, will.

NOW YOU KNOW

IT'S months away, but the Young Presidents Organisation, that exclusive network in pursuit of excellence that has the ear of world leaders, gathers in Sydney for a week in October. Most of the dinners will be held in private houses, apart from one at the National Trust's Lindesay, Darling Point. Delegates will take their final nourishment at the Fox family's Boomerang, Elizabeth Bay, home. Apparently, it's looking glorious.

© 2006 Sun Herald

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