September events in Sydney

The Royal Botanic Gardens' light-filled glasshouse, the Calyx, is back in action again after a period of shutdown. Previously home to exhibitions like the carnivorously-minded Plants with Bite, the Calyx returns with a brand new floral display called In Bloom. 

With more than 20,000 flowers in a dizzying array of colours, it's a spectacle to be seen. On one expansive wall is a living vertical flower arrangement, which stretches over 50 metres in length, and is more than five metres in height. 

In Bloom is open to guests from 10am-4pm every day. As the flowers grow and change, the exhibition will develop too – so it's worth coming back for a second visit. In Bloom is open until winter of 2021, so you'll have plenty of chances to see the flowers unfold. 

P.S. Here are some more excellent things to do this weekend. 

Time Out’s Love Local campaign is supporting local food, drink and culture businesses in Sydney. Find out how you can help save the places that make our city great.

Slide on your glass slippers and get ready for a feast that will leave you feeling happily ever after. Affordable fine dining favourite Nel has reopened its doors for physically distanced dining and they’re inviting you to be their guest with the return of a Disney-themed degustation.

‘Once Upon a Time’ involves eleven dishes with a nostalgia-inducing creative touch. Last year’s menu gained international notoriety for the controversial ‘Bambi’s Mum’, which came complete with dukkah served in rifle casings. While chef Nelly Robinsion is focussing his attention this year on happier childhood memories, it is safe to say that there’s still a lowkey morbid edge that will have vegans and vegetarians steering clear. For example, the new and improved plates include the ‘Bambi and Thumper’, a venison carpaccio served with rabbit terrine.

You can bet this menu will be seasoned with a liberal peppering of shock and surprise, so details of many of the dishes remain strictly under wraps. However, we have been granted a quick peek into the magic mirror, and if Disney references galore are what you're hungry for, this bounty is the Cave of Wonders you seek. Savoury ‘Eat Me’ cookies, ala Wonderland, begin the journey before you plunge into the big blue with ‘Just Keeping Swimming’ – a pan-fried dory served with fennel. Next, you'll chill out to a Frozen fantasy, the ‘Melted Snowman’. This yogurt lad comes served on top of black garlic bread complete with a carrot nose and black iced eyes. To finish, you'll feel like you’ve found true love’s kiss with ‘Roses Are Red, Beasts Are Blue’, a gateau opera cake served up with a side of smashed rose. 

Bookings are now open for this fantastical degustation, which will be on the table between August 4 and November 7, with sittings from Tuesday to Saturday – for the first time ever, the degustation menu will also be available for Saturday lunch. The Once Upon a Time menu will set you back $135 per person, with optional drink-matching packages available in alcoholic ($105) and non-alcoholic ($50) beverages.

Looking for other ways to head down the rabbit hole? Check out this extravagant Wonderland-inspired high tea at this Lewis Carroll-themed Bar.

Time Out’s Love Local campaign is supporting local food, drink and culture businesses in Sydney. Find out how you can help save the places that make our city great.

The notion of ‘family’ has long been a cornerstone of queer identity and a major new exhibition at the UNSW Galleries explores what ‘being together’ means for different queer subcultures – in Australia, internationally and across time.

The work of more than 20 artists and artist collaborations, along with a series of films, plus material from the Australian Lesbian and Gay Archives, has been compiled for the exhibition by curators José Da Silva and Kelly Doley. 

Perhaps the most visible feature of Friendship as a Way of Life is the foyer of UNSW Galleries, which American artist Macon Reed has transformed into a ‘Dyke Bar’ for the duration of the exhibition. Including a full bar, pool table, neon signs and hand-painted '70s-era wood panelling, the installation is titled ‘Eulogy for a Dyke Bar’ and asks why dyke and lesbian bars are increasingly rare on the gay and queer cultural landscape.

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Among the international contingent for this show are the Berlin-based artists Elmgreen & Dragset, famous for their witty installation art designed for public places. Camilo Godoy, a politically motivated New York-based Colombian artist, is exhibiting some of his photographic portraits of friends and lovers. Collaborative work by transfeminist artist AK Burns and AL Steiner (Chicks on Speed) is in the show, as is work by US artists ALOK and Mark Aguhar. 

Australian artists represented include Frances Barrett, Shannon Michael Cane, Helen Grace, Gavin Kirkness and the AIDS Quilt Project, Dani Marti, Parallel Park (Holly Bates and Tayla Jay Haggarty), Nikos Pantazopoulos and Ella Sutherland. 

In addition to the exhibition, an online talk series called Flesh Meet is covering topics such as alternative club culture in Australia, and online culture and communication practices. Scholars Dr Kerryn Drysdale and Dr Sophie Robinson will discuss the rise, decline and transformation of lesbian and queer social scenes over two talks on September 17 and 24; digital media scholar Paul Byron online queer spaces on October 1; and DJ Sezzo will reflect on the ideas and intentions behind her QPOC (queer people of colour) focussed experiential club nights on October 15. Before all this, co-curator José Da Silva will sit down for an in-conversation with artist Dani Marti on September 3 to discuss his work and his major video installation that navigates issues of power and care in human relationships. Check out the full online talks program here.

The exhibition runs until November 21. 

Step aside Nemo and Dory – it’s time to find Crush (and paint him too). Sea Life Sydney Aquarium is opening its doors after dark to offer a VIP experience with sip and paint studio, Cork and Canvas.

At this over-the-top experience you’ll be greeted with Champagne before having free reign of the Aquarium’s exhibits and settling in for a guided painting session surrounded by creatures of the briny deep.

This isn’t a boozy art class like you know it, the luxurious “Champainting” package includes a practically unheard of three-hour bottomless drinks package with tipples including red and white wine, beer, house spirits and soft drinks. Gourmet grazing platters of assorted meats, cheese, antipasti and breads are also included, so you’ll be able to satisfy your craving for nibbles at the canvas. 

During your exclusive self-guided after-hours journey around the Aquarium you can check out Australia’s unique marine environments and check out more than 13,000 animals from 700 different species, including the fan favourite Pig the dugong. The Champainting portion is hosted in an area the Aquarium calls Turtle Beach, where you’ll have unfiltered views of the Great Barrier Reef-inspired exhibit that its newest resident, Plugga the rescue turtle, calls home. You can choose whether the inspiration for your artwork will be the a Green Sea Turtle like Plugga or a funky jellyfish.

This swish experience is open for bookings of a minimum 20 people at $195 a head (Gold and Platinum packages also available at an extra cost). You can book your private event here. If you don’t have that many friends, or you’re just looking to impress your iso-crush with a memorable date, there is also a public event on Wednesday, September 30, for $130 per person with more public sessions being added regularly. Check out more dates and book here. Go on, isn't it better down where it's wetter?

Did you know you can also book out this entire zoo in Darling Harbour for you and nine mates?

Time Out’s Love Local campaign is supporting local food, drink and culture businesses in Sydney. Find out how you can help save the places that make our city great.

The Carriageworks Farmers Market is resuming from August 8, 2020.

It’s imperative that you do not eat before you visit the Carriageworks Farmers Markets. You’ll want to save maximum belly space for your personal version of The Bachelorette where you decide who gets your dollars and what delicious produce gets to come home with you. Maybe you like something soupy and savoury first thing? In that case go for the pho stand for a traditional Vietnamese start to the day. There’s a bibimbap stall that will even replace the rice with shredded cauliflower if you don’t believe in cheat days, and a classic bacon and egg roll for creatures of habit, from Farmer Rod’s Free Range stall. 

Once the hounds of your hunger have been quieted it’s time to prepare for your next meal, or seven. Maybe you need the sweet bite of Pickle Hill’s Worcester sauce for the pantry? Or some fresh goat’s curd from Willowbrae? While you’re there you may as well get some smoked salmon, fresh ravioli from Pasta Emilia, free range eggs, a load of beer and barley bread form the Bread and Butter Project, and some jersey milk butter to go on it.

Chef Josh Niland of Fish Butchery and Saint Peter in Paddington now has a permanent stall selling inventive seafood using lesser known varieties and flavours. His prawn toast is a certified hangover buster, and the few cooked items sold change with the tide. There are usually take-home packs of fish sausages and Ballina prawns as big as your hand.

You can spend a whole lot of money if you want to here, but equally you could just grab a kombucha on tap and find a chair for some of the best dog-watching in the city.

Find more of the best markets in Sydney.

While you won’t find the greasy-haired potions masters or famed boy wizards at this creative drinking experience, you will have a lot of fun if you’re keen on the occult.

Channel the powers of your coven idol, from Sabrina to Hermione and any of the kids from Wizards of Waverly Place, and brew devilish concoctions in your cauldron – but not before you implore the skills of dark sorcery to unlock your potion ingredients in an escape room style challenge. 

The Wizard’s Den, an immersive experience that invites you to escape to a world of witches, wizards and potion making (read: cocktail making) is back for Semester II. If you were amongst those tempted into donning a cape and wand at Semester I of the experience in Surry Hills last year, don’t go expecting the same hat tricks this time round. This time your ghoulish potions master Morticia Le Mort will be nec-romancing you with “classes in levitation, evocation and cyromancy”.

Your golden ticket to this two-hour dose of escapism will set you back $40 (plus booking fee), which includes two cocktails and the use of a wand. Wizards and witches in attendance are encouraged to BYO robes (in Semester I, these garments were also supplied, but not even the strongest banishing spell can overrule public health and safety measures in 2020). 

The Wizard’s Den is being conjured upstairs at the Wonderland Bar, the Alice In Wonderland inspired drinking den in the former home of the World Bar in Potts Point. The potions class is open between September 9 and November 25, with multiple evening sessions Wednesday through Sunday starting from 5.30pm and running until late, as well as weekend afternoon events from 2pm. This experience is strictly 18+, however junior conjurers are welcome at an all-ages family-friendly event on Sunday, September 13 at 2pm. Check out sessions and availability here.

Want more? Check out this Mad Hatter themed high tea party in the same building. 

Time Out’s Love Local campaign is supporting local food, drink and culture businesses in Sydney. Find out how you can help save the places that make our city great.

We’ve all got one eye on our health at the moment, though it’s very rare that we think of the science behind life-saving equipment and the beauty of art going hand-in-hand. Reality is, creativity hums in every machine we make.

That’s the thinking behind new Powerhouse exhibition Design for Life. Exploring the central role of design in the health and medical sector, it’s all about celebrating the oft-overlooked intersection between innovation and art. Showcasing some 200+ objects from the museum’s collection, it will trace the evolution of the medical equipment that has been saving human lives from the late 1800s right up until today.

You can take a closer look at how things like life-saving respiratory devices work, how surgical masks have changed over the centuries, huge leaps in progress on medicine, how we monitor our hearts and brains, and the incredible possibilities opened up by 3D bioprinting. It also demonstrates the hugely collaborative approach at play, in Australia and between nations.

An exciting look at the great minds behind these inventions, Powerhouse Museum chief executive Lisa Havilah says they’re thrilled to support the latest in science and design innovation with Design for Life. “As science and technology accelerate, the body’s capacities, perception, longevity and durability are being pushed to new limits. Recent partnerships between the medical sciences and design industry have pioneered medical equipment to help this and improve the quality of human life.”

Running from September 26, 2020, to January 31, 2021, entry is free, but booking is essential. For more information, click here. 

Want more art that explores how we live our lives? Check out Hybrid. 

Harbourside hotel Pier One is putting on a new series of creative classes in conjunction with some renowned local brands, so you can work with your hands as you learn from the best in the business. 

Every Saturday until October 31, you can let your most creative self out in a one-and-a-half-hour creative art class run by Matt and Maurice from GAS (Goldberg Aberline Studios), whose work has toured London, New York and other cities around the world. They just want you to let loose – they'll provide materials, direction and some breakfast too. The class starts at 9am and costs $99 per person.

On Sundays, book in for a flower arranging class with Potts Point's Poho Flowers, where you'll learn from how to pick and put together unusual, interesting floral combinations from an industry innovator. Tickets are $150 per person and classes go for two hours from 11am-1pm. 

Friday evenings at Pier One are all about cocktails at sunset, canapés, and a makeup workshop from Napoleon Perdis, in a two-hour-long session led by artists who've been in the industry, well, basically forever. In need of a new blusher brush? The workshop comes with $50 to spend on products, too. Tickets are $150 and you'll get a cocktail or glass of bubbles included. There'll also be a cocktail crafting class run by the legends at Archie Rose – so stay tuned for the details. 

Book in online to all classes here. 

Time Out’s Love Local campaign is supporting local food, drink and culture businesses in Sydney. Find out how you can help save the places that make our city great.

Update: The Kirribili Markets are open again from July 12. Head over on the second Sunday of every month for the art, design and fashion markets. The last Saturday of every month sees a whole range of new and second hand fashion, collectibles and jewellery. 

Fans of expertly curated market events such as the Finders Keepers will be happy to know there is a bi-monthly market offering a comparable experience a stone’s throw from Luna Park. The second Sunday of every month sees the art, design and fashion iteration of Kirribilli’s historic (est 1976) markets, centred on the weather-proof location of the Burton Street Tunnel right under Milsons Point Train station. 

You’ll find quirky millinery by Nitascraft, hilarious knitted parrots, octopuses and Barbie outfits by Irene, and cool laser-etched wooden phone cases by Bare-wood. An antiques corner features groovy typewriters from the 1960s and several stalls offer funny and handmade greeting cards. Vintage spoons are refashioned as bracelets, and if you’ve ever hankered after a large photographic portrait of a wombat, you can get it here – the place is a goldmine for non-tacky Sydney souvenirs.

On the last Saturday of the month is the general and fashion market, where punters have been known to snap up luxurious, one-of-a-kind finds from labels like Gucci, Zimmermann and Acne, thanks to the well-heeled crowds selling their wares. Arrival by train is recommended as parking is expensive and hard to come by. 

There is an excellent food court area where you can get a roast pork roll, quesadillas, churros, gözleme, paella, blynis, dim sum, banh mi or gelato and sit down undercover to eat them while watching a talented teenage girl reinventing ‘Sweet Child ‘o Mine’. Afterwards, head over to the outdoor fashion zone on the former lawn bowls green and browse the $10 and $20 bargains. These markets are highly recommended to anyone seeking gifts and a fun Sunday outing. 

Australia’s most prestigious arts prizes are back in a big way after being postponed by you know what. The show-stopping Archibald Prize, first awarded in 1921, is always a huge event on Sydney’s cultural scene, with the subjects captured for posterity are usually celebrity-packed. From portraits depicting film stars to politicians, sporting heroes to artists themselves, we can’t wait to see who shows up in canvas, and IRL.

The accompanying Wynne Prize is awarded to the best landscape painting of Australian scenery, or figure sculpture, while the Sulman Prize is given to the best subject painting, genre painting or mural project in oil, acrylic, watercolour or mixed media. The Young Archies showcase the work of budding artists aged 5–18.

The trustees of the Art Gallery of NSW judge the Archibald and Wynne, with an invited an artist yet-to-be-announced picking the Sulman. Finalists will be announced on September 17 and you can vote on the ANZ People’s Choice until December 13,

Gallery director Michael Brand says, “After much anticipation from artists and audiences alike, we are very pleased to announce new dates for the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes 2020 exhibition and to now invite entries from artists across Australia who have been waiting to hear when the exhibition will be held.” 

The Powerhouse Museum continues to bring the arty goodness to Sydney’s heart with brand-new exhibition Hybrid. Taking a look at what homes might look like ten years from now – because seriously, we’re so over 2020 already – it promises to be a forward-thinking dream for Grand Designs watchers.

Part of Sydney Design Week 2020, the show has been curated by creative director and esteemed writer design Stephen Todd, design editor at the Australian Financial Review. He tasked nine design studios to work alongside researchers and practitioners from a host of alternative industries, together brainstorming new ways to tackle the urban lifestyle for our domestic futures. They were asked to look at our new normal, from the climate crisis and subsequent longer, scarier bushfire seasons to our current global predicament. Taking a look at the fascinating results, there’s nary a jet pack nor hoverboard in sight.

The team includes innovative Australian industrial designer Adam Goodrum working alongside furnituremaker Ella Williams, and Dutch immersive art and design duo Golnar Roshan and Ruben de la Rive Box – aka Rive Roshan – collaborating with local spatial designer Emmaline Cox.

Bringing wellbeing and heart to where the home is, the works range from lighting that emulates the great outdoors inside to stools made from recycled plastic. Thirroul-based designer and lecturer at the University of New South Wales Art & Design Trent Jansen has re-teamed with Nyikina man and leatherworker Johnny Nargoodah. We’re particularly keen to see what they come up with after their previous collaboration, ‘Ngumu Janka Warnti (All Made from Rubbish) High Back Chair’ (pictured), which was stunning.

Todd argues the way we live and how we experience our homes has been radically altered, so he wanted to see new solutions that think outside the box. “The primary role of the home in the 21st century is to be a sanctuary, a respite from the clamour of daily life, the ultimate refuge in these times of crisis,” he says. “For the Hybrid commission, we asked creatives outside of the field of design to create domestic artefacts for our future.”

With the intriguing exhibition running from September 12 to February 28, you can mainline your designs for life right here.

Want more inspiring art? Check out Fijian-Australian show Bittersweet.

Update: the Maritime re-opened to visitors from Monday, June 22. The Museum urges all visitors to pre-book online as there will be limited capacity. For weekdays you can purchase a daily ticket, and on weekends there will be two sessions from 9.30am to 1pm, and 1pm to 5pm.

Sydney is taking temporary custody of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition (WPY). On loan from London’s Natural History Museum, this world-class collection of 100 mesmerising images will be housed at the Australian National Maritime Museum from March through to October. 

This collection showcases not only the best of the natural world, but the patience, ingenuity and talent of the photographers who spend their time embedded within wildlife so that they can get that one incredible shot. Judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals, this year's pictures were taken by some of the world’s best nature photographers and selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity. 

Put on your best Sir David Attenborough impression as you browse this spectacular collection or intimate animal portraits and astonishing landscapes, showcasing the beauty and diversity of nature and reflecting the environmental challenges the planet is experiencing. This year’s winning photograph, ‘The Moment’ by Chinese photographer Yongqing Bao, lets us into a tense, life-or-death moment between a Himalayan marmot and a Tibetan fox. 

Australian photographers were also highly commended in this year’s competition. Western Australian photographer Wayne Jones’ ‘Night Rider’ is an unlikely scene from the deep, a juvenile argonaut (part of the octopus family) hitches a ride on a tiny jellyfish with electric green tentacles. Justin Gilligan’s ‘Colliding Views’ is a stark image of Australian road kill, a red kangaroo sprawled on an outback road, framed by orange dust. 

Tickets to the exhibition are $20 for adults, $12 for children over the age of four, and $50 for a family of two adults and three kids.

Awesome Western-Sydney artist Khaled Sabsabi gets the solo show treatment at Art Gallery of NSW, in partnership with the Campbelltown Art Centre.

Sabsabi and his family fled Tripoli and headed to Sydney with in the 1970s to escape the Lebanese civil war. Starting out on the hip-hop scene, he shifted to visual arts in the '90s. Regularly returning to the Middle East, his incredible body of work draws on the confluence of spiritual belief, politics and conflict in the region.

A Promise presents major works exploring the complex relationship between self and other and includes large-scale works from AGNSW’s collection, like ‘Organised confusion’ (2014), putting the fanaticism and Western Sydney Wanderers football fans under the lens, as well as new works.

The first solo artist exhibition to launch since the gallery reopened, director Dr Michael Brand said A Promise is a poignant reminder of the role of art and artists during challenging times. “We are delighted to have collaborated with Khaled on A Promise. His work resonates in new and unexpected ways at this time when our collective behaviour, beliefs and responsibilities have such urgent and apparent ramifications.”

The exhibition will run for an indefinite period.

Embracing these hybrid times when we’re often online more than we’re out and about, the Art Gallery of New South Wales has launched the mother of all digital galleries, and it’s a kaleidoscopic trip to creative wonderland.

Part of their ongoing Together in Art series, Hyper-linked assembles seven exciting contemporary Australian artists pushing the envelope on how we engage with art from wherever we are in the world.

Heath Franco’s 'Home Videohome' is a trippy, dystopian stare into the abyss of the interwebs through the search portals of doom. You'll very likely recognise one in particular, but to avoid any nasty lawsuit, it's been rebranded as Newspider. Get caught up in this web full of unnerving animalistic figures and ‘90s-style pop video imagery gone awry. It’s wrong-town in all the right ways.

Justene Williams’ explosively colourful video 'The Unboxers' opens with shades of apocalyptic wrestling matches and a montage with a glimpse of a superhero-like character who resembles someone who rhymes with Maptain Carvel (prob don’t want Disney legalling this either). With creatures that look like sun-melted lollies and a bizarre egg experiment, it’s loopy goodness inspired by the unfurling of the legendary Bob Fosse's jazz hands.

JD Reforma’s dreamy drone imagery in ‘I Want to Believe’ captures stolen glances of the world as seen from Sydney’s rooftops, with the traffic drifting by oblivious below. Exploring the idea of escape from abusive relationships, what at first seems like freedom comes to connote imprisonment, as a cry for help emerges in paint.

You can learn what fate has in store for you courtesy of Kate Mitchell’s ‘The Communication Deck’, a digital tarot reading. Meanwhile, Brian Fuata’s ‘Of a House Besieged (Preposition Tweaked)’ – a ghostly, silhouetted reading in an empty gallery scattered with discarded pages – is spookily good. Matthew Griffin’s ‘Hello Visibility: Darts, Sites, Bricks, Hearts, Roads’ explores the way we use language, asking in a video series if a ‘brick’ phone is really a bad thing?

And while we’re talking about phones, Amrita Hepi’s brilliantly inventive interactive experience ‘Cass’ asks you to engage in a text communication via your phone, answering Y/N to a series of questions.

Senior curator of contemporary Australian art Isobel Parker Philip says the exhibition is an opportunity to reflect on how the internet has infiltrated and transformed our lives.

“Hyper-linked considers the split state of being disconnected and hyper-connected at the same time,” she says. “Many of us have found ourselves confined by the limits of the domestic space, yet we simultaneously broadcast our lives in bite-size chunks over social media. The personas we project through Zoom meetings, Instagram and FaceTime catchups are performative. The artists in this exhibition are examining the role the internet plays in shaping our lives and the ways in which we relate. They bear witness and pay tribute to our networked selves.”

If you weren’t already convinced to explore this genuinely brilliant online art extravaganza, then it also comes with an oddly soothing essay from Philip that’s part explainer, part photographic investigation of the myriad marvels of mushrooms – because who doesn’t think fungi are awesome?

Want more provocative art? Explore queer sensation Friendship as a Way of Life.

This article is supported by the Judith Neilson Institute for Journalism and Ideas
  

If drama is your deal and you’ve sorely missed theatre during lockdown, you cannot wait to see hit musicals Hamilton and Come From Away, and are itching to get back to venues like Belvoir and the STC, then the Sydney Opera House has a digital event that just might interest you.

In partnership with renowned company Bell Shakespeare, they present one of the most celebrated figures in the Australian theatre scene: Bell Shakespeare founder John Bell. He sat down solo on the Joan Sutherland stage to perform an excerpt from One Man In His Time, which explores the beauty of Shakespeare’s enduring poetry, nimble use of language and imagery, and the legacy of Bell’s lifetime spent performing and producing the Bard's work.

A gift to the ages, Bell has always maintained that the works of Shakespeare should be accessible to everyone, and this free digital performance sure helps reach out to the masses. The one-man show was recorded live and will be ready to stream at home any time from Friday, August 28 at 8pm. It should be a salve for sore hearts for those that hold dear to the idea, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages.”

We hope Bell will still be doing his thing for a few acts more, and in the meantime, his wise words will warm us while we wait for all of Sydney’s theatres to switch off the ghost lights and welcome us back in with open arms.

Want to know more about the return of STC? Read about Wonnangatta here. 

The fine artists from Cork and Canvas have been spreading colour all over Sydney with their wine and painting classes. Even while we were all stuck at home, they kept us occupied with creativity kits and on-demand virtual classes – and now as the city opens back up, they’re inviting us back into the studio again.

That’s right, you can dip your brush and wet your whistle in public once more at their Crows Nest and Darlinghurst sip and paint studios, with classes having started up again in early June. While the doors have been closed, the team have been busy coming up with new paintings for budding artists to interpret, including a ‘Stargazing’ design on a brand new round canvas. 

The studios are amping up hygiene and safety practices, including spacing out guests in accordance with 1.5 metre physical distancing rules (allowing for couples and small groups to sit together), offering hand sanitizer at the door and sanitizing all equipment and wine glasses. 

Check out the website for session times for both the Crows Nest and Darlinghurst studios and to make your booking. Most classes run from Wednesday through Saturday nights, with afternoon sessions on Sundays and some Saturdays, starting at $55 including materials (just BYO wine and snacks). 

For anyone who is out of town or who’d rather stay home, Cork and Canvas is continuing to offer virtual alternatives, providing step-by-step video classes and mailing out creativity kits nationally, from $80. 

It isn’t too late to pick up an iso-hobby and have the picture evidence to prove it. And if you’re nervous about picking up a brush, just grab a bottle of vino for inspiration and let these guys help to lead your brush strokes. 

Looking for art classes you can take from the comfort of home? Check out the sip and paint classes that saw us through lockdown.

Every other year, the Biennale of Sydney transforms the city’s major creative institutions into an exhilarating showcase of the world's most exciting artists. Wiradjuri man Brook Andrew took the reins as the Biennale’s first Indigenous Australian artistic director this year, with the Wiradjuri word “Nirin” (edge) his theme for the 22nd iteration. 

Championing First Nations artists from near and far, there’s a big focus on further decolonising Western art’s traditionally hallowed spaces, ensuring we all get to touch the edge of the sky and understand one another through new cultural lenses.

Of course, things got a little unexpectedly waylaid as restrictions on mass gatherings meant venues closed their doors ten days in, but that didn’t stop the creative spirit. Nirin successfully went digital and now the doors have re-opened with an extended run, including the addition of Carriageworks after a nail-biting drama. 

With a staggering 700 works on show from 101 artists, it can be overwhelming figuring out just what to see. Don't panic, here’s our insider’s guide to the Biennale of Sydney.

Update: the Maritime re-opened to visitors from Monday, June 22. The Museum urges all visitors to pre-book online as there will be limited capacity. For weekdays you can purchase a daily ticket, and on weekends there will be two sessions from 9.30am to 1pm, and 1pm to 5pm.

Sydney is taking temporary custody of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition (WPY). On loan from London’s Natural History Museum, this world-class collection of 100 mesmerising images will be housed at the Australian National Maritime Museum from March through to October. 

This collection showcases not only the best of the natural world, but the patience, ingenuity and talent of the photographers who spend their time embedded within wildlife so that they can get that one incredible shot. Judged by a panel of industry-recognised professionals, this year's pictures were taken by some of the world’s best nature photographers and selected for their creativity, artistry and technical complexity. 

Put on your best Sir David Attenborough impression as you browse this spectacular collection or intimate animal portraits and astonishing landscapes, showcasing the beauty and diversity of nature and reflecting the environmental challenges the planet is experiencing. This year’s winning photograph, ‘The Moment’ by Chinese photographer Yongqing Bao, lets us into a tense, life-or-death moment between a Himalayan marmot and a Tibetan fox. 

Australian photographers were also highly commended in this year’s competition. Western Australian photographer Wayne Jones’ ‘Night Rider’ is an unlikely scene from the deep, a juvenile argonaut (part of the octopus family) hitches a ride on a tiny jellyfish with electric green tentacles. Justin Gilligan’s ‘Colliding Views’ is a stark image of Australian road kill, a red kangaroo sprawled on an outback road, framed by orange dust. 

Tickets to the exhibition are $20 for adults, $12 for children over the age of four, and $50 for a family of two adults and three kids.