FBi's Canvas

The newest kid on Sydney's gallery block is Paper Plane - an art and design space in Rozelle, set to open next week and curators Lucy Ainsworth and fellow Paper Plane pilot Jackson Ainsworth joined Nell Greco in the studio.

Have you ever wanted to be an actor? Maybe you took it to the point of having acting classes or perhaps you did high school drama? If so, you may be quite familiar with the terrain covered by Charley Garber and Gareth Davies in their show 'Masterclass'.

Sean Rafferty is a Sydney artist who seems set to defy convention at every turn. To discuss his practice, he joined Nell Greco on Canvas.

When you think about it, windows are strangely very arty - we look through them constantly, but their frames create real-time canvases all day everyday. An artist that’s recently toyed with this idea is Jai McKenzie, She joined Nell Greco in the studio to discuss her work.

How does Constructivism fit into this modern-life? And how does it relate to the work of Michael Turner, an architect who has worked as the art director on Academy Award winning films such as Moulin Rogue and the Matrix trilogy... Nell Greco found out when Michael joined here in the studio.

Josst Bakker has opened a completely sustainable pop-up cafe in the Rocks. He joined Nell Greco on Canvas to tell her all about sustainability, the business and how he makes it all work.

An artist who’s a self confessed ‘bit of a tease’, Tim Andrew makes his own internal logic out of crazy juxtapositions of severed limbs, pineapples, rainbows and roaring ferocious dogs. He joined Nell Greco in the studio to make sense of it all.

In a very fitting start to the Chinese new year, Nell Greco was joined by an artist who has developed a show out of time spent drawing en plein air in the limestone peaked mountains of China’s Hunan and Guanxi province, drawings he’s managed to translate into fantastically futuristic mountain structures. Peter Nelson comes to Canvas to speak all about his real and invented landscapes.

Something you might've noticed popping up in all forms of art is Sydney at the moment is the question: What do you know about your history? Do you know where your parents grew up? Where your grandparents went to school? Or even what your great-grandparents did for a living? For Australian-Chinese artist Lindy Lee, her personal history is the basis for her artistic career. Tracing her family, cultural and even religious trajectories, Lindy’s work is both a reflection of her past and a look at a much wider world.

Outside of Sydney yesterday, there was a celebration to commemorate a possum-skin cloak created by Lake Macquarie community groups and artists. It was displayed officially for the first time as part of Lake Macquarie City Art Gallery’s Indigenous program and Donna Fernando, Indigenous project manager at Lake Mac Gallery spoke with Nell over the phone about the project.

There aren’t many filmmakers who are able to bridge the space between film-art, art-house film and cinema featured films. Ho Tzu Nyen, a Singaporean based artist doesn’t struggle with this in the same way David Lynch might. He joined Nell Greco in the studio.

If you’ve ever spent time in the Northern Territory, you’ll be somewhat familiar with the term, ‘territory time’. It’s a climate that will coax you into a particular, rhythmically relaxed lifestyle that only slows down as Summer approaches. Five young NT artists have been busy preparing to evade this climate induced phenomenon and three of them: Rebecca Arbon and Amina McCovell and artist/ curator Siying Zhou joined Nell Greco in the studio to talk about their contemporary works.

After having a look at the work of Canvas' next guest, Deirdre Feeney, you’ll find it hard to look at last night’s wine glass in the same way, as she contorts the amorphous solid - glass - into illuminated models of architectural art.

Are you a doodler? The kind of person who can’t help but draw everywhere, all the time? Well, have you ever imagined the characters you’ve drawn, jumping off the page and into a 2D-3D reality? Originally from Brisbane, Fleur Elise Noble has toured the world with her multi-dimensional performance, 2 Dimensional Life of Her and Nell Greco caught up with her to find out more.

A book landed in my mailbox the other day. It was small, perfectly formed, with a grey hardcover that said “The Rapture of Death” - and I had no idea what to expect. I was guessing magic potions, obscure literature or some other occult ephemera. Prue Gibson wrote the book, and she joined Matt Levinson in the studio to talk all about it.

You may recognise the voice that is about to come across your airwaves. Matt Levinson is the founding host of Canvas who hung up his headphones for this program in mid-2010 - but don’t be fooled - he’s been as busy as ever milling around Sydney’s Art and Culture scene.

Julia Schauenberg is a photographer who was able to take on the challenge of watching not just one bunch of flowers, but fifty-two wilt, fade and die before her eyes. She’s also been nominated for an FBi SMAC Award for Best Artist. She joined Nell Greco in the studio to discuss her work.

What’s black and white and re(a)d all over? You might know the answer on the card - a penguin reading a newspaper! [Cue awkward groans..] but there is another answer to this riddle. Called Penguin Plays Rough, this literary night in Sydney is definitely black and white and red all over. Pip Smith is the lady in charge of this evening, and is no stranger to Canvas - having been our resident theatre reviewer until early this year.

Although it might not be a blockbuster profession, Jen McMaster is assured that 2010 has been a BIG one for architecture, with most of these BIG projects being assigned to international architects.

As the new year has rung in, how much talk have you heard about what 2011 will bring? If you look at what 2010 brought us, besides the iPad and Virgin Galactic bookings, it seems society can’t quite beat the old with the new. If you’ve indulged in Mad Men, had a drink at Shady Pines Saloon, or ever splurged a week’s rent for more old records, you’d have to agree. So in a tribute to our fascination with the past, and it’s infinite appeal, this year’s Sydney Festival is bringing back to us one of this city’s greatest dance clubs of the 30s and 40s – The Trocadero. Having closed down in the 70s, the Trocadero Dance Palace is once again opening its infamous doors and Kris Stewart joined Nell Greco in the studio to talk all about it.