Friday,
14 February
9 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: Matthew Flinders: Fearless in life, love and tragedy
When Friday,
14 February - 9 am – 5 pm
Where Level One, Flinders University City Campus, Festival Plaza
Explore the remarkable life and legacy of renowned explorer Matthew Flinders in this captivating exhibition at Flinders University City Campus. At its heart is Flinders’ original coffin plate, shown in Australia for the first time.
Alongside the coffin plate are rare artefacts from the Flinders University Special Collections including Flinders’ ebony pocket compass, brass buttons from his naval jacket, and a first edition of A Voyage to Terra Australis, his monumental final publication featuring maps and illustrations.
Throughout the exhibition, FUMA Director and exhibition co-curator Fiona Salmon will be in conversation with Associate Professor Gillian Dooley, an expert on Flinders. Together, they'll delve deeper into the artefacts on display and the life and legacy of the University’s namesake. Floor talks will be held on Thursday 30 January, Saturday 8 February, and Thursday 13 February. RSVP to one of the talks here.
The exhibition will run until Friday 14 February. Find more information here.
Monday,
17 February
9 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: Sovereign Acts | Love Praxis
When Monday,
17 February - 9 am – 5 pm
Where Flinders University Museum of Art, Social Sciences North Building, Sturt Road, Bedford Park
This landmark exhibition celebrates 10 years of critical and creative work by the nationally acclaimed Unbound Collective, a group of First Nations women based on Kaurna Yarta whose shared praxis represents a rupturing and reimagining of colonial institutions, and radical endeavour to shape the world anew.
This exhibition runs from Monday 17 February to Friday 11 April 2025. Find more information here.
Tuesday,
18 February
6.30 pm – 9.30 pm
IAF Literary Dinner: John West-Sooby
When Tuesday,
18 February - 6.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Where Osmond Terrace Function Centre, Norwood Hotel, 97 The Parade, Norwood
Join us for the first IAF Literary Dinner of 2025! Guest speaker John West-Sooby will discuss What Have the French Ever Done For Us?, a collection of essays that examine French influences and contributions to Australian life and culture.
Tickets are $40 for IAF members, and $45 for non-members. Purchase your tickets here.
Wednesday,
19 February
6 pm for a 6.30 pm start AEST
Salon Series: Wendy Sharpe AM in conversation with Elizabeth Fortescue
When Wednesday,
19 February - 6 pm for a 6.30 pm start AEST
Where The Women's Club, 179 Elizabeth Street, Sydney, NSW
Join us at the Women's Club in Sydney for a captivating Salon Series dinner event featuring Wendy Sharpe AM in conversation with Elizabeth Fortescue. This evening will provide a rare glimpse into Wendy’s creative journey, her inspirations, and her profound impact on the visual arts, as well as a closer look at Wendy Sharpe: Many lives by Elizabeth Fortescue.
More information here. Bookings must be made by Thursday 13 February. Non-members should book on the event page, while members should book here.
Thursday,
20 February
2 pm – 3 pm
Author Talk: John Davis, Harry Hodgetts
When Thursday,
20 February - 2 pm – 3 pm
Where Burnside Library, 401 Greenhill Road, Tusmore
Join us at the Burnside Library as John Davis discusses Harry Hodgetts: The flawed broker behind Bradman's move to Adelaide. Discover the rise and fall of Hodgetts, from his influential role in Adelaide’s stock market and sports scene to his scandalous conviction in 1945.
Tea and coffee provided. Bookings are essential, and can be made here.
Monday,
24 February
7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Poet's Corner with Helen Parsons
When Monday,
24 February - 7.30 pm – 9.30 pm
Where Effective Living Centre, 26 King William Road, Wayville
Join us for the first Poet's Corner of the year, featuring guest host Helen Parsons. Helen will read from her collection of poems inspired by Georgia O'Keeffe, The Feeling of Bigness. Participants are also welcome to share their own poetry.
Tickets start at $12, and can be purchased here.
Sunday,
09 February
9 am – 5 pm AEST
Wendy Sharpe: I Am All Those Who Are No More
When Sunday,
09 February - 9 am – 5 pm AEST
Where Rockhampton Museum of Art, 220 Quay Street, Rockhampton, QLD
The Gold Award 2022 winner Wendy Sharpe returns to Rockhampton in July 2024 for a very special artwork. As winner of the Archibald Prize and Sulman Prize, Sharpe is one of Australia’s most awarded painters. She is also a muralist; her most recent mural was commissioned by the Jewish Museum in Sydney; a deeply personal work that sadly, due to pandemic closures, was never on public view.
This exhibition will run until Sunday 9 February 2025. More information here.
Saturday,
15 March
11 am
Book Launch: Honey Possum's Bush Cafe
When Saturday,
15 March - 11 am
Where Mount Gambier Library, 6 Watson Terrace, Mount Gambier
Join us at the Mount Gambier Library for the launch of Honey Possum's Bush Cafe by Kirsten Martin and Bianca Richardson. The launch will feature a craft activity, book sales and signings, and free morning tea for children.
Honey Possum’s Bush Cafe is the second book in Easter Bilby’s Friends series, which explains to children how introduced wild rabbits affect the native plants and animals in the area, and what they can do to help.
Call the library on (08) 8721 2540 to book your place, or book online here.
Sunday,
02 March
9 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion
When Sunday,
02 March - 9 am – 5 pm
Where JamFactory at Seppeltsfield, 730 Seppeltsfield Road, Seppeltsfield
JamFactory’s ICON series celebrates the achievements of South Australia’s most influential visual artists working in craft-based media. Julie Blyfield is a jeweller and metalsmith whose ever-evolving practice is inspired by her research into botanical specimens, historical silver collections and the rich diversity of the Australian landscape.
JamFactory ICON Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion is inspired by Blyfield’s experiences of the Great Barrier Reef and Daintree Rainforest in far-north Queensland. In developing work for this exhibition, Blyfield has drawn on the marine collections of the South Australian Museum as well as resources she collected during her visit. Serving as a poetic metaphor for life and loss in a time of increasing environmental peril due to climate change, Blyfield’s masterful renderings immortalise the natural beauty of vulnerable species of delicate corals and threatened ancient forests.
This exhibition runs from Saturday 5 October 2024 to Sunday 2 March 2025. More information here. Julie Blyfield: Chasing a Passion is on tour with JamFactory until 2027. Find upcoming exhibition dates here.
Saturday,
22 March
2 pm – 3.30 pm
Book Launch: Honey Possum's Bush Cafe
When Saturday,
22 March - 2 pm – 3.30 pm
Where Hamra Centre, 1 Brooker Tce, Hilton, 5033
Join us at the Hamra Centre for the launch of Honey Possum's Bush Cafe by Kristin Martin and Bianca Richardson. The launch will feature a craft activity, book sales and signings, and light refreshments.
Register to attend this free event here.
Sunday,
23 March
9 am – 5 pm AEST
Exhibition: JamFactory ICON Jessica Loughlin
When Sunday,
23 March - 9 am – 5 pm AEST
Where Port Pirie Regional Art Gallery, 3 Mary Elie Street, Port Pirie
The JamFactory ICON series celebrates the achievements of South Australia’s leading visuals artists working in craft-based media. Studio glass artist Jessica Loughlin creates ethereal kiln formed glass works that explore her extensive research into light and space.
This exhibition will run until to Sunday 23 March. More information here. Jessica Loughlin: of light is a travelling exhibition curated by JamFactory. Find future exhibition dates here.
Monday,
24 March
10 am – 3 pm
Exhibition: After Images
When Monday,
24 March - 10 am – 3 pm
Where Festival Theatre Galleries, Adelaide Festival Centre, Festival Drive, Adelaide
After Images tracks the remarkable history of Australian Dance Theatre, our nation’s oldest continuing contemporary dance company. In celebration of the company’s 60th birthday, it revisits iconic works by ADT’s six artistic directors — Elizabeth Cameron Dalman, Jonathan Taylor, Leigh Warren, Meryl Tankard, Garry Stewart and Daniel Riley — that have moved and inspired audiences, and left an indelible mark on contemporary dance locally and internationally.
This exhibition will run until Monday 24 March. More information here.
Saturday,
29 March
9 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: New Exuberance: Contemporary Australian textile design
When Saturday,
29 March - 9 am – 5 pm
Where Gladstone Regional Art Gallery and Museum, corner of Goondoon Street and Bramston Street, Gladstone, QLD
New Exuberance: Contemporary Australian textile design is a major touring exhibition project reflecting on current directions in textile practice through art, design and fashion. Curated by Meryl Ryan in consultation with the JamFactory team, the exhibition presents the work of more than thirty diverse multidisciplinary creatives and includes ten commissioned furniture pieces produced by designers associated with JamFactory.
More information here. This exhibition will run until Saturday 29 March.
Monday,
03 March
1.15 pm
AWW: Between Colonial Archives and Indigenous Memory
When Monday,
03 March - 1.15 pm
Where North Stage, Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
Natalie Harkin talks with Jackie Huggins and Jo Case about her new work Apron-Sorrow/Sovereign-Tea, forthcoming from Wakefield Press, a history of Aboriginal domestic service and unwaged labour in South Australia that is imbued with the concept of archival justice.
Supported by the Copyright Agency Cultural Fund.
More information here.
Sunday,
30 March
9 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: Gathering Light
When Sunday,
30 March - 9 am – 5 pm
Where JamFactory, 19 Morphett Street, Adelaide
Gathering Light will feature the work of six outstanding South Australian glass artists who each work in unique ways with hot blown glass. The exhibition celebrates Adelaide’s status as a key centre for studio glass globally and highlights key links between Adelaide and the Pilchuck Glass School established by Dale Chihuly in 1971. Featuring Clare Belfrage and Nick Mount.
This exhibition will run until Sunday 30 March 2025. Find more information here.
Wednesday,
05 March
9.30 am
AWW: Splinter Journal: Unravelling Reality
When Wednesday,
05 March - 9.30 am
Where North Stage, Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
Can a literary journal help us understand or even change our reality? Editor of new Tarntanya-based journal Splinter, Farrin Foster, and issue one writers Hossein Asgari, Karen Wyld and Anthony Nocera, discuss the evolving purpose of literary journals and how it dovetails with their work in Splinter.
More information here.
Wednesday,
05 March
1.15 pm
AWW: Shining Like the Sun
When Wednesday,
05 March - 1.15 pm
Where North Stage, Pioneer Women's Memorial Gardens, Adelaide
Stephen Orr discusses the complex interconnections of family and community, memory and place, commitment and contribution in Shining Like the Sun with Walter Marsh.
More information here.
Thursday,
03 April
10 am – 5 pm
Exhibition: Stephanie Radok, Inside a Book
When Thursday,
03 April - 10 am – 5 pm
Where Institute Room, Institute Building, North Terrace, Adelaide
How do books and art help us remember and learn about the past? How do we preserve and revisit the past? Do words last longer than images? What role do museums and archives play for us? How do books, libraries, writing, and drawing preserve the past? In her new exhibition Inside a Book, Stephanie Radok explores these questions and ideas through her work.
The exhibition features Radok’s etchings which illustrate her new book Under the Bed: Inventories 2020–2022, forthcoming from Wakefield Press. It covers the pandemic years and fills the common place of isolation that many of us felt, with reflection and humour, the everyday and the lyrical.
This exhibition will run from Thursday 3 to Wednesday 30 April. More information here.
Event image: The Great Metaphor of the Book by Stephanie Radok, photo by Michal Kluvanek.