A vibrant place in the heart of the city, Canberra Museum and Gallery celebrates the region's social history and visual arts with dynamic exhibitions and unique community programs and events.
Housing a permanent collection, Reflecting Canberra, and a variety of local, national and international exhibitions, CMAG provides a refreshing insight to the integration of social history and the visual arts.
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Past Exhibitions 2012
Jodie Cunningham and Paul Murray:
Tracing breath – Inhalation of place
Sat 3 November – Sun 3 February
Gallery 4
This work explores the containment of time in the membranes of body
and home, creating a palimpsest of the events, emotions, relationships
and coded stories that permeate our memories and histories.
ACTivated: Canberra Repertory Society
1932 – 2012
Sat 29 September – Sun 20 January
Collections Gallery
This exhibition marks the 80th anniversary of Canberra Repertory
Society celebrating the Society’s dedication, artistic vision, community
and longevity. It presents a selection of plays and players, props
and costumes, stage and lighting designers, builders and makers.
Merryn Sommerville
Mon 5 November 2012 – Sun 6 January 2013
Ramp Showcase
Merryn Sommerville is the recipient of the inaugural CMAG
Showcase Exhibition Award for an ANU School of Art graduating
student, part of the School’s Emerging Artists Support Scheme.
Australian Portraits 1880 - 1960
Sat 1 September – Sun 21 October
Gallery 2-3
This major travelling exhibition from the National Gallery of
Australia’s collection provides a diverse representation of Australians
– from theatrical Victorians and Edwardians to flappers, bushrangers
and fashion icons. Fifty-four portraits by leading painters are
featured including Tom Roberts, Grace Cossington Smith, Sidney
Nolan and John Brack.
Click here to view slideshow
For further information on the exhibition:
Click here to visit the NGA web site
Australian portraits 1880-1960
A National Gallery of Australia Exhibition.
This exhibition is supported by the National Collecting Institutions
Touring and Outreach Program, an Australian Government program aiming
to improve access to the national collections for all Australians; and Visions
of Australia, an Australian Government Program supporting touring exhibitions by providing funding assistance for the development and touring of cultural material across Australia. The Exhibition Partner for Australian portraits
1880-1960 is the National Gallery of Australia Council Exhibitions Fund. The exhibition is also supported by Media Partner ABC Local Radio.
Andrew Townsend and Suzie Bleach:
What Lies Beneath
Sat 11 August – Sun 21 October
Gallery 4
This exciting installation draws on the collective imagination of artists and adventurers in transforming the glass-walled space of CMAG’s external gallery into a mysterious submarine world populated by monsters of the deep, fabricated from welded steel and salvaged materials. Be delighted, be afraid!
From A to Z: Robert Messenger's typewriters
Closing this Sunday 16 September
Open Collections Gallery
Canberra journalist Robert Messenger showcases his amazing collection of rare, beautiful and historic typewriters
and typewriter ephemera.
Click here to view video.
Further information
To hear Robert Messenger interviewed
by Ginger Gorman on ABC Radio 666
Click here
Kerry Shepherdson: Handwork
Sat 23 June – Sun 26 August
Ramp Showcase
Works produced during an artist’s studio residency pilot at Lanyon, inspired by the homestead’s historic interiors and gardens.
Click for further information
Word of mouth: encounters with abstract art
Sat 23 June – Sun 19 August
Gallery 2/3
Wrap your head around the work of nineteen contemporary
artists engaged in a dialogue on abstract art. Established local
artists are joined by exciting new voices in glass, painting,
print media and sculpture.
Featuring work by Lionel Bawden, Emma Beer, Vivienne Binns,
Richard Blackwell, Julie Brooke, Christopher Carmody, Liz Coats,
Nadège Desgenétez, Mel Douglas, Marie Hagerty, Greg Hodge,
Dan Lorrimer, Peter Maloney, Dioni Salas-Hammer, Helen Shelley,
Bryan Spier, Ruth Waller, Jonathan Webster, Richard Whiteley.
CANBERRA GOLD
Sat 10 March - Sun 1 July
Open Collections Gallery
Each year the ACT Government recognises the unique contribution made to the community by people who have lived in the ACT for fifty years or more.
This exhibition recognises some of the individuals who have made their lives in Canberra: bringing up family, making friends, surviving adversity and cherishing good times. CMAG appreciates their generosity in sharing these stories and loaning precious family objects for this exhibition.
CMAG thanks Ann-Marie Jordens for carrying out oral histories with Canberra Gold recipients and the ACT Heritage Library for making the recordings available.
Look! The Art of Australian Picture Books Today
24 March 2012 – 10 June 2012
Gallery 2
Explore the diversity of picture books being created by Australian illustrators over the past decade. Celebrating the National Year of Reading, 2012, this exhibition encourages and promotes visual literacy amongst young children through engagement and participation.
A STATE LIBRARY OF VICTORIA TOURING EXHIBITION
Further information at http://www.slv.vic.gov.au/look
The Legacy of Ruth Prowse
11 February – 29 April
Gallery 5
Ruth Prowse was director of Gallery Huntly in Canberra between
1974 to 2005 and who developed an extensive and sophisticated
collection of contemporary art. This exhibition of works in print media
and painting has been selected from one hundred and seventy one
works of art donated to CMAG by the heirs of Ruth Prowse in her memory.
Click to view slide show of selected works.
Old Bones - New Insights
3 December 2011 - 26 February 2012
Open Collection
Old bones, new insights - physics has joined palaeontology at the
ANU using 3D X-ray scanning to reveal new evidence of early vertibrae evolution. Over the past 40 years the Wee Jasper area has yeilded
fossil treasures which now showcase a once diverse coral reef - 400
million years ago.
King O'Malley
29 October 2011 - 12 March 2012
Gallery 2/3
King O'Malley, an insurance salesman from the United States of America, injected colour into Australian politics from his election in 1896 until his death in 1953. He represented the Tasmanian electorate of Darwin for sixteen years, acting as Minister for Home Affairs at the time the competition to design Canberra was held, and the federal capital was named. Displayed together for the first time, the physical remains of the life of King O'Malley will be exhibited in an attempt to better understand the man, the politician and the legend.
Click here for further King O'Malley information
CONVERSATION PIECE
17 December 2011 - 26 February 2012
Gallery 4
Peter Vandermark's installation of light sculptures - on the floor,
suspended from the ceiling and mounted on the walls - form a single
entity within the gallery space.
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