James Norman arrives at Collingwood gallery Everfresh Studio. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian View image in fullscreen James Norman arrives at Collingwood gallery Everfresh Studio. Photograph: Christopher Hopkins/The Guardian Australian art An epic Melbourne art crawl: how many gallery openings can I cram in in one night? Covering 15km and six suburbs on an e-bike, James Norman discovers vibrant artist-run spaces, crowds spilling on to pavements and a garbage bin of ice-cold beer
Prefer the Guardian on Google T here’s a particular thrill in discovering new, interesting spaces in your own city – but even as a Melbourne local and a longtime art lover I find it near impossible to keep up with the independent openings happening in my city.
That’s why I’m grateful for the work of Charles Lai who, for more than a decade, has been doing the legwork. Lai runs an accessible free calendar populated with details of dozens of upcoming art openings and, like a sort of Bill Cunningham for Melbourne, has become one of the city’s most active art chroniclers on Instagram.
“I’ve been asked many times why I didn’t try to monetise the calendar or seek to have galleries sponsor it,” Lai says. “My intention has always been to remain independent so I can keep my own counsel.”
Using his calendar as my map, on a Friday night I set out to see what I could discover on an ebike. I ended up visiting seven art shows spaced over 15km. Here’s what I saw.
I begin my art crawl in Thornbury in Melbourne’s inner north at MOM gallery . It sits in a separate room to the back of Candy cafe, a grungy cafe bar featuring secondhand records and DIY fanzines on racks.
View image in fullscreen Ceramic artwork by Jack Staley When I visit, the space features the work of the ceramicist Jack Staley in a show called Earth 2 Earth, Ashes 2 Ashes. Of the 50 ceramic items on display, the most striking are Celtic-inspired insignia.
Over a craft beer, the gallery owner, Oscar O’Shea, also an artist and film-maker, explains that MOM features monthly solo or group shows and gladly welcomes expressions of interest or walk-ins. It transports me back to the type of artist-run spaces I used to visit in Neukölln, when I lived in Berlin.
MOM gallery: 905 High Street, Thornbury. Click here for more
A 15-minute bike ride from Thornbury takes me to the northern end of Nicholson Street, East Brunswick, to the quaint deco shopfront of OK Violet gallery. Housed in a former postwar lending library, the space has been lovingly renovated by its owner, Kirsten Perry, who greets me with bubbly in handmade ceramic mugs.
Exhibiting at OK Violet gallery, Debbie Pryor’s framed ceramics are inspired by the SA coastline and Belfast’s rocky landscape. Photograph: Kirsten Perry The gallery has been open for a year; her aim is to build community by providing a space especially for artists who haven’t exhibited for a while and want to return to their practice. The opening is for the South Australia artist Debbie Pryor with her show Shadows as Witness. It features ceramic framed drawings and markings that she says are her attempt to find a connection between the SA coastline and the rocky landscapes of her maternal homeland in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
I love the homeyness of this gallery and it’s tempting to stay here all night, especially given the massive wheel of brie before me, but I hit the road for my 5km journey to the next gallery on my map.
OK Violet gallery: 114C Nicholson Street, Br…