A u t u m n.

Vasili Kailman, owner of Kailman gallery and co organiser of Art Month Sydney....

Well it's here.

Autumn.

A new month.

And with the wet and chilly weather today you can be in no doubt that summer has left the building! I mean, what a change ... I'm sure I went for a beautiful swim but two days ago?? I guess that the new season just wanted to make itself heard on this first day of March....

And with the new month, comes a new arts festival to Sydney.

If you caught any of the newspapers or Sydney magazine in the last few days you may have caught some of the press about Art Month Sydney- the new gallery arts festival initiated by Vasili Kailman, who owns and runs Kailman Gallery in Paddington.

Different to other arts festivals such as Art Sydney at Hordon Pavilion, this month long festival focuses on not just local artists' but the local galleries that represent them. Kaliman realised that people have recently been drawn to collecting contemporary art without knowing or understanding the galleries and dealers that keep the industry afloat.

And it is true that many galleries are so well hidden down back alleys and side streets that many people that live in town have never stepped foot inside a gallery, let alone one that is in their area. Or people have been intimidated by the spaces themselves and have felt uncomfortable from the moment they have taken their first tentative steps inside the front door. {And believe me Ive been there!!}

Art Month Sydney is trying to rectify this oversight by inviting the public to come in and have a snoop around their local gallery spaces. There are gallery strolls (such as the ones ive taken you on in recent months in this blog), artists' talks, information days, children's programs and window displays in retails stores such as Incu on Oxford st, that will feature collaborative works between artists and fashion designers.

So it is a busy little calendar of events, that will hopefully intrigue and facinate and the artistic personality with us all!

Ill keep you posted after it all kicks off on Wednesday at Customs House!! Stay tuned...

Article in the March issue of The Sydney Magazine.

This photo features Rex Irwin, from Rex Irwin Art Dealers in Woollahra, a gallery that will be a stop on the Paddington/Wollahra art tour on the first weekend of the Art Month Festival program (6-7 March). The space is on the first floor of a beautiful old building on Queen st, and is a space that represents some fantastic artists such as one of my favourites of the moment, Nick Harding....

Its well worth checking out theArt Month website....for a full listing of events!

But if you cant face all the organising, there is always an Autumnal visit to the MCA or the Art gallery of NSW to tempt you! I went up to the 4th floor of the MCA the other day and ill let you know what I thought of the exhibition 'We Call them Pirates out there' in the coming days....

But in the meantime...

A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month!!

x