ROSS POTTER OPEN STUDIO AT J SHED

 

 

Fremantle J Shed artist ROSS POTTER will have an OPEN STUDIO this coming Friday, December 14 from 5-8pm.

Go and have a look at the excellent photorealistic drawings Ross patiently creates over many weeks and even months.

Currently he is doing a life-size drawing of Perth Zoo elephant Tricia.

J Shed is at Fleet Street, just on your way out to the South Mole.

Roel Loopers

WHAT A LOOKER OF A PHOTO EXHIBITION

 

 

There is quite a beautiful and sensual photo exhibition on at Fremantle’s Kidogo Arthouse at Bathers Beach that is well worth viewing.

Elizabeth Looker‘s The Spirit and the Flesh are moody, dark, long exposure photos of a female dancer, creating a sense of motion and emotion.

Looker’s photo Life Dancers won the Australian National Photographic Portrait Prize 2016, and she is also one of the finalists for the 2019 NPPP.

The photos for the Fremantle show were taken in Sweden, where Looker worked as an artist in residence at Konstepidemin.

The exhibition is only on for a few more days, so go and have a look this weekend!

Roel Loopers

THE COLOURS OF FREMANTLE

 

 

Here a couple of photos I took this morning of the colours of Fremantle.

The first one is of the umbrellas at Bathers Beach House, and the second one is a detail of a massive RoRo vessel that brings thousands of vehicles to Fremantle Port.

Roel Loopers

FREO CITY, SUPPORT THE WEST END ACTIVATORS!

 

 

I hear that the owners of the cute Carriage Cafe on the Fremantle Esplanade have been told that they can stay till March next year and then will be offered a lease until 2022, but with the option for the City of Fremantle to terminate the lease on a monthly basis.

This is ridiculous, unprofessional and unworkable, as no one in their right mind will invest in a business that does not have a secure long-term tenure.

Last winter the thick plastic ‘curtains’ that keep the wind and rain out of the cafe’s dining area where ripped to pieces during a storm, so the owners will have to put new ones in which will cost thousands of dollars. Why would they do that if they can be chucked out on short notice? Even a pop-up shop gets a six-month lease, for heaven’s sake!

Why does Fremantle Council make it so hard for businesses who want to stay in Fremantle, when vacant shop fronts pop up faster than weeds in our city? Does anyone at all understand what commercial viability means and how important safe tenure is?

Let’s be realistic and pragmatic about the Esplanade masterplan. The new hub and new cafe won’t happen for years, if at all, because the City of Fremantle does not have the money to finance it, so accept the reality and support the Carriage Cafe owners who have plans to also open at night as a restaurant.

West End businesses were left off the new shopping map, and Arthur’s Head businesses are not sure about their future there, while the place is falling apart because of poor maintenance, so it’s urgent time for Fremantle Council to stop talking about wanting to activate the West End of Fremantle and actually start supporting those who are already activating it!

Roel Loopers

 

CHRISTMAS AT FREO’S ARTHUR’S HEAD

 

 

If you are coming into Fremantle on Sunday don’t forget that the Fishing Boat Harbour traders are putting up a special Christmas event for the next three weeks from midday on.

Performances, live music, a market, kids activities, etc.

Also on Sunday is the J Shed Open Day, just a three-minute walk from the Fishing Boat Harbour, so pop into the studios there, and while there walk up the steps to view the amazing underwater photos at the Glen Cowans photo gallery next to the Roundhouse.

Roel Loopers

GREAT XMAS PRESENTS AT ARTS CENTRE BAZAAR

 

 

The lovely Fremantle Arts Centre BAZAAR is on again this year, for the 30th time!

There are many arty, craft and fashion design items for sale and lots of other things, plus there are food stalls for the hungry and thirsty, and the cafe is open as well of course.

It is still open today till 5pm and tomorrow-Sunday from 9am to 5pm so go and have a look!

Roel Loopers

BRILLIANT FRANKENSTONE AT FREMANTLE ROUNDHOUSE

 

 

The FRANKENSTONE production by Genrefonix in the Fremantle Roundhouse last night was brilliant! I was expecting it to be good because the team had spent so much time on it, but I did not expect it to be so professional.

The setting in Western Australia’s oldest public building was perfect for it, especially the old-style Black&White silent movie, that also features Fremantle Mayor Brad Pettitt. Very good cinema-photography!

Great music and acting. I am so glad I saw it.

What a great place the under-utilised Roundhouse is in the evening for plays, events, projections, concerts, functions, etc. This is how we can help activate Arthur’s Head, Fremantle Council!

There are still two shows on this Saturday at 7.15 and 8.15pm and they start at the Old Custom House building from where everyone walks over to the Roundhouse following the bagpipe piper.

It is a fundraising event for the Fremantle Roundhouse, which had four volunteer guides present on the night.

Roel Loopers

 

FRANKENSTONE IN FREO ROUNDHOUSE TONIGHT

 

 

The day has finally arrived! FRANKENSTONE is on tonight and tomorrow night in the Fremantle Roundhouse. There are two shows each night, so only four in total, so don’t miss it!

Expect the unexpected, along with fresh Freo-Frankstein film sequences, rocking live music, chilling soundscapes, true facts and reimagined fiction, and much over the top theatrics!

In the show Roundhouse architect Henry Reveley (1788-1875) is cast as key protagonist in a gothic tale so wild that only WA’s most infamous building could contain in it. Henry’s lifelong bonds with Frankenstein author Mary Shelley, both emotional and intellectual, are exposed through a theatrical retelling of the recorded facts, revealing a contorted sketch of a dark, talented genius – presented, tongue in cheek, as WA’s own Dr Frankenstein……

Henry not only brought the spirit of Shelley’s “novel of ideas” with him from Europe to the Swan River Colony, he co-owned it. He drank from the deep reservoir of radical thinking that Mary’s circle had created through her influential father, mother, husband, friends and acquaintances. He lived, loved and worked in their vortex, his soul trapped, his actions untempered. Like Mary he too was stalked by family secrets, death, sadness and financial worries. Henry escaped however, to establish a remote outpost down under where his program of public works could conceal his true passion for natural philosophy and investigations into animal electricity.

‘Frankenstone’ presents an engaging patchwork of influential thinkers and historical figures, morbidly stitched together to deliver compelling conclusions for the true heritage of Western Australia. WA’s Netflix generation will be thoroughly comforted in the knowledge that a real gothic touchstone lies hidden in plain sight in Fremantle’s West End.

The show begins in the relative serenity and abundant hospitality of the Old Custom’s House Atrium, at 9 Phillimore Street Fremantle, before the audience is led up to the imposing Roundhouse to witness its many secrets unleashed through music and film. At the show’s dramatic conclusion audiences can once again seek refuge in the Atrium and raise a glass to our fallen romantic heroes and villains.

The event is a fundraiser written and produced by Genrefonix in partnership with the Fremantle Volunteer Heritage Guides Association. All proceeds from ‘Frankenstone’ will go to the Fremantle Roundhouse to assist with developing special event resources to bring the venue to life once more.

Date: Friday 30 November and Saturday 1 December

Shows: 7.15pm and 8.30pm

Location: Meet at Old Customs House Atrium, 8 Phillimore Street Fremantle

Tickets: Eventbrite

MOORE&MOORE CAFE SUPPORTS LOCAL ART

 

 

Nice to see a local business supporting a local artist.  This great new print by Junko Kitamura is now hanging in the Moore&Moore cafe in Fremantle’s Henry Street.

It is interesting to know that Junko used to be a barista  at the M&M many years ago and had her first show in the gallery there. She is one of my favourite printmakers.

Roel Loopers

WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF ARTHUR’S HEAD?

 

I hear that J Shed artists have been told by the City of Fremantle that license/lease negotiations will be on hold until Fremantle Council has debated the future of the shed, and presumably the entire Bathers Beach Art Precinct, at their monthly meeting in February next year.

While this has created some uncertainty and stress for the artists, whose future at J Shed is not secure again, it is not necessarily a bad thing that Council wants to revisit plans for Arthur’s Head, as the Bathers Beach Art Precinct in its present form is flawed and not working as well as it could.

I would like to see a real Masterplan with long-term goals for the historic precinct and the City spending money on infrastructure such as public toilets at beach level, an outdoor deck at Unit 1, and making the area into an attraction instead of an afterthought.

It is clear from the Sunset Events fiasco that ‘applicant driven’ ideas can grow out of proportion, as was also the case with talking about a large burger restaurant for the small Esplanade hub. Council struggles to contain these ideas so that they are actually what the elected members wanted to achieve and don’t get kidnapped by commercial profit thinking.

Arthur’s Head is an amazing precinct with huge potential to make it into a real tourist attraction for visitors and the Fremantle community, but that requires financial commitment and creativity from Council and not just filling up vacant spaces ad hoc.

It is time to get back to the drawing board, conduct some intense community consultation, make the Roundhouse a much bigger drawcard with proper marketing and evening events, light up the Pilot Cottages at night and create better connectivity between Victoria Quay and the Fishing Boat Harbour.

The historic significance of Arthur’s Head needs to be the main consideration, but that does not mean a good arts and culture component can’t be part of the future there. A stunning sculpture park on the A Class Reserve in front of J Shed could be amazing.

Roel Loopers