After a hiatus of two years, the past few months have seen Mike Eleven return to the street art scene with gusto and his Tuff Gurls series that references the young women he’s surrounded by. They are tuff on the outside but soft on the inside – “tuff angels”. He was getting really discouraged with…
Albert is living the fantasy
Albert Ullin’s fantasy world is real. Perched high above the CBD streets, his apartment is crammed full of children’s books and illustrations. It’s been many years now since he passed on custodianship of the Little Bookroom but his private collection is bursting at the seams. Unlike some other forms of publishing, children’s books have never…
On being present
By Maria Doogan Spring is in the air. Every sight and every sound. Beyond warmth and wattle trees blooming, it’s a feeling of hope, optimism, and looking forward coloured by whatever is your favourite hue – for me, it’s the yellow of the heart chakra. And a great time for new beginnings. Or so I…
Riverside Pieces
Hello there and welcome back to our tour of Melbourne with your guide, Pieces. Today we’re stopping of at another iconic spot in Melbourne, except this one runs right through the city. Yes, it’s the famous Yarra River. On June 8, 1835, it was on the banks of this 242 km river that John Batman…
Orry-Kelly: Dressing Hollywood
By Laura Timberlake Orry-Kelly is one of Australia’s most successful costume designers. The 21-year-old left Kiama in New South Wales as an aspiring actor and went on to become chief costume designer at Warner Bros. ACMI (Australian Centre for the Moving Image) is hosting the Orry-Kelly: Dressing Hollywood exhibition until January 17, 2016. Katrina Sedgwick,…
The ‘Russian Hippo’
By Sarah Price Flinders Street Station is full of people in a constant rush to go somewhere, however Lex and his four-month-old American Staffy puppy Behemoth blissfully walk along the station taking their time. Lex and Behemoth live in the city and are out exploring Melbourne every day. They especially love meeting other dogs and…
New towers take form
August has been one of the more quiet months in terms of planning applications in Melbourne, yet construction continues on a number of large scale apartment developments at a steady pace, with a concentration of buildings in the north CBD quadrant, centred in and around Elizabeth St, beginning to rise out of the ground. The…
The leader of the pack
The dog is a reoccurring image in Cezary Stulgis aka CRUEL’s work. His now sadly-departed Stashy, who was his muse, best friend and mate, inspired him. Cezary’s original imagery arose from studying anatomy and figurative sculpture in Poland. However, it was the closer study of a dog’s behaviour, its anatomy and dynamic, that saw him…
Spring is around the corner
We are probably all feeling the fatigue from what seems a very long and very cold winter. And while usually Melburnians don’t like to admit it actually gets cold here, this winter we’ve seen many don the winter jacket and scarf to escape the icy wind ripping up from the back of Flinders Street Station.…
Federal Coffee Palace
By Kate Prinsley executive officer, with assistance from Volkan Ozcoban and Lukas Matovinovic students from Kew High School. Located on the corner of King and Collins Streets and completed in 1888, the Federal Coffee Palace was at the time the largest hotel in Australia. Built as a temperance hotel, a hotel which refused to sell…