November 30th, 2024Renowned artist Criss Canning in conversation at Clunes Booktown on Sunday session

Coming up Sunday December 8, Clunes’ Booktown on Sunday series is set to feature the acclaimed still-life artist Criss Canning OAM in conversation with Clunes creative Rebecca Russell.

The Booktown on Sunday series features writers and creatives in conversation in an intimate setting, providing audiences with rare insights into their work and oeuvre.

The upcoming session will take place at 1.30pm at the town’s historic Clunes Railway Station Booktown venue affording a rare chance to hear Canning discuss her new book, The Paintings of Criss Canning: The House and Gardens at Lambley.

For 35 years, Criss and her husband, acclaimed garden designer David Glenn, have lived at Burnside, the charming 1860’s farmhouse with the adjoining famed gardens of Lambley, a highly regarded nursery at Ascot situated between Clunes and Ballarat.

Canning is one of Australia’s finest and most celebrated still-life artists. She has explored flowers, textiles and decorative objects in her paintings over five decades.

Her husband’s great love of gardens has offered Canning visual inspiration at every turn. She paints the poppies, irises and sunflowers that grow in the garden at Lambley and explores Australian native plants, especially the banksia, in all its forms.

Canning – also a keen collector of jewel-toned glassware, vases, tea sets and vintage kimonos – is celebrated as one of Australia’s most exceptional still-life artists and her new 320-page book that was published in Australia in October is a fully illustrated monograph on the life and art.

With newly commissioned photography, and essays by Georgina Reid, Jenny Zimmer, Julie McLaren and Criss herself, the book strives to capture the garden, the studio, the house and the collections that are the basis of Criss’s paintings.

In an attempt to see what the artist sees, photographer Eve Wilson photographed the house and garden that make up Canning’s world, showing just how closely art can imitate life.

Entry to the upcoming Clunes Booktown on Sunday session is free but organisers say those intending to attend should book a ticket, which can be done online at https://linktr.ee/clunesbooktownfestival.

Words: Eve Lamb.