OCTOBER - ART AFTER HOURS
Celebrating the exhibition Margaret Preston: art and life
The Gallery celebrates the major exhibition of Australian artist Margaret Preston with celebrity talks, films, guided tours and live music in the ArtBar during the Gallery's late night Wednesday Art After Hours.
6.30PM CELEBRITY TALKS
These talks celebrate Margaret Preston's fascinating life, travels, style and personality.
5 October - Simon Marnie, presenter, ABC 702 & cafe host, The LifeStyle Channel.
Eating Margaret Preston: a not still life over afternoon tea
Although not a great cook herself, Margaret Preston often painted food that inspired a culinary palette. Simon Marnie is famous for exploring all things edible on his weekend ABC 702 radio and as host of Lifestyle Cafe on the LifeStyle Channel. In this talk he casts an eye over Margaret Preston's table. In association with the Good Food Month.
12 October - Bruce Elder, author, travel writer and journalist
Why do people travel in the 21st century?
Margaret Preston was a pioneer of adventure travel. She abandoned the early 1900s convention of tutor-led European tours, opted by many privileged university students, for solo pursuits to more exotic destinations. During her life she travelled to Japan, China, South America, India, the South Pacific, New Guinea and was still trekking to outback Australia and horseback riding in Jordan well into her 70s. Culture and travel writer, Bruce Elder comments on Preston's adventures and looks at the changing fashions of travel and the drawcard of well-trodden paths even with today's extensive and accessible range of destinations.
19 October - Deborah Thomas, editor, Australian Women's Weekly
When the best man for the job is a woman: the art of Margaret Preston
Margaret Preston was said to be 'diminutive in stature but formidably large in artistic ambition'. She was a pioneer in Australian art and she happened to be a woman who became a forceful voice, unapologetically committed to issues of 'female relevance' and to democratising the arts. Yet she also managed to earn the nickname 'Mad Maggie'. Deborah Thomas reflects on the larger than life career of this great Australian artist, Margaret Preston. | 
