DRIFT art festival celebrates the Mornington Peninsula region

DRIFT is a new art festival on the Mornington Peninsula. On show for 11 days, DRIFT will present performance, music, visual arts, film, public art installations, multimedia and projections, writing and literature and local food and wine across the region in satellite spaces and galleries.

Image: Thinking About Things, Abdul Abdullah

Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (MPRG) is hosting ‘late to eight’ evenings, including drinks and music as well as special ‘one-off’ experiences such as the family friendly ‘A Night at the Gallery by Torchlight’ on Friday 29 April, 7.30pm – 9pm. MPRG have also some curated spaces for DRIFT including the pairing of The Cloud Reader by Brett Whiteley with Thinking About Things by Abdul Abdullah.

Whiteley and Abdullah’s works are curated together by Janenne Willis as a ‘catalyst for conversation around themes of shorelines and seafaring migrants, posing the question of who owns the ocean.’

The gallery will assemble a pop-up library comprising ‘ocean books’, and offer us a chance to work with artists in workshops on how to stretch a canvas with Neil Williams, and screen-printing with Joshua Searle. Click here for a full list of their events.

Image: Courtesy of DRIFT

In Red Hill at 133 Shoreham Road Michael Leeworthy will open an exhibition of watercolour and. A little further afield, on view at The Police Point Air Retrospective Exhibition we find work created over 5 years of artist residencies by emerging and established artists, writers, musicians, and creatives that have lived and created at the historic Gatekeepers Cottage. acrylic paintings.

Collect your ‘Trail Program’ from Manyung Gallery to search for sculptures displayed in shop windows around the Mt Eliza shopping precinct, which are available to purchase. Later on April 23rd, On Saturday 23rd April you can vote for a People’s Choice Award and join some of the featured artists for conversation including local stone and bronze sculptor, Jenny Whiteside, who will sculpt in an outdoor location.

Image: Image Sue Smales, Boobook Owl

Click here for DRIFT’s full program and enjoy from Thursday 21 April – Sunday 1 May. The events are mostly free and you can tailor a personal schedule online with their tab ‘your drift’.