Aboriginal Art Uk

New blog! Nadia has written about this beautiful work, 'Leaves on the Ground' by Gloria Petyarre. She watched this work being painted on one of her early visits to Gloria's community and instantly fell in love with it!
https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/…/Leave s-on-the-Ground-by-G…
This painting is rather difficult to catch on camera, it's large with subtle colours and delicate brush strokes. Hopefully, the different pictures will give you an idea of the impression this wonderful painting creates!

Hello everyone! This week's work is a dazzling large scale painting by Ronnie Tjampitjinpa, what do you think?
Ronnie was born near the Kintore Ranges in Western Australia around 1943. His family lived in the traditional manner and travelled extensively across Pintupi territory. After prolonged droughts in the 1950s, Ronnie and his family moved first to Haasts Bluff, then to the Papunya community which was to become known its art.
He began painting in 1975, one of the young...est of the group of men who began painting at the start of the Western Desert art movement, and was a founder of Paunya Tula Artists. He soon emerged as one of their major artists, pioneering this bold, linear style made up from geometric forms and a restricted palette.
Ronnie's work is characteristic of the classic Pintupi style. They are inspired by the Tingari Cycle, a secret song cycle sacred to initiated Pintupi men. The Tingari are ancient ancestral beings who travelled across the landscape performing ceremonies to create and shape the country.
During the 1970s, Ronnie was a strong advocate for the outstation movement and campaigned for the return his traditional lands. This goal was achieved with the establishment of the Walungurru settlement in 1981 and Ronnie moved there with his family two years later, serving as chairman of the Kintore Outstation Council.
https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/product†¦/ronnie-tjampitjinpa
153 x 122, acrylic on linen canvas.
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This is the final week of our exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land and Colour'. Thank you to everyone who has come along to see the wonderful work in person, and if you haven't made it yet there's still time for a visit before November 17th!
https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/…/Exhib ition-Dreaming-Stori…
These wonderful work are by artists from Utopia. It is a region of around 5,000 sq km north-east of Alice Springs and is home to around 2,000 aboriginal people. The region largely... lies on aboriginal owned land called Urapuntja, it is made up of several larger communities and some very small ones!
Art is by far the largest source of employment in an area which lacks employment opportunities and skills. There are well over 250 professional artists in the region, most of them have never attended an art class!
The creative movement in Utopia began with batik and the work they produced came to international attention and was exhibited around the world. When painting reached the communities in the late 1980’s, acrylic paint on canvas with its quick drying and no mess properties, soon overtook batik.
Initial work from the region was traditional but the styles quickly developed and became bolder and more diverse. This is what the art of Utopia is renowned for to this day, and Utopia's women are now leaders in female aboriginal art.
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry!
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
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These beautiful paintings are by the incredible Barbara Weir. Her countries flora is the inspiration for her 'Grass Seed Dreamings', which are created by energetic brushstrokes that evoke the movement of native grasses swaying in the wind.
Grasses have been important to Aboriginal people throughout their history. Where water is scarce there are fewer plants, but grasses grow throughout the country adapted to the diverse conditions that range from desert to rainforest.
Many pa...rts of the grass plants were important, the stems and rhizomes were used to make fibres woven into string, bags, rope, baskets and mats. However, it was the seeds from grasses that were most important - they were used to make bush bread!
The Aborigines harvested native millet (Panicum) and spinifex (Triodia) for their seed. Women and children would spend much of their day collecting seed and separating them from the husks took considerable skills and practice.
However, there were also bushcraft secrets. In the Kimberley, the women discovered that after the dry season, many seeds would be left around the opening of harvester ants' nests. The ants had collected and husked the seed and they were able to collect it saving a lot of work!
After allowing the grain to dry, they could begin to prepare the flour. Grinding seeds into flour on a stone slab was a hard task. Grasses can be ground with water, but it would still take a couple of hours to produce about a half kilogram of flour. Bread was baked in the ashes or on the hot charcoal of campfires. In arid regions, the conditions to make Bread were right, on average, only 90 days a year.
It's no wonder that grasses still hold a special significance for the Aboriginal people, they have been essential in sustaining life for millennia.
These works are on show at our exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour'.
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry.
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
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Hello everyone! These amazing works are by Fred and Ned Grant, senior lawmen from Spinifex country and part of the Spinifex Arts Project.
Fred and Ned were born in the desert in the middle of last century, they lived their early life the traditional semi-nomadic way on the bright red earth of Spinifex. They played and hunted under vast deep blue skies that were endlessly filled with stars at night.
They grew up on the land learning desert life and it's lore, becoming apprenti...ces to its spiritual secrets in adolescence and travelling to their ancestral initiation ground on a 170km rite of passage.
It was at this time that their lives, and that of their people, would be changed forever. On their travels, they encountered the British Governments atomic testing ground next to their sacred site.
When they returned to their people they discovered that they were to be removed from their lands and relocated to Cundeelee. After 50,000 years in the desert, it was emptied of Aboriginal life within a decade. 700 atomic tests were conducted at this site, 6 atomic bombs were detonated, their lands now poisoned.
313 people were transported to Cundeelee, the rest walked the 600 km. One family remained, secluded and alone, it was 30 years until they saw their people again.
Feelings about their new life were complex, some were happy in their new home, religious life thrived at Cundeelee and it became an important centre for traditional practice. Their lore was preserved and strengthened alongside new ways of Christianity introduced at the mission.
But, despite adapting to life at Cundeelee, the longing to return to their lands remained strong and after 30 years the Spinifex people began to return. This was a 3-year journey visiting sacred sites along the way. They camped at Undirri for two years, before following the religious path of Nyiiyii (desert Finch) and Kipara (bustard) to return to their lands.
50 years after they left, they fought and won the return of their lands, Ned and Fred finally walked on country they could call their own again.
This is the story behind Fred and Ned's art: a deep knowledge of their people's religious lore, experience, endurance, exodus, adaptation and the rediscovery of their lands.
These works are on show at our exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour'.
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry.
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
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Hello everyone! This wonderful painting is by Charlie Tjapangati, a Pintupi man who paints for Papunya Tula artists. What do you think?
This painting depicts designs associated with the swamp and rockhole site of Palipalinjtjanya, near Jupiter Well, a place that marks the start of a major journey line in the Tingari cycle.
The Tingari are mythological characters in Aboriginal Dreamtime songlines, ancient ancestors of every Aborigine today. They travelled across the country pe...rforming rituals, having adventures and shaping particular sites which are now considered sacred.
The adventures of the Tingari groups are told in numerous song cycles which are the source for contemporary customs in Aboriginal life, but many events associated with the Tingari cycle are sacred and only known to the senior members of an Aboriginal tribe.
These songs are oral narratives describing the adventures of the Tingaris and there are thousands of verses that provide topographical details that would have assisted the nomadic tribes in navigating and surviving the outback.
On show at 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour'
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry!
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
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Let us take you on a little tour of some of the works we are showing at our new exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour' at Wetpaint Gallery.
We are showing 42 works in total, many newly acquired on our recent travels in Australia. All works have been ethically purchased from the Artist, Art Community or dealer signed up to a code of conduct to ensure the fair treatment of the artist.
Photographs rarely do full justice to the vibrant colours, subtle hues and intricate de...tails of these paintings so we hope you'll come and see them up close for yourself!
Further images and full artist listing on our blog, click learn more to take a look!
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, or by appointment.
Wetpaint Gallery, Chalford, GL6 8NR. UK
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We are delighted to announce that our new exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour' will open on October 13th. We will be showing a selection of new works acquired by Nadia on her recent travels in Australia, featuring artists from the Papunya Tula and Utopia communities. We hope you'll join us at the gallery to see these wonderful works for yourself!
Artists on show include Barbara Weir, Yinarupa Nangala, Fred Grant, Ned Grant, Nanyuma Napangati, Charlie Tjapangati and Ra...y James Tjangala.
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry!
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
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New Exhibition!
We are delighted to announce that our new exhibition 'Dreaming Stories, Land & Colour' will open on October 13th. We will be showing a selection of new works acquired by Nadia on her recent travels in Australia, featuring artists from the Papunya Tula and Utopia communities. We hope you'll join us at the gallery to see these wonderful works for yourself!
Artists on show include Barbara Weir, Yinarupa Nangala, Fred Grant, Ned Grant, Nanyuma Napangati, Charlie ...Tjapangati and Ray James Tjangala.
October 13th - November 17th, Wednesday - Saturday, 10:30 - 16:30, Wetpaint Gallery, Stroud, GL6 8NR. Free entry!
Enquires to Nadia Phillips - nadia@aboriginalartuk.com or 0207 6327579
The painting on our poster is an incredible work by Yinarupa Nangala. It depicts the ‘Ngamurru’ in Kiwirrkurra Western Australia, a meeting place for Aboriginal women where ceremonial business is conducted.
The various shapes in her work depict important features of the landscape including rock holes, which serve as important water sources, women’s meeting places and abundant food areas. Yinarupa uses a combination of traditional and contemporary symbols providing an aerial view of the Pintupi area.
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Hello everyone! Our work this week is wonderful painting by Myra Yurtiwa Cook, what do you think?
Myra was born at Kartjinguku Creek near Warakurna in the East Gibson Desert in 1932. She paints important Ngaanyatjarra stories from her mothers and fathers country. Myra began painting with Warakurna Artists in 2005 and has become one of its senior artists.
The Ngaanyatjarra Communities are some of the most remote communities in all of Australia. Ngaanyatjarra Lands cover around... 3% of mainland Australia (250,000 km2) and includes parts of the Gibson Desert, Great Sandy Desert, Great Victoria Desert, and the Central Ranges within Western Australia.
The area dwelt by the Ngaanyatjarra people has a record of continuous human habitation going back at least 10,000 years! Warakurna, Myra's home, is located at the western end of the majestic Rawlinson Ranges. The ranges are known for gold and nickel and most local Aboriginal peoples first contact with outsiders occurred in the 1930s when gold prospectors discovered the rich deposits in the area.
The traditional industry in the semi-arid areas of Ngaanyatjarra is sandalwood harvesting. The wood and the oil produce a distinctive fragrance that has been highly valued - unlike many other aromatic woods, sandalwood retains its fragrance for decades.
This native tree has been of importance to the Aboriginal people for thousands of years, as the seed kernels, nuts, and fruit are a rich source of nutrients. The fragrant wood has also been used in traditional smoking ceremonies. This is an ancient custom among Indigenous Australians that involves burning various native plants to produce smoke, which is believed to have purifying properties and the ability to ward off bad spirits.
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New blog! Colony: Frontier Wars is an important exhibition at the NGV Melbourne. It explores the period of colonisation in Australia from 1788 onwards and it’s often devastating effects on First People’s. The period to many was the discovery of a wondrous southern continent, but to others, an invasion of homelands occupied for many millennia.
This extraordinary powerful exhibition reveals aspects of what Aboriginal people have experienced as a continuing consequence of colonisation. We hope you find this an interesting read, the exhibition highlights some of the many hardships the Aboriginal people have endured and survived in modern times.
https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/…/Colon y-Frontier-Wars-at-N…

Hello everyone, this weeks' work is a wonderful painting by Josephine Nangala! What do you think?
Born about 1950, Josephine grew up travelling with her family between Nyirla, her traditional Country, and the Canning Stock Route. She paints the ceremonial site of Marrapinti, where traditionally the women made nose bones, also known as Marrapinti.
The nose bone ceremony is an important Aboriginal rite that marks a boys transition to manhood. The ritual begins with the paintin...g of sacred symbols on the body, followed by piercing the septum. The nose is pierced with the bone of an animal or bird associated with a tribe's Dreamtime story and the Dreamtime creator of a particular sacred site.
48 x 36 cm, Acrylic on linen canvas
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New blog, 'The Stone of Dreamtime', visiting the Ancient Ochre Pits!
I visited these amazingly Ochre Pits in the MacDonnell ranges before I left Alice springs. Known as the 'Stone of Dreamtime', Aboriginal people have extracted Ochre from these cliffs for thousands of years.
It's a beautiful place and Ochre's uses for the Aboriginal people are fascinating. Hope you enjoy it!
... https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/…/Ochre -The-Stone-of-Dreamt…
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On my travels in Australia, I had the great pleasure to meet the wonderful Barbara Weir. Not only that, I had the chance to watch her work!
Barbara is an incredible woman, an artist and politician, she has been campaigning for the local land rights movement since the 1970's. In 1985 she was elected as the first woman president of the Indigenous Urapunta Council.
Her life has not been easy, Barbara was one of the Stolen Generations, where Aboriginal children were taken from he...r family and placed into foster care. She was reunited with her mother in the 1960's, but it took many years to repair the bonds.
She took up painting in 1985, her work includes representations of plants and 'dreamings' and is much sought after. Her mother, Minnie Pwerle, is widely regarded as one of Australia's most significant contemporary women artists, despite only beginning to paint at the age of 80! Barbara managed Minnie's stellar career until she passed away in 2006.
Barbara's beautiful work will be on display at our upcoming exhibitions, we can't wait for you to see it!
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An Aboriginal welcome to the Sydney Contemporary Art Fair! A tribesman in traditional ceremonial attire playing the didgeridoo, creating hypnotic and warm sounds. Just wonderful!

This beautiful painting is ‘Fall Creek’ by Madigan Thomas, who many experts consider to be one of the most important contemporary Aboriginal painters. What do you think?
This painting shows a waterhole near Fall Creek, a place young people are not allowed to go without being welcomed or given permission, The ‘Willy Willy’, dust devils, are seen from there, which the Aboriginal people believe represent spirit forms from the Dreaming.
Madigan is a community elder and a strong L...aw and Culture woman. She paints for the Warmun community, which she helped establish in 1998. This community is notable for the use of natural pigments and Madigan was amongst the first Warmun artists to combine natural earth pigments to achieve a range of colours - the true colours of the outback.
Ochre, Iron Oxide, was the first colour paint. It has been used on every inhabited continent since painting began and has been on the palettes of almost every artist in history. In Australia, the longest tradition of using Ochre is found. Cave painters used Ochre forty thousand years ago and the tradition of using Ochre has been continued at Warmun.
140 x 100cm, Natural Ochre and pigment on canvas
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New blog, The Road to the Desert Mob!
Most years Nadia travels back home to Australia to visit the Desert Mob, one of the most important Aboriginal Art and cultural events.
This year, before travelling to Alice Springs for the mob, she had the chance to visit many wonderful Aboriginal art exhibitions in Sydney and explored the ancient cave drawings in Kimberly.
... Here's Nadia's photo diary, hope you enjoy joining her on her travels!
https://www.aboriginalartuk.com/…/Road- to-the-Desert-Mob-20…
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Hello everyone! This wonderful painting is 'Para' by Tali Tali Pompey, a Kaltjiti Arts artist. What do you think?
'Para' shows Ghost Gum (Eucalyptus) trees, and their smooth cream and white bark. The slender trunks are hard to focus on, the eye is constantly drawn away to the bright landscape colours in between - the trees are elusive, ghost gums indeed!
The Ghost Gums have a deep connection with the Aboriginal people. Generations were taught that the glow of the trees at ni...ght was evidence of the presence of living spirits.
These trees were an important medicinal plant for Indigenous Australians who used parts for different uses. Gum was used as a leech repellent and an antiseptic relief from burns. A preparation from the bark was used to fight chest infections as it still is today.
Their wood has been used to make shelters, shields, paintings, canoes, spears, clapsticks, clubs, spear-throwers, smoking pipes and containers. Fine strands of bark even make string!
This ancient tree, fossils record its presence over 52 million years ago, is another fantastic example of the Aborigines connection and relationship with the natural world.
101 x 182 cm, acrylic and ink on linen canvas.
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