Gallery Savah
20 Glenmore Road, Paddington, 2021, Sydney Australia.
Ph: 9360 9979 Fax 9331 6993 http://www.savah.com.au

Gloria Petyarre

Gloria Petyarre was born in approximately 1945 in the region of Utopia, located 270kms northeast from Alice Springs. Her language is Anmatyerre and her country is Aknangkere. Gloria is one of seven sisters who are also artists, such as the well-known Kathleen Petyarre, Nancy Petyarre, Violet Petyarre and Ada Bird.

Gloria first gained recognition as an artist working in the medium of Batik, exhibiting with other Utopia women in shows around Australia and abroad from 1977 to 1987. In 1988 Gloria took up the medium of canvas and painted her first work for CAAMA (The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) in the exhibition titled – “Utopia Women’s Painting; The First Works of Canvas; a Summer Project 1988 – 1989.”

In 1990 – 1991, Gloria traveled to Ireland, London and India as a representative of the Utopia women accompanying the exhibition “Utopia – A Picture Story”. The exhibition was mounted in Dublin at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Tandanya, Adelaide, and The Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne.

In 1991, Gloria had her first solo exhibition at Australian Galleries in New York and at Utopia Art, Sydney, where she had other solo shows from 1993 to 1995.

Gloria’s work has been included in major survey exhibitions including –

1991 Art Gallery of New South Wales touring Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition
1992 “Flash Painting” – National Gallery of Australia.
“The Body Paint Collection” at Bishop Museum, Hawaii, which also toured the United States.
1993 Gloria received a Tapestry Commission for the Victorian Tapestry Workshop and in 1994 for the Law Court in Brisbane

In 1995/96 Gloria received a Full Fellowship grant from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board of the Australia Council, and in March 1999 was awarded the coveted Wynne prize.

Gloria’s work is in the collection of almost every major Art Gallery in each Australian capital city and in the Holmes a Court collection. In 1998, a work on paper was acquired by the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, a major canvas by the "Levi Collection" in Seattle, USA, and a Kansas City institution requested Gloria in conjunction with her husband, Ronnie Price, to design a mural which is now a highlighted and main attraction.

She is featured on the cover of Michael Bolton’s “The Art of Utopia” and more recently in “Fire and Shadow” by Anna Voight and Nevill Drury and in “New Visions. New Perspectives” by Anna Voight. Also recently Gloria is featured in the book "Dreamings Of The Desert" published by The Art Gallery of South Australia.

Gloria's main Dreamings are "Mountain Devil", "Bush Medicine" and "Aknangkere Growth'. In "Mountain Devil Dreaming " Gloria uses a bold linear design accompanied with a small amount of dot work to depict this small lizard like creature. Alternatively Gloria may cover the entire canvas using small intricate dot work in various colours creating an almost three-dimensional effect. Both styles are indicative of Gloria's extraordinary talent for colour and pattern.

"Bush Medicine Dreaming" depicts the leaves of a particular type of shrub that has medicinal qualities, and Gloria uses a range of different brush strokes to represent the growth of the leaves at certain times of the year.

More recently Gloria has developed a series of works that are even more contemporary in style and are known as 'Aknangkere Growth". Gloria depicts her Country using lines of colour that run onto the canvas and are intermingled with a variety of dot work. These paintings are rich in texture and layering and are testament to Gloria’s artistic creativity.


SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

1988 Group Exhibition - “Time Before Time”, Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA
1989 Group Exhibition - “A Summer Project”, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1990 Traveling group batik exhibition, “Utopia – A Picture Story”, the Holmes a Court Collection, Ireland, England, France, Thailand & India
1990 Group Exhibition - “Tagari Lia: My Family”, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, Ireland
1990 Group Exhibition - “Utopia Men and Dogs”, Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA
1991 Group Exhibition - Australian Galleries, New York, USA
1991 Group Exhibition - “Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition”, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
1991 Group Exhibition - Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
1992 Group traveling exhibition - “Nangara”, Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Australia and internationally
1992 Group Exhibition - “New Tracks Old Lands”, Boston and touring USA
1992 Group Exhibition - “Aboriginal Art: Utopia in the Desert”,Nogizaki Arthall, Tokyo, Japan
1993 Solo Exhibition - “Awelye”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
1994 Solo Exhibition - Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
1995 Combined Exhibition - DACOU Gallery, Adelaide, SA
1995 Solo Exhibition - “Gloria Petyarre: On the Line”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
1996 Group Exhibition - Framed, Darwin, NT
1996 Group Exhibition - Flinders Lane Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1996 Solo Exhibition - Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1996 Group Exhibition - Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1997 Group Exhibition - Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1997 Group Exhibition - DACOU Gallery, Adelaide, SA
1997 Artist in residence - The Art Gallery of South Australia in the exhibition “Dreamings of the Desert”, SA
1997 Solo Exhibition - “Instant Pictures”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW
1997 Group Exhibition - “Ten Years On”, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
1997 Group Exhibition - Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1997 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
1997 Telstra 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for 1997, Darwin, NT
1997 Solo Exhibition - Flinders Lane Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1997 Group Exhibition - FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1998 Group Exhibition - "Women Painters of The Desert" FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
1998 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
1998 Solo Exhibition - Robert Steele Gallery, Adelaide, SA
1998 Group Exhibition - "Utopia IV" Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW
1998 Group Exhibition - "The Ladies of Utopia", Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
1998 Solo Exhibition - Utopia Art, Sydney, NSW
1998 Group Exhibition - SCECGS Redlands, Sydney, NSW
1998 Group Exhibition - Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
1998 Solo Exhibition - "The Aknangkere Growth Paintings"- First Release - Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
1998 Solo Exhibition - Gloria Tamerre Petyarre, Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery, Campbelltown, NSW
1998 Group Exhibition - The Adelaide Festival Theatre, SA
1998 Group Exhibition - “Spirit Country”, San Francisco and touring USA
1999 Group Exhibition - "Utopia"- BMG art, Adelaide, SA
1999 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
1999 Recipient of the Wynne Landscape Prize, Art Gallery of NSW
1999 Self titled solo exhibition- Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
1999 "Bush Garden" - combined exhibition, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
1999 Group Exhibition - "Quadrivium Gallery", Sydney, NSW
1999 Group Exhibition - "Caring For Country"- Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
1999 Solo Exhibition - Red Desert Gallery, Eumundi, Qld
1999 Group Exhibition - "Flinders Lane Gallery", Melbourne, VIC
1999 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
1999 Group Exhibition - North Shore Fine Art, Sydney, NSW
1999 Solo Exhibition - “Gloria Petyarre: A Survey”, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW
1999 Solo Exhibition - “Wildflowers”, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
1999 Group Exhibition - with Jack Britten- Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
2000 Group Exhibition - "An Affair to Remember", Singapore
2000 Group Exhibition - Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2000 Group Exhibition - Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2000 DACOU in association with AMP - an official sponsor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, held a mixed Utopia art exhibition in the AMP building, Sydney
2000 Group Exhibition - Mary Place Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2000 Group Exhibition - SCECGS Redlands Art Prize, Sydney, NSW
2000 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2001 ‘Painting Country” - combined exhibition at Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide SA
2001 “Desert Colour, My Country” - combined exhibition at Raintre Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin NT
2001 “Two Women - Dreamings” - exhibited with Barbara Weir at Dreamtime Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
2001 “Women Artist of the Australian Desert”, combined exhibition Gallery 2021, Auckland, NZ
2001 Group Exhibition - “Recounting the Essence of Life - Art from Australia”. Artforum HDZ, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany. (In cooperation with Aboriginal Art Galerie, Bähr, Speyer)
2001 "Colours of Utopia" - Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2002 Group travelling exhibition - “Mythology & Reality” Palazzo Bricherasio Turin, Italy; AAM Utrecht, Netherlands; Monash University Prato Centre, Italy; Jerusalem Centre for the Performing Arts, Israel; SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW.; Heide Museum of Modern Art, Melbourne, VIC
2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition at Knut Grothe Galeri in Charlottlenlund Copenhagen, Denmark
2002 ‘Paintings From Utopia” - combined exhibition at ‘Framed- The Darwin Gallery”, Darwin, NT
2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition at Galerie a Le Temps Du Reve, France
2002 “Contemporary Aboriginal Art From The Utopia Region”- combined exhibition at BMGART, Adelaide, SA
2002 Group Exhibition - “The Craft and the Light, Art of Australia”, Neuer Kunstverein Aschaffenburg, Germany, (in Co-operation with the Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer).
2002 ‘Images and Identity’, Ev. Akademie Iserlohn, Germany (in cooeperation with the Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr,Speyer)
2002 Solo Exhibition - “Leaves You Thinking”, World Vision, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2002 ‘Generations Utopia’- mixed exhibition at Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Perth, WA
2002 Solo Exhibition - Aknangkere Growth paintings, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2002 Group Exhibition - Utopia Art, Sydney, NSW
2002 Group Exhibition - “Crossroads: The Millennium Portfolio of Aboriginal Prints”, Singapore Art Museum, Singapore
2003 Group exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2003 "Big Country" Works from the Flinders University Art Museum collection, Flinders University City Gallery, Adelaide, SA
2003 ‘The Other Side of the Land, Art from Central Australia’ - Group Exhibition, Berlin, Germany ( in cooperation with the Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer).
2003 Solo Exhibition - “Sydney Art Fair”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2004 Group Exhibition - ‘Sanjski cas. dreamtime’, Cankarjev dom, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
2004 Bilderwelten in Utopia. Holzschnitte und Gemaelde vom Aborigines, Staedtisches Kunstmuseum Spendhaus Reutlingen, Kunstmuseum Bayreuth, Germany, (in cooperation with the Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer)
2004 Die inneren und die äußeren Dinge. Stadtgalerie Bamberg Villa Dessauer, Bamberg, Germany, (in cooperation with the Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer) .
2005 Solo Exhibition - “Recent Paintings”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2005 ‘Summer in the Desert’ - Group Exhibition, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, NSW. With Ada Petyarre, “Black Abstract”, Woolloongabba Art Gallery and touring, Brisbane, QLD.
2005 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2006 Group Exhibition - APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto offices, Melbourne, VIC
2007 “Standing on Ceremony” - Group Exhibition, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2007 Group Exhibition - ‘Utopia in New York’. Robert Steele Gallery, New York, USA
2007 Group Exhibition - “Utopia”, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA
2007 Group Exhibition - “Desert Diversity”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Group Exhibition - “Treasures of the Spirit – Investment in Aboriginal Art”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2007 Group Exhibition - APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Group Exhibition - “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2007 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2008 Group Exhibition - “Utopia Discoveries”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2008 Torrres Straits & Aboriginal Telstra Awards Exhibition, Darwin, NT
2008 Travelling group exhibition to all major cities of Australia, “EWB Elements”, presented by Dacou in conjunction with Dreamtime Art
2008 Walking Together to Aid Aboriginal Health, Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW
2008 “Womens Stories” - group exhibition, Alison Kelly Gallery, Richmond, VIC
2009 "Utopia, Color’s of the Desert” - Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with Dacou, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2009 5th Annual Shalom Gamarada, Aboriginal Art Show
2009 Group Exhibition - ‘Spin’ QUT Queensland University of Technology, QLD
2009 Group Exhibition - “Recent Paintings”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2009 Group Exhibition - “Utopia”, Benelong Gallery Sydney, NSW
2009 Group Exhibition - “Colours of Utopia”, DACOU Broome, W.A
2009 Wynne Landscape Prize, Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW
2009 Group Exhibition - The Frank Saxby Bequest Art Acquisitions
2009 Manning Regional Art Gallery
2009 ANN LEWIS GIFT SPANNING FIVE DECADES OF CONTEMPORARY ART , Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW
2009 Aboriginal Dreaming: Contemporary Collection, Glasshouse Regional Gallery, Port Macquarie, NSW
2009 Group Exhibition - ‘Now and Then’ Campbelltown Art Centre, NSW
2010 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2010 Group Exhibition - Dacou Melbourne, Vic
2010 Group Exhibition - Dacou Broome, WA


Awards
1993 Design for tapestry for Victorian Tapestry Workshop
1993 Mural for Kansas City Zoo
1998 National Works on Paper Award, MPRG
1999 Wynne Landscape Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney

Collections
University of the Sunshine Coast
Artau Collection, Sydney
Allen, Allen & Hemsley
Art Bank Sydney
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Art Gallery of Western Australia
Australian National Gallery
British Museum, London, UK
Baker-McKenzie
Campbelltown City Art Gallery
Dale Jones Evans Collection
Flinders University, South Australia
Fred Torres Collection
Gold Coast City Art Gallery
Griffith University Collection
Henk Ebbes Collection
Holmes a Court Collection
James D. Wolfensohn Collection
Kerry Stokes Collection
Macquarie Bank Collection
Michael Eather Collection
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne
National Gallery of Victoria
Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
Queensland Art Gallery
Queensland University of Technology
Robert Steele Collection
Riddoch Art Gallery, S.A.
Singapore Art Museum
Supreme Court, Brisbane
Tim Jennings Collection
The Robert Holmes a Court Collection
University of New South Wales
University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland
Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, U.S.A.
Westpac, New York
Woollongong City Art Gallery
Woollongong University Collection



Emily Pwerle b1922

Emily Pwerle’s country is Atnwengerrp and her language is Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. She was born around 1922. No official records exist of her actual birth date. Like so many other artists from Utopia Emily’s date of birth is an approximation. Emily lives in Irrultja, a tiny settlement in Utopia of about 100 people. She has had little exposure to western culture and began painting on canvas in 2004.

Emily is Barbara Weir’s aunt and was responsible for Barbara’s upbringing as a youngster. Emily is Minnie, Molly & Galya Pwerle’s sister. In 2004 Barbara Weir (Minnie Pwerle’s daughter) organised the first painting workshop for her aunties Emily, Galya & Molly Pwerle at Irrultja.

Emily’s style developed over the next few years with a good deal of encouragement from Barbara Weir and Minnie Pwerle.

After her older sister Minnie Pwerle passed away in 2006 Emily emerged as the most collectable senior artist from Irrultja. With the emotional and financial support of Dacou’s owner Fred Torres (her great nephew) and his Australia wide business network, galleries around Australia were eager to exhibit Emily’s paintings.

Emily paints “Awelye Atnwengerrp”, meaning women’s ceremony in her country. “Awelye-Atnwengerrp” is depicted by a series of lines and symbols, often criss-crossed patterns that are layered across the canvas with colours that are explosive, colourful and energetic. The patterns represent the designs painted on women's bodies during bush tucker ceremonies in Atnwengerrp. Integrated into the design is a circle motif with four lines drawn across it, representing diamonds that are found at a sacred site at Utopia. Emily has developed her own contemporary style and is proving to be a prolific, energetic and talented artist, akin to her late sister Minnie Pwerle.

Exhibitions

Jan 2005 Permanent exhibition and collection, Dacou Australia, Rosewater, SA.

June 2005 Group exhibition, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT.

Sept 2005 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

Feb/Mar 2006 Group Exhibition, ‘The Pwerle Sisters,’ Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

May 2006 Group Exihibition, “The Pwerle Sisters’, Artmob Gallery, Hobart, TAS.

Aug 2006 Group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto
Offices, Melbourne, VIC.

2006 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

2006/07 Group exhibition, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.

Jan 2007 Permanent exhibition, Dacou delaide, Port Adelaide, SA.

Feb 2007 ‘Standing on Ceremony’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.

May 2007 ‘Utopia in New York’ Robert Steele Gallery, New York. USA.

2007 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

June 2007 Group Exhibition, University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW.

July 2007 ‘Desert Diversity’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

July 2007 Group Exhibition, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA.

Aug 2007 ‘Treasures of the Spirit – Investing in Aboriginal Art’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.

Sept 2007 Annual group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.

Oct 2007 “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.

Feb 2008 “Utopia Collection” Japinka Gallery Perth, WA

April 2008 “Utopia Discoveries”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

2008 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW

May 2008 “Colours”, United Gallery, Sydney, NSW

May-Oct 08 Group travelling exhibition to major cities in Australia, “EWB Elements”, presented by Dreamtime Art in conjunction with Dacou.

July 2008 “Walking Together to Aid Aboriginal Health”, Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW.

Oct 2008 “Women’s Stories”, group exhibition, Alison Kelly Gallery, Richmond, VIC.

Jan 2009 “Utopia, Color’s of the Desert”, Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with Dacou, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea.

March 2009 Group Show, Dacou Broome, Broome, WA

2009 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

References & Publications

Contemporary Aboriginal Art- Susan McCoullach pg 86

New Beginings- Classic Paintings from the Corrigan collection of 21st Century Aboriginal art. Pg. 97 illustrated pg. 96

Art of Utopia- Chapter 36

The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art- pg 139, pg 166

The Pwerle Sisters, By Chris Beck, The Age, February 18, 2006

“Utopia, Colour’s of the Desert”,

Reviews

‘Densely layered, the luminous paintings of Emily Pwerle, one of Minnies sisters, have proved an exciting new development for Utopia art when she and another three sisters started painting in 2004.’
Susan McCulloch Aboriginal Art- pg 86

‘-Irrultja in Utopia, where the sisters had lived all their lives; they had not even ventured onto Alice Springs’
Susan McCoullach Aboriginal Art- pg 86

‘Like Kngwarreye’s, Pwerles paintings are not abstracts but joyous expression of love of her land through dance, song and painting and a celebration of joy of creation.’
New Beginings- Classic Paintings from the Corrigan collection of 21st Century Aboriginal art. Pg. 97 illustrated pg. 96

Art of Utopia- Chapter 36
The New McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art- pg 139, pg 166
Emily paints smaller, crossover shapes to create a busier picture. Each strike of the brush depicts a ceremonial body marking used in dance
The Pwerle Sisters, By Chris Beck, The Age, February 18, 2006


Collections

Fred Torres Collection
Corrigan Collection
Mbantua Collection
Hank Ebes Collection
Artau Collection
 

Galya Pwerle

Galya Pwerle’s country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre. Galya has had very little exposure to western culture. Galya first picked up a paintbrush in 2004. She was born during the 1930s and is probably in her early eighties however there are no records of her birth date.

Galya is the youngest of the Pwerle Sisters. Most of her family are artists including her older sister the late Minnie Pwerle and sisters Emily and Molly Pwerle, her nieces Barbara Weir and Aileen and Betty Mpetyane. Barbara Weir encouraged Galya and her older sisters Molly and Emily to paint with their famous sister Minnie in 2004.

This Four Sisters workshop was held at Irrweltye and heralded a creative and productive experience for them. Each sister contributed her distinctive approach to Awelye Atnwengerrp – the Women’s Ceremony. Working on the same canvas this unique series of paintings were powerful works in strong, bold colours or were subtle and elegant in soft creams, pale ochres and grey tones. Molly, Emily and Galya all demonstrated the same raw, gestural quality that was so celebrated in Minnie’s work.

Minnie took a close interest in the artistic development of her younger sisters. All four confidently applied paint to canvas from the outset and quickly developed their own unique way to express their Dreaming. These Dreamings have been passed down from generation to generation and now the symbols and patterns are recreated in contemporary works of art, helping to ensure the cultural survival of these people.

Galya paints Awelye Atnwengerrp or Awelye Bush Tomato Atnwengerrp. Awelye means Women’s Ceremony and the bush tomato and bush melon are her Dreamings. Awelye Atnwengerrp is depicted by small curved brushstrokes. Bush Tomato works consist of blunt paintbrush dabs layered over a body paint design that is usually white on a black background. The under painted patterns represent the designs painted on women's bodies during bush tucker ceremonies at Atnwengerrp. Both styles use various colours to form abstract works of great beauty. During these ceremonies the women dance and sing paying homage to their ancestors, the land and the food it provides such as the Bush Tomato. Galya is continually developing her own unique, contemporary style and is proving to be an exciting and progressive artist. In 2005 and 2008 her work was nominated for the prestigious NATSIAA Telstra Art Award which is held annually in Darwin.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2005 Permanent exhibition and collection, Dacou Australia, Rosewater, SA
2005 Group exhibition, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
2005 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2005 Nomination for NATSIAA Telstra Awards, Darwin, NT
2006 ‘The Pwerle Sisters,’ Group Exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2006 Group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto Offices, Melbourne, VIC
2006 Group Exhibition, ‘The Pwerle Sisters’, Artmob Gallery, Hobart, TAS
2006 Group exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2006 Group exhibition, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Permanent exhibition, Dacou Adelaide, Port Adelaide, SA
2007 ‘Standing on Ceremony’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2007 ‘Utopia in New York’ Robert Steele Gallery, New York. USA
2007 Group Exhibition ‘Shalom’, University of NSW, Shalom Department, NSW
2007 ‘Desert Diversity’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2007 Group Exhibition, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA
2007 ‘Treasures of the Spirit’, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA
2007 Group Exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Group Exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2007 Group Exhibition, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD
2007 Group exhibition, “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
2008 Group Exhibition, ‘Utopia Discoveries’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2008 25th NATSIAA Telstra Awards, Darwin, NT
2008 Group travelling exhibition to major cities of Australia, ‘EWB Elements’, presented by Dreamtime Art in conjunction with Dacou.
2008 ‘Walking Together to Aid Aboriginal health’, Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW
2008 ‘Utopia Collection 2’, Japinka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2008 ‘Women’s Stories’, Group Exhibition, Alison Kelly Gallery, Richmond, VIC
2008 Solo Exhibition, ‘Galya Pwerle – Fruits of the Desert’, Dacou Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2008 Group Exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2008 Canterbury Art Exhibition, Contemporary Australian Art, VIC
2009 ‘Summer Collection’ Japinka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2009 ‘One Country – Atnwengerrp, The Pwerle Sisters - Minnie, Emily, Molly and Gayle’, Desert Rain Gallery, Noosa, QLD
2009 “Utopia” Bennelong Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2009 Group Exhibition, Dacou Gallery, Broome, WA
2009 Group Exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2010 Group Exhibition, Dacou Gallery, Broome, WA
2010 Group Exhibition, Dacou Gallery, Melbourne, VIC
2010 Solo Exhibition, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW


References & Publications


"Contemporary Aboriginal Art”- Susan McCulloch pg 86

The Pwerle Sisters, Chris Beck, The Age, February 18, 2006

“Utopia, Colour’s of the Desert”,

"The Art of Utopia" pg. 97-89

"The new McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art" pg.139

"The work of the Pwerle sisters was just as fresh and vibrant. Sharing the same dreaming but with distinctly different was of expressing it visually." Susan McCulloch p. 87

"In her paintings Galya paints only the seed which for so long sustained her." Art of Utopia p. 79


Collections

Fred Torres Collection
Mbantua Collection
Hank Ebes Collection
Artau Collection


 

Minnie Pwerle

Minnie Pwerle was born in the Utopia region in approximately 1910. Her country is Atnwengerrp and her languages are Anmatyerre and Alyawarre.

Minnie has five sisters, Margie, Molly, Emily, Lois and Galya.

Minnie was married to Glory Ngarla’s brother Jim who is now deceased and together they had 6 children, Eileen, Betty, June & Raymond. Two daughters passed away several years ago.

As a teenager, Minnie gave birth to her first daughter Barbara Weir. The father was station owner Jack Weir. Considered a “half-caste” child, Barbara was taken from Minnie by the Native Welfare Patrol. Minnie would not see her daughter again until many years later when Barbara returned to Utopia to re-discover her heritage. Today Barbara is also a well known aboriginal artist.

Minnie did not start painting until late in 1999 when she painted a series of linear works at DACOU. Expressing a desire to paint, canvas upon canvas was presented to Minnie which she attacked with a vigour reminiscent of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. The finished pieces were bold, vibrant & free flowing. They quickly captured the attention of prominent gallery owners who purchased every canvas painted. This informal and completely unexpected workshop heralded Minnie's entrance into mainstream aboriginal art.

Minnie's main Dreamings include 'Awelye- Atnwengerrp", 'Bush Melon" and 'Bush Melon Seed", all of which convey this artist's love and respect for her land.

"Awelye Atnwengerrp" is depicted by a series of lines painted in different widths, patterns and colours. Minnie also paints circles, swirls, and breast designs. These patterns represent the design painted on the top half of the women's bodies during bush tucker ceremonies in their country of Atnwengerrp.

'Bush Melon" is depicted using a linear design of curves and circles in different colours creating a very loose and bold design, while her 'Bush Melon Seed" appears as large and small patches of colour strewn across the canvas. Both these Dreamings tell the story of this lovely sweet food that comes from a very small bush and is only found in Atnwengerrp. Once very abundant and fruiting in the summer season, the Bush Melon is now very hard to find due to over- grazing by imported animals.

Minnie and the other women used to collect this fruit (that is green in colour ripening to brown) and scrape out the small black seeds. The women would then eat the fruit straight away or cut it into pieces, skewer them onto a piece of wood and dry them for food in coming months when bush tucker would be scarce. Through her beautiful artworks, Pwerle pays homage to the Bush Melon fruit, the land and her ancestors, ensuring the survival of these peoples and their ancient culture.

Minnie resided with her children at Utopia at the Arlparra store and continued to paint captivating and profound works until her passing in 2006. She is dearly missed by her family, her community and by those who had the opportunity to work closely with her. Minnie is represented in all State Galleries of Australia as well as in many other institutional and private collections. Today her artworks fetch grand prices and currently some pieces are being replicated in exclusive carpets by Designer Rugs.

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

2000 Minnie exhibited her paintings at various galleries throughout Australia including, Gallery Savah- Sydney, Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne and Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs.
2000 DACOU in association with AMP, an official sponsor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, hosted an exhibition of various Utopia artists in the AMP building, Sydney.
2001 “Out of Utopia”, Chapman Gallery, Canberra. Exhibited with Barbara Weir.
2001 Combined exhibition in San Anselmo, Marin County, California USA
2001 Group Exhibition at Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT.
2001 “Minnie Pwerle, Mary Pantjiti McLean- Tumaru Purlykumunu - small stories” - Japingka Gallery Perth, Western Australia.
2001 “Painting Country” - combined exhibition at Tandanya, Adelaide South Australia.
2001 “Desert Colour - My Country”- combined exhibition - Rain-tree Aboriginal Art Gallery Darwin, Northern Territory.
2001 Combined exhibition at Dreamtime Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
2001 “Women Artists of the Australian Desert” - combined exhibition, Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand.
2002 “United – Mother and Daughter"- exhibited with Barbara Weir at Alison Kelly Gallery, Armadale, Victoria.
2002 Group Exhibition New York City, UTSA, USA.
2002 Group Exhibition, Mbantua Gallery Alice Springs, NT
2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition at Knut Grothe Galeri, Charlottlenlund, Copenhagen.
2002 Solo Exhibition, “Recent Paintings”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.
2002 "Paintings From Utopia” - combined exhibition “Framed - The Darwin Gallery”, Darwin, NT
2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition, Galerie a Le Temps Du Reve, France.
2002 “Contemporary Aboriginal Art from The Utopia Region”, combined exhibition BMGART, Adelaide, South Australia.
2002 “Minnie’s Country” Dacou Gallery, Adelaide, SA.
2002 “Generations Utopia”, combined exhibition, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Perth WA.
2002 Selected entrant in the 2002, 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
2002 “A Collectable Aboriginal Art Event”, combined exhibition Rain-tree Gallery, Darwin, NT.
2002 “BIG COUNTRY small worlds”, solo exhibition, Fire-works Gallery, QLD
2002 “The Utopia Six”, Flinders Lane Gallery, VIC.
2002 “Awelye Atnwengerrp”, solo exhibition Dacou Gallery, Adelaide, SA.
2002 Heart and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN, USA.
2002 Urban Wineworks Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA.
2002 Carriage House Gallery – “In the Cove”, Portland, Oregon, USA.
2002 Chapman Gallery Group Exhibition, ACT.
2002 Mixed Utopia Exhibition Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT.
2002 “Mixed Utopia Exhibition”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.
2003 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2003 “My Grandmother and Me”, World Vision, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
2003 “Minnie Pwerle & Mitjili Napurrula” Japingka Gallery, Fremantle. WA.
2003 Group Exhibition, Art & Soul Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
2003 Solo Exhibition, “Sydney Art Fair”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.
2003 “Art from the Dreamtime”. Portland Art Museum. Oregon, USA.
2004 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2004 “Diva’s of the Desert”. Gallery Gonwana, Alice Springs, NT.
2005 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2005 “Utopia Revealed”, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA.
2005 Annual Group Exhibition ‘Shalom’, University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW
2006 Solo Exhibition, “Memorial Exhibition”, Gallery Savah, Sydney. NSW.
2006 “The Pwerle Sisters”, Group Exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2006 Annual Group Exhibition ‘Shalom’, University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW
2006 Group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto offices, Melbourne, VIC.
2007 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2007 “Standing on Ceremony”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
2007 “Utopia in New York” Robert Steele Gallery, New York. USA.
2007 Group Exhibition, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA.
2007 Annual Group Exhibition ‘Shalom’, University of NSW, Shalom Department, Kensington, NSW
2007 Group exhibition, “Desert Diversity”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
2007 “Treasures of the Spirit”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
2007 Annual group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
2007 “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
2008 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2008 “Utopia Revisited”, NG Art Gallery, Chippendale, NSW.
2008 “Atnwengerrp: Land of Dreaming”, Minnie Pwerle carpet launch, Designer Rugs Showroom, Edgecliff, NSW.
2009 "Utopia, Color’s of the Desert”, Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with Dacou, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea
2009 Group Exhibition Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW
2009 Dacou Australia - Sydney Art 2009, Sydney
2009 Group Exhibition - Dacou Broome, WA
2009 Gruop Exhibition - Dacou Melbourne, Vic
2010 Group Exhibition - Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW



COLLECTIONS

National Gallery of Victoria
Art Gallery of NSW
Queensland National Gallery
Art Gallery of South Australia
La Trobe University
Kelton Foundation
Kreglinger Collection
Thomas Vroom Collection
John McBride Collection
AMP Collection
Hank Ebes Collection
Fred Torres Collection
Artau Collection


 

Barbara Weir b between 1940- 1944

Barbara Weir has excited audiences all over the world with highly compelling abstract canvases that masterfully evoke a timeless illusion of depth and subtle rhythmic movement. It is an art that is as remarkable in its exquisite expression as is the story of her life. Her journey has been one of extraordinary courage, determination and achievement.

Barbara is one of Aboriginal Australia’s stolen generations. These were people who were forcibly taken from their parents as children and sent to other parts of the country to be raised in European families. This policy was pursued from the early 1900’s to the 1970’s, as part of the Australian government policy to integrate mixed race children from fringe settlements into mainstream Australian life. Barbara’s mother is Aboriginal artist Minnie Pwerle and her father, Irish-American Jack Weir, a married station owner in the Northern Territory.

Barbara’s career as an artist was inspired by the dynamic community of artists at Utopia and the work of her adopted auntie Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Emily’s work had a profound impact on her and in the early 1990’s she began seriously to explore her artistic talents. Highly experimental in her approach, she tried many mediums and in 1994 went to Indonesia with other artists to explore the art of batik. This gave her new insights into her own process and she returned full of ideas on how to develop her own style. She started working with her son Fred Torres (the owner and director of Dacou Aboriginal Gallery) who now manages her work. Initially her painting was largely figurative using traditional symbols such as circles, ‘u’ shapes, wavy lines and dotting to indicate her traditional Dreamtime story. Since then it has evolved to abstraction, a much more expressive and flexible form. Bush Berry, Grass Seed, Wild Flower and My Mother’s Country are her Dreamings. These are all associated with women’s ceremony (they refer to women’s body decoration for ceremony and the activity of food gathering of local seeds, grasses, berries, potato, plum, banana, flowers and yams).

Barbara uses two distinctive stylistic conventions, one linear, the other an all over dotting technique. For her Grass Seed Dreamings, it is linear (this story refers to the grass seed that is part of the bush tucker found in the region. Seed is collected, crushed to a fine powder and then used to make bread). With these paintings she combines both aerial and side-on view to describe dense fields of swaying grass in close focus. These are both diaphanous and mysterious in impact. Exquisite linear layers of finely painted filaments, they seem at once to be appearing and disappearing setting up pulsating rhythms which are further accentuated by soft plays of flowing colour that weaves gently into and over the canvas surface.

For My Mother’s Country Dreaming, Barbara creates a cosmic feel to her expression with finely executed dots in which float various amorphic shapes, that are more intensely worked. These shapes are the areas where she has over painted to conceal symbols of sacred story that are painted beneath and not meant to be seen. Such areas refer to secret abandoned campsites that people made as they trekked across the country in search of food, women’s coolamons used to collect fruit and berries and/or forms of women’s body that are adorned with paint for ceremony. Sometimes she incorporates the linear patterns to represent women’s body designs – stripes that are traditionally applied to breasts, arms and legs for ceremonies known as Awelye.

At the time of her abduction from her Utopia homelands, Pwerle’s country, some 270 kilometres north east of Alice Springs, Barbara had been under the custodianship of her grandmother Emily Kngwarreye. Emily is one of Australia’s most distinguished Aboriginal Artists. As is the tradition within some Aboriginal families, the grandmother takes personal care of a niece, teaches her natural law and helps in the process of growing up.

Knowing the government policy of the time, Emily hid Barbara from the European authorities, protecting her for over seven years. Barbara was finally discovered at the age of 9 and taken away by Native Welfare. She was then fostered out to various families, first to one in Alice Springs, then Victoria and then one in Darwin. Her family thought she had been killed and over the subsequent ten or so years of estrangement, Barbara had no contact with her parents or family.

Barbara was born at Bundy River Station in 1940 in the Utopia region which occupies some 1,800 square kilometres. Her country is Atnwengerrrp and her language is Anmatyere and Alyawarre. Her tribal country is barren red desert with an unrelenting flatness broken only by occasional rocky outcrops. Its harsh arid climate has a low rainfall and long hot summers where maximum temperatures often exceed 40 degrees Celsius. The winter nights are cold with frost occurring from late April to early September. The change of seasons is virtually non-existent and marked only by the stunning appearance of bright wild flowers and fruits that brighten the soft yellows, browns and greens of the spiky Spinifex grasses, the stumpy olive mulga trees and scattered bush scrub.

In 1977 with 6 children Barbara returned permanently as a single mother to Utopia. Her marriage had broken down. She had long wanted to re-establish her links to her indigenous family and this was the time of her homecoming. Prior to this she had been returning to Utopia each year for a short period while her husband worked on outback stations. Acceptance by her family didn’t come easily. She had lived totally outside Aboriginal culture during her time away and didn’t know the indigenous languages and the culture.

She says: “My people didn’t recognise me when I went back”. She was initially treated with some reserve by her mother Minnie Pwerle. Her mother’s other three children were not aware they had a half-sister. Her grandmother however came to her aid and through her influence and love helped her successful integration. She says: “It was lucky Aunty Emily was still around because I would not have stayed otherwise.” Today Barbara speaks the two languages of her people and understands her culture and her Dreamings (tribal law allows her to take these from her mother). She lives close to her family and has earned their respect as an older member of the community. Her traditional life, like that of her family is an all encompassing spiritual path and way of living based on complex relationships between people and spirit ancestors, animals and the land. (Aboriginal people gain their identity from the area of land where they were born – referred to as their ‘country’. The land nurtures them and in return they are given sacred responsibilities in regard to ceremony associated with protecting and invigorating the land).

Traditionally it is believed that during ‘Creation’, spirit beings travelled over the land creating the landforms, lakes and rivers of the natural environment. When this work was over they then took the form of rocks, waterholes and rivers which today are acknowledged in Aboriginal law as places of spiritual significance. It is this spiritually significant history of landscape that Aboriginal people learn from childhood. Other fundamental relationships of importance are those of their extended family. Their clan and ‘skin’ groups are established by religious law and custom. This is the foundation of a very cohesive social system. Everyone has a place, a relationship with other members of the immediate and extended group and a duty to behave in particular ways in relation to each other. They have defined rights and obligations which much be observed. It is this discipline of traditional life that ensures the continuity of tradition. The emphasis is essentially on community rather than the individual.

In the 1970’s Barbara played a major role in a successful land rights claim in Utopia and in 1985 was honoured for her work by being made the first woman president of Urapuntja Council. She has a home in Adelaide, a studio residence in Alice Springs and divides her time between these places and regular visits to Utopia where she does painting workshops in a bush studio with her family members. These are run very informally by her son and usually extend from 2 days to 2 weeks in duration. Aunts, sisters, nieces and children attend.

The breakthrough in Barbara’s career came with an overseas visit to Paris and Switzerland in 1996 where at the request of a European collector she was asked to run some workshops. Her work created during that time was overwhelmingly popular with local collectors and immediately sold. With confidence riding high since then, she has been in great demand doing successful exhibitions in Australia and travelling back again to Europe and further afield to Japan, the United States, Mexico and Fiji.

Barbara’s first solo show was ‘Dreamworks’, launched in 1999 in Sydney’s Gallery Savah. This was a sell-out success receiving national press acclaim with a full page article in The Australian newspaper on her work. Her second show in 2000 was featured in the 30 minute Discovery Channel documentary “Utopia Revisited’. Today, Barbara travels widely while producing work for a constant stream of exhibitions for different states of Australia. Always pushing the boundaries, she enjoys nothing more that experimenting with new mediums and new forms of patterning. Artistically she is committed to continually seeking new ways to illustrate her Aboriginal heritage.

Barbara’s work is represented in numerous private collections in Australia and overseas. Her work is in the public collections of Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Art Galley of Queensland, Brisbane, the Hitachi, AMP and the Macquarie Bank Collections. She is now one of the five featured artists in the Australian Tourist Commissions new multi- million dollar overseas television campaign.

Marie Geissler

EXHIBITIONS

1995 Group Exhibition,  DACOU Gallery, Adelaide
1995 Group Exhibition,  Davis Avenue Gallery, Melbourne
1996 Combined exhibition at “Framed”, Darwin
1996 Combined exhibition at Gallery Woo Mang and Partners, Paris, France
1996 Combined exhibition at Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
1996 Combined exhibition at Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
November 1996 Solo exhibition at Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland
January 1997 Combined exhibition at Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney NSW
Combined exhibition at DACOU Gallery in Adelaide
Participation in “Dreamings of the Desert” artist in residence program for the Art Gallery of South Australia
Combined exhibition at Hogarth Gallery in Sydney
Yearly Solo exhibition Aboriginial Gallery of Dreamings
March 1997 Solo exhibition at DACOU Gallery in Adelaide
Combined exhibition at Flinders Lane Gallery in Melbourne
June 1997 Combined exhibition “Ten Years On”, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
July 1997 Combined exhibition, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney,NSW
Aug1997 Selected entrant in the 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for 1997
Nov 1997 Solo exhibition, Barry Stern Gallery- Sydney
Dec 1997 Combined exhibition, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
Feb 1998 Combined exhibition, "Women Painters Of The Desert'  FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane.
March 1998 ARTEXPO New York in association with Mandurah Ltd New York.
May 1998 Combined exhibition "Utopia IV" Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney.
1998 Solo exhibition, Chapman Gallery, Canberra.
June 1998 Combined exhibition- SCECGS Redlands- Sydney
Aug 1998 Selected entrant for the 15th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for 1998
Sept 1998 Combined exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne
Dec 1998 Combined exhibition in The Adelaide Festival Theatre
1998 Exhibited extensively in Europe including: Art Felchlin- Zurich- Switzerland, Gallery Griffiouen- Belgium, Boomerang Gallery- Amsterdam, Kunsdcentoum Aalst- Belgium, Kunsdcentoum Dendermonde- Belgium, Frank Popko Gallery- Rees, Germany, Ebes Collection- Workum, Netherlands
1998 Jack Ellis exhibition - Seattle, USA.
Feb 1999 Combined exhibition- 'Utopia"- BMG Art- Adelaide
March 1999 Combined exhibition- "Bush Garden"- Japingka Gallery Fremantle.
May 1999 Combined exhibition -Utopia V- Quadrivium Gallery- Sydney
June 1999 Combined exhibition - "Caring For Country" Tandanya Cultural Institute- Adelaide
June 1999 Selected entrant in the 16th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
August 1999 Solo exhibition- Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne.
August 1999 Combined exhibition- Gallery Savah- Sydney
September 1999 Combined exhibition- North Shore Fine Art- Sydney.
November 1999 Solo exhibition 'Dream Works"- Gallery Savah- Sydney
February 2000 Combined exhibition - "An Affair to Remember" - ArtSauce - Singapore.
March 2000 Solo exhibition- "Gathering the Past"- Redback Art Gallery- Brisbane.
April 2000 Solo exhibition, “Discovery”, Gallery Savah- Sydney NSW
May 2000 Combined exhibition- Quadrivium Gallery- Sydney NSW
May 2000 Combined exhibition- Tandanya Cultural Institute- Adelaide
June 2000 Combined exhibition, Gordes, Vaucluse, France
Sept 2000 DACOU in association with AMP-an official sponsor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, hosted an exhibition of
mixed Utopia art in the AMP building Sydney
Sept 2000 Combined exhibition at Mary Place Gallery- Sydney
Nov 2000 Selected entrant for the Redlands Westpac Art Prize-Mosman Art Gallery, NSW
Nov 2000 Combined exhibition- ‘Women’s Business” at The Australian Exhibition Centre- Chicago, USA.
Feb 2001 Combined exhibition- “Out of Utopia”- Chapman Gallery Canberra.
Feb 2001 Combined exhibition – Alison Kelly Gallery- Armadale VIC.
Feb 2001 Selected artist to be included in the prestigious YPO
Conference in Sydney, NSW organised by Tim Jennings from Mbantua Gallery- Alice Springs, NT.
May 2001 ‘Painting Country”- combined exhibition at Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
May 2001 “Desert Colour, My Country”- combined exhibition Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin, NT.
May 2001 ‘Women Artists of the Australian Desert”- combined
Exhibition at Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand
June 2001 “Two Women- Dreamings”- Dreamtime Gallery- Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA- exhibited with Gloria Petyarre.
Sept 2001 ‘2001 An Art Odyssey”- combined exhibition celebrating The Centenary of Federation. Exhibited in the West End: Adelaide’s Art Precinct.
October 2001 At the invitation of the Japanese museum Barbara attended the opening of ‘Nangara”- with all paintings being part of
The Ebes Collection.
February 2002 "Reunited" - Exhibited with mother, Minnie Pwerle at Alison Kelly Gallery, Armadale, Victoria.

April 2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition at Knut Grothe Galeri in
Charlottlenlund, Copenhagen.
April 2002 “Paintings From Utopia”- combined exhibition at ‘Framed- The Darwin Gallery”, Darwin, NT.

May 2002 Mixed Utopia exhibition at Galeri a Le Temps Du Reve France.
May 2002 ‘Contemporary Aboriginal Art From The Utopia Region”- combined exhibition at BMGART, Adelaide, SA.
July 2002 ‘Generations Utopia”- combined exhibition at Japingka Gallery, Perth, Western Australia.
August 2002 Selected entrant in the 2002, 19th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award.
August 2002 ‘A Collectable Aboriginal Art Event’- combined exhibition at Raintree Gallery, Darwin, NT.
October 2002 Solo exhibition at Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW.

2003, 2004 Group exhibitions, ‘Framed - The Darwin Gallery’ Darwin, NT.
2002, 2004 Solo exhibition at Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

2004, 05, 06 Group exhibitions, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

2005, 2006 Group Utopia exhibitions, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

2005, 06, 07 Group exhibition, University of NSW, Shalom
Department, Kensington, NSW.

May 2006 Solo exhibition, “Recent Paintings”, Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW.

July 2006 ‘Utopia’, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

Aug 2006 Group exhibition, APS Bendi Lango Art Exhibition, Rio Tinto Offices, Melbourne, VIC.

1997 – 2007 Permanent exhibition DACOU, Adelaide, SA.

January 2007 Group exhibition, Robert Steele Gallery, NY, USA.

Feb 2007 “Standing on Ceremony”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
June 2007 Utopia exhibition, Robert Steele Gallery, NY, USA.

July 2007 Group exhibition, Australian Embassy, Washington, USA.


July 2007 Group exhibition, “Desert Diversity”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.

Aug 2007 Group exhibition, “Treasures of the Spirit – Investing in Aboriginal Art”, Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide, SA.
Sept 2007 Group exhibition, Annual APS Bendi Lango Art
Exhibition with Rio Tinto, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane,
QLD.

Oct 2007 “Best of the Best”, group exhibition, Gallery Framed, Darwin, NT.

Oct 2007 Solo exhibition, “Blowing in the Wind”, Artmob, Hobart, TAS.
Oct 2007 “New Works from Utopia”, Space Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, USA.
Feb 2008 “Utopia Revisited”, NG Art Gallery, Chippendale, NSW.
April 2008 Group exhibition, “Utopia Discoveries”, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
May-Oct 2008 Group travelling exhibition to capital cities of Australia, “EWB Elements”, presented by Dacou in conjunction with Dreamtime Art.
June 2008 “Blue: A Group Exhibition”, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
July 2008 “Walking Together to Aid Aboriginal Health”, Shalom Gamarada Aboriginal Art Exhibition, University of NSW, Kensington, NSW.
Oct 2008 Solo Exhibition, Gecko Gallery, Broome, WA.
Jan 2009 “Utopia, Color’s of the Desert”, Gongpyeong Art Space in conjunction with Dacou, Australian Embassy in Korea & Crossbay Gallery, Seoul, Korea.
Feb-April 2009 Solo exhibition, Janet Holmes Á Court Gallery, Perth, WA.
May 2009 My Country’, solo exhibition, Dacou Gallery Melbourne, Middle Park, VIC.
June 2009 Group exhibition, Dacou Broome, Broome WA
Aug 2009 Yalari Fundraising Auction, Sydney
Aug 2009 Canvas in Concert, Westminster School, Marion, SA
Sept 2009 , solo exhibition , Moriah College, Sydney, NSW
Sept 2009 Gallery Savah, Sydney, NSW

COLLECTIONS

The Art Gallery of South Australia
Queensland College of Art Griffith University
Ebes Collection-Workum, Netherlands
The University Of Adelaide
AMP Collection
Fred Torres Collection
Artau Collection