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Anna Petyarre
Biography
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Anna Petyarre is a significant Australian Aboriginal artist from Utopia, her
innovative painting techniques are considered as some of the finest skills.
Anna is well-known for her artistic attention to detail in the complex
and interwoven designs that she so carefully structures, aimed at expressing her
traditional Anmatyerre culture.
Anna’s paintings have been exhibited extensively throughout
Australia and around the world.
Anna Petyarre is
the
daughter of the late Glory Ngarla and
Emily
Kngwarreye
(1910-1996)
niece.
Anna
was the second wife of Colin Price Kemarre (deceased 2004). Anna's
mother is Glory Ngale (deceased 2002) known for her batik work and a well-respected
artist at Utopia. Anna also worked with the Utopia
Batik group.
Anna is from the famous Petyarre family: Gloria Petyarre and many of her aunts
are among the best known artists from Utopia. Anna has perfected the use of
black and white fine dot work, in a series of paintings about the landscape of
her ancestral country.
Anna Petyarre has been painting since very young age with her mother, the late
Glory Ngale who was her first role model. Anna Petyarre is related to famous
senior artists Emily Kame Kngwarreye and Kudditji Kngwarreye through her
grandfather, who was a brother of Emily and Kudditji’s father. Anna Petyarre is
a grandmother with five grandchildren.
Anna Petyarre
biography is on
page 315:
Aboriginal Artists
CENTRAL DESERT
WESTERN DESERT
KIMBERLEY REGION
by Janusz Kreczmarski
The main subjects for Anna Petyarre work include Bush Yam and Yam Seed
Dreamings, both of which belong to her grandfather’s and father’s country at
Atneltyeye.
From her own role as a traditional Aboriginal woman involved in ceremonies, Anna
Pertyarre also paints Awelye, or ceremonial body paint design, associated with
women’s ceremony.
Recent works have depicted ancestral country, marking the locations of Sandhill,
Bush Medicine and bush country, river flood plains and sometimes waterholes and
ceremonial sites.
Anna Petyarre was born on the Utopia homelands in 1960 and her language group is
eastern Anmatyerre. She lives at Atneltyeye, or Boundary Bore and in Alice
Springs.
Utopia is in the region of Central Australia to the east of Alice Springs, part
of Australia where the rivers don’t run towards the coast. They run into the
heart of the desert, and ultimately, if they flow, they flow into Lake Eyre, or
Kati Thanda in the local language. These rivers are the classic upside-down
rivers of the desert, filled with sand from bank to bank, and underneath there
is water throughout the dry season.
Selected Exhibitions
exhibitions:
1996 Utopia Dreaming, Soho Gallery, Sydney
1997 Dacou Gallery, Adelaide
1997 Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
1998 Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney
1998 Selected entrant for the 15th National Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Arts Award, Darwin
1999 Tandanya, Adelaide
1999 BMG Art, Adelaide
2000 Tandanya, Adelaide
2000 Dacou (in association with AMP), Mary Place Gallery, Sydney
2001 Women’s Business, Australian Exhibition Centre, Chicago, USA
2001 Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2001 Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin
2002 Galerie Le Temps du Reve, France
2002 Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2002 Glen Eira City Gallery, Melbourne
2002 ‘Generations’ Japingka Gallery, WA
2002 USA exhibitions: New City Merchants, Knoxville,
TN; Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN
2002
The Cove Gallery' Portland, Urban Wine Works, Portland, Mary's
Woods, Portland
2003 ‘Heart and Soul’, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
2003 USA exhibitions: New City Merchants, Knoxville,
TN; Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, TN
2003 'The Cove Gallery' Portland, OR; Mary's Woods, Portland
2003 Art from the Dreamtime, Portland Art Museum, Portland
USA
2004 USA exhibition; Portland, Nashville, Knoxville,
Hartford, Greenwich, New York, Philadelphia
2005 Yam Dreaming, Atnwelarre, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs,
NT
2005 ‘Small Wonders’, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT
2008 Three Petyarres, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney, NSW
2008 Utopia Collection2, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2010 Summer Collection, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2011 In Black and White, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Desert Gold, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2014 Desert Song, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2015 Sixteen Artists, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2017 Intricate Expressions, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney NSW
AWARDS:
1998
finalist the 15th National Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Arts Award, Darwin
COLLECTIONS:
Art Bank Sydney
Department of Archaeology and
Anthropology UK
Richard Kelton Foundation Santa Monica
Lowe Art
Museum University of Miami
Art Gallery of South Australia
Powerhouse Museum
Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory
Homes
a Court Collection Perth
Art Gallery of Western Australia,
Queensland Art Gallery,
Kerry Stokes
collection Perth
Berndt
Museum
of Anthropology Perth
private and corporate collections USA, Singapore,
Ireland, India,
Poland, Denmark, France
Anna is a talented artist and also paints ‘Yam”, ‘Wildflower”, ‘Emu’
‘Wild Potato” and ‘Campsite Dreaming.
Her country is Alhalkere and her language
is Anmatyerre.
DACOU regards
Anna as establish artist on the rise who makes her mark in the
world of Utopia art. Anna resides at Mulga Bore Utopia
Australian Northern Territory
approximately 220 km from Alice Springs. This is the place where she
currently paints. Anna has painted on and off since early childhood.
Anna Petyarre (Pitjara) commenced full-time painting in the early 1980s when the
medium of canvas and acrylic paints was introduced to the community of
Utopia. Prior to painting she produced batik. Her main Dreamings, which
she depicts in her paintings are: Yam, Wild Potato, Wildflowers, Emu and
Campsite. Anna Petyarre often use bright colours with minimal
dotting also she has a technique of intricate dot work,
with small blocks of colour.
Anna speaks Anmatjere and is
fluent in English. Anna essentially paints the Bush Yam. This is the
dreaming of her grandfather and father's country. She also paints some
body painting and women's ceremony as well. She paints on a whole range
of canvas sizes and also paints on to ancient Aboriginal utensils such
as the wira and
coolamon. These utensils are used for carrying water,
fruit, berries and even babies through the bush. Anna has other
dreamings as well but she does not paint them. Under the careful
guidance of Gloria Petyarre, Anna began to paint her own work. Over the
last few years, Anna has been learning further skills from the Women
painters in Utopia. Anna actively takes part in ceremonies and paints
the bodies of the dancers prior to the commencement of each ceremony.
She takes the utmost care and pride in her work and endeavors to bring
the sensitivity of her culture to canvas. Anna Petyarre has been
painting for the Michael Hollow Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery - Alice
Springs - Melbourne - Sydney since 1997.
Source
& FURTHER
REFERENCES
Australian Aboriginal Artist dictionary of biographies
Kreczmanski, Janusz B and Birnberg, Margo (eds.): Aboriginal Artists: Dictionary
of Biographies: Central Desert, Western Desert and Kimberley Region JB
Publishing Australia, Marleston, 2004.
Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert - A Biographical Dictionary by Vivien
Johnson, published by Craftsman House 1994
The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture edited by Sylvia Kleinert and
Margo Neale published by OUP 2000
Aboriginal Artists: Dictionary of Biographies: Central Desert, Western Desert &
Kimberley Region JB Publishing Australia, Marleston, 2004
Brody, A. 1989 Utopia women’s Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A summer
Project, 1988-89 exhib. Cat. Heytesbury Holdings, Perth Brody
A. 1990 Utopia, a picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Homes a Court
Gallery and gallery Collection, Heytesbury Holdings LTD Perth NATSIVAD database,
Latz, P. 1995, Bushfires & Bushtucker, IAD Press, Alice Springs
Brody, A. 1989 Utopia women’s Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A summer
Project 1988-89 exhib. Cat. Heytesbury Holdings, Perth Brody
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