Gracie
Morton Pwerle aka Gracie Morton Pwerl
Biography
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Ancient culture of 60,000 years gave the World its most
exciting Contemporary Art
Gracie
Morton Pwerle (aka Gracie Morton Pwerl)
was born
circa 1956 in
Utopia, Australian Northern
Territory.
Gracie
is the daughter of Utopia artist Myrtle
Petyarre and the sister of famous artists Gloria
Petyarre and Kathleen Petyarre.
Language Group: Alyawarre.
Biography:
Aboriginal Artists dictionary of
biographies.
Gracie Morton distinctively minimalistic style is
recognized as
one of the World’s best
modern
state-of-the-art
abstract.
Gracie uses
microscopically tiny dot technique,
creates inspiring
almost hypnotic artworks, painting with
fascinating accuracy of intricate details.
Gracie Morton
is
a
successful
artist in
the
World Art Market,
her paintings
have
the sheer physical presence of the much contemporary work of art, and
multi-dimensional space and depth.
Gracie Morton
Pwerle
career began in the 1970's.
The
finesse of Gracie
work has the physical presence of the much
contemporary work of art.
Gracie Morton
work is represented
throughout Australia and around the world.
Gracie Morton
work has the physical presence of the much
contemporary work of art.
There is a rich artistic tradition
that runs in Gracie’s family and she is related to a string of well
respected artists.
Gracie
mother is sister to Gloria, Kathleen, Violet, Mrytle and Ada
Bird Petyarre, all well established artists.
Gracie
sisters Mary, Rita and
Elizabeth also paint. Gracie Morton is
the daughter of artist Myrtle Petyarre.
Gracie Morton
creates inspiring, modern paintings with fascinating
accuracy of intricate details, subtle shades of colour that
moves with the viewer’s eyes and floats in air and have the
physical presence of the much contemporary work of art.
The finesse of Gracie's style creates a wonderful lyricism in her works.
Gracie style of painting is
distinctively minimalist she uses a very delicate dotting
technique.
COLLECTIONS
Art Gallery of South Australia
(Adelaide)
Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane)
National Gallery of Australia
(Canberra)
Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory (Darwin),
Art Bank (Sydney)
National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne)
Art Gallery of Western Australia
(Perth)
Homes
a
Court Gallery and gallery
Collection (Perth)
Beher-Sammlung Privatsammlungen
Reimers-Stiftung
Slaughter and May International Law in
London
Gracie Pwerl Morton is one of the
senior traditional custodian for both the Altyerre (Dreaming)
and the vast expanse of related country, some 263kms north of Alice
Springs, Australia.
In accordance to traditional law the
responsibility for the Bush Plum Dreaming has been passed
down to Gracie from her father and her aunt, who are
responsible for ensuring that she perseveres its traditions.
An Alyawarre woman from
Utopia Station, approximately 250km north-east of Alice
Springs, Gracie's works are represented in major private
collections such as The Robert Holmes a Court Collection in
Western Australia.
She exhibits regularly in Australia, more
recently in a solo show titled 'Mosquito Bore - The Art of
the Minimalist' at Ancient Earth Indigenous Art Gallery in
Cairns and in a group exhibition at the Alliance Francaise
de Canberra and French Embassy in Canberra.
Gracie Pwerle Morton career began in the 1970's
with the Utopia Women's Batik Group and on canvas in the late 1980's. Her work has been
well received in galleries throughout Australia and around the world.
Gracie
works with great strength and
dynamism of the Utopian women artists that continues across the
generations. Gracie's delicate dotting and colour variation uses an
aerial perspective to portray the seasonal changes of the Amwekety - the
Bush Plum, a plant of great significance to the women of Gracie's
traditional country, Mosquito Bore.
Gracie Morton style of painting is distinctively minimalist
and she uses
a very delicate dotting technique and traditional colors. Her signature
theme is the "bush plum" stories known to the Alyawarre as Arnwekety. Gracie work, first
featured in the important Robert Holmes à Court
Collection, is now in many important private and public collections around the world.
Gracie style of painting is distinctively minimalist and she uses a very
delicate dotting technique, her
career began in the 1970's with the
Utopia Women's Batik Group and on canvas in the late 1980's

Selected Major
Exhibitions
2000
Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns, Australia Group
Exhibitions:
1985
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1986
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1989
Utopia Women's Paintings. The First Works on Canvas. A
Summer Project, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia
1989-91 Utopia - A Picture Story, Tandanya National
Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australia; The
Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Cork, Limerick,
Ireland; Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne, Australia
1991
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1991
8th National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum & Art Gallery
of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia
1992
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1993
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1994
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1996
Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs,
Australia
1998
Utopia und Balgo Hills, Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr,
Speyer, Germany
1998
Culture Store, Art Gallery, Rotterdam. Netherlands
1998
Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florenz, Italy
1999
Alliance Francaise de Canberra and French Embassy.
Australia
1999
Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Australia
1999
Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, Australia
1999
My Country - Journey of our Ancestors, Ancient Earth
Indigenous Art, Cairns
2000
Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Germany
2000
Mosquito Bore - The Art of the Minimalist, Ancient Earth
Indigenous Art,Australia
2001
alice.fitzroy@af, Alliance Francaise de Canberra ,
Canberra, Australia
2001
The Unseen in Scene, Staedtische Galerie Wolfsburg,
Germany
2001-02 Recounting the Essence of Life. Art from
Australia, Kunstforum HDZ, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany
2002
Land is Life. Art from Australia, Jagdschloss Granitz,
Binz, Ruegen, Germany
2002
Kult(o)urnacht, Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer,
Germany.
Gracie Pwerle
Morton - Bush Plum
The delightfully subtle paintings of the Amwekety - the Bush
Plum, depict the changing seasonal influences on a plant that is of the
greatest significance to the Alyawrre women of the Eastern Desert region
of the Northern Territory.
Gracie Morton Pwerle (aka
Gracie Morton Pwerl)
is one of the senior traditional custodian for both
the Altyerre (Dreaming) and the vast expanse of related country, some 263kms north of Alice Springs, Australia.
In
accordance to traditional law the responsibility for the Bush Plum
Dreaming has been passed down to Gracie from her father and her aunt,
who are responsible for ensuring that she perseveres its traditions.
Bush Plum highly nutritious
are small fruit with black seeds, rich
in vitamin C, that can be eaten raw or cooked. Growing in a great
profusion of flower and fruit throughout the winter months, the women,
accompanied by the children collect the Bush Plums, while at the same
time reconfirming their connection to the land.
The flourish of colour that distinguishes the Bush Plum after the fall
of rain, is quickly transformed with the long hot summer months.
Dried
and separated, the seed and husk are scatter over the vast sunbaked
landscape by the hot summer winds.
The incredible finesse of Gracie’s
style creates a wonderful lyricism in her works, causing a
three-dimensionality that pulls at the eye guiding the viewer through
the soft, outward-reaching fields of colour, while simultaneously
transfixing one in its undulations.
Literature Source
& FURTHER REFERENCES

Aboriginal
Artists
dictionary of biographies Central Desert,
Western Desert &
Kimberley Rigion by
Kreczmanski, Janusz B and Birnberg, Margo JB Publishing Australia,
Marleston, 2004)
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
Bibliography and
PUBLICATIONS: Das Verborgene im
Sichtbaren. The Unseen in Scene. Aboriginal Art Galerie
Bähr, Speyer, ;
Utopia - A Picture Story: 88 Works on Silk. The Robert
Holmes à Court Collection. Brody, A. (Hrsg.), Aboriginal
Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide 1989 ; Utopia Women's Paintings: The
First Works on Canvas. A Summer Project 1988-89.
Brody, A. (Hrsg.), Heytesbury Holdings, Perth 1989.
Aboriginal
Artists of the Western Desert - A Biographical Dictionary" by Vivien
Johnson, published by Craftsman House 1994
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.
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