Dreaming in Color: Aboriginal Art from Balgo

Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 30.04.07

Dreaming in Color: Aboriginal Art from Balgo is a breathtaking exhibition of paintings from
the community of Balgo, Australia, the traditional land of the Kukatja, Ngarti, and Walmajarri
peoples. Brilliant in color and vibrant in design, the paintings reflect traditional Aboriginal tenets
relating to food, homeland, women’s law, and dreaming ceremonies. This exhibit is on loan
from the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia, with additional
selections from the Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica.

The stunning collection of paintings comes from the remote Aboriginal community of Balgo,
located in Western Australia, which lies between the Tanami and Great Sandy Deserts. Out of
the harsh conditions of this landscape, where temperatures reach well past 100 degrees
Fahrenheit in the summer, has arisen one of the world’s most innovative painting styles.
Paintings from Balgo are vibrant, stimulating, and include bold colors of cobalt blues, pinks,
and reds in stunning patterns of lines, shapes, and dots.

Dreaming in Color is organized around fives themes common to Aboriginal Art of the desert
region, including “Women’s Law,” focusing on women’s rituals and images inspired by body
paint designs; “Men’s Law,” which involves stories of the Tingari and Wati Kutjarra ancestors;
“My Country,” a term used to describe the place of one’s conception or birth; and “Formation
of Landscape,” tales of how ancestral beings created the earth.

Dreaming in Color will be on view at the Craft and Folk Art Museum from April 29 through
August 12, 2007. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, April 28, 2007 from 6pm
– 8pm at the Museum. A lecture on Aboriginal Art by historians Kerry Smallwood and Richard
Kelton will take place on Sunday, May 6 at 3pm at the Museum.

About The Craft and Folk Art Museum
The Craft and Folk Art Museum (CAFAM) is a Los Angeles nonprofit cultural arts organization
dedicated to the public presentation and preservation of folk arts and contemporary craft.
Founded in 1965 as “The Egg and The Eye” by the late Edith Wyle, who passionately promoted
traditional artisans and the virtue of handmade art, the Museum opened in 1973. As a local
Museum with global reach, CAFAM seeks to promote international goodwill and global
understanding among its citizens.

***Images available upon request***
Craft and Folk Art Museum
5814 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90036
Information
Tel. 323-937-4230
www.cafam.org

URL: http://www.cafam.org

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