2014
January, 2014
Jeremy Eccles
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 01.01.14
Jeremy Eccles has written for the Aboriginal Art Directory since its inception and loves the opportunity to share his experience of the Indigenous cultural world with its dedicated audience. A migrant from Margaret Thatcher's Britain, Jeremy first encountered Australia's Aborigines...» Read More
Contributing Writers
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 01.01.14
The Aboriginal Art Directory invites contributors which to date have included Ralph Hobbs, Susan McCulloch, Adrian Newstead, Nicholas Forrest, Larissa Behrendt, Frannie Hopkirk and Greg Weight....» Read More
Reclamation exhibition launched as a part of the Wominjeka Festival
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 10.01.14
The works of Dennis Thorpe, John Winch, Steve Verde, and Terry Atkinson will be on show in the Reclamation exhibition from January 11–24 at the Footscray Community Art Centre, as part of Wominjeka 2014, a festival of contemporary Indigenous arts...» Read More
'TOURIST TAT' IN HOBART
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 13.01.14
Back in September, I responded to some depressingly bad critical reviews of the Indigenous content in the big Australia show at the Royal Academy in London. My blunt heading then was 'Crap Criticism in London'. Coincidentally, the Hobart art gallery...» Read More
WA Indigenous Art Award People’s Choice Winner
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 15.01.14
Brian Robinson, from Waiben (Thursday Island), Queensland, is on a winning streak, taking out the People’s Choice Award of $5,000 in the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2013, with Ray Ken and Minyawe Miller being awarded second and third place...» Read More
Summer Collector's Exhibition at McCulloch's
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 15.01.14
Some seriously lovely offerings at McCulloch's Summer Collector's Exhibition opening this Friday evening, January 17 from 5.30pm. Attending will be Mornington Peninsula Indigenous artists, as well as the directors and manager from the Baluk Arts Centre manager . If you...» Read More
GUDIRR GUDIRR/GOOD GOOD
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 16.01.14
This solo work of dance theatre from Broome brought back such happy memories of the first appearance of a confident Josie/Ningali Lawford from The Kimberley in 1997, I was almost as blissed-out as performer/creator Dalisa Pigram was at the end...» Read More
BRIAN ROBINSON WINS ANOTHER WA AWARD
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 16.01.14
Brian Robinson from Waiben (Thursday Island) in the Torres Strait, has won the People’s Choice Award of $5,000 in the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards 2013. He received the highest number of votes from the public; Anangu man, Ray Ken...» Read More
UTOPIA?
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 22.01.14
The persistent, heart-on-his-sleeve John Pilger is back again with, I think, his third film on Australia's total failure to achieve a solution to “the Aboriginal problem”. From the era of disease and massacre via assimilation times to The Intervention, both...» Read More
February, 2014
THE SHADOW KING/LEAR
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 03.02.14
An ebullient black King Lear in a white suit arrives regally on high and breaks into a “We have survived” rap. Where are we? In Joan Littlewood's Stratford East? Barrie Kosky's Berlin? Or Michael Kantor's Malthouse Melbourne? In fact, the...» Read More
Letter from Pittsburgh: Aboriginal art in America
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 04.02.14
The following article originally appeared in the January/February 2013 issue of Art Guide Australia (link below). The author is Henry F Skerritt. Reproduced with permission. In his recent compendium, How Aborigines Invented the Idea of Contemporary Art, Ian McLean observes...» Read More
THE DEALER IS THE DEVIL
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 13.02.14
Adrian Newstead is probably uniquely qualified to write a history of that contentious business, the market for Australian Aboriginal art. He may once have planned to be an agricultural scientist, but then he mutated into a craft shop owner, Aboriginal...» Read More
The Marvellous Frannie Hopkirk joins the Aboriginal Art Directory
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 16.02.14
We are delighted to announce that Frannie Hopkirk has joined the Aboriginal Art Directory as a Feature Writer for our News. For those who don't know, Frannie is from one of Australia's most pre-eminent art families, the Whiteley's - she...» Read More
The Shock of the Old
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 17.02.14
Arabs believe that the soul can travel at the rate of a trotting camel. From that one can imagine that the souls of millennia of aboriginal nomads, roving the desert, restless, ever-moving, searching, working, contemplating their existence, drawing their Dreaming...» Read More
March, 2014
MT BUNDY STATEMENT
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 03.03.14
The body that represents Aboriginal art centres in the far North - ANKAAA – is being as dynamic as ever. I've reported before on its collaborative efforts to train up Indigenous arts workers by arranging courses and work experience that...» Read More
Prodigy at Eighty - The Miracle of Emily
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 05.03.14
Emily Kame Kngwarreye. Diversity in the Desert. It has been said that her work “enabled the flowering of a whole new generation of Aboriginal artists”. My first experience of Emily was at Alice Springs airport about 20 years ago. Wandering...» Read More
SOL AND EMILY
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 05.03.14
People have been trying to force Emily Kngwarreye's art into baskets familiar to Western art aficionados for years – Abstract Expressionism being the favourite. And then along comes Sol LeWitt, the inventor of the term 'conceptual art' – which has...» Read More
MAGNT focuses on contemporary Australian art with string theory
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 05.03.14
An exhibition that brings together Aboriginal artists who work with expanded notions of textile and craft-based tradition will open at the Museum and Art Gallery of the NT (MAGNT) this Saturday. MAGNT Director, Pierre Arpin said string theory: Focus on...» Read More
EXCITING TIMES AT MAGNT
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 09.03.14
Two significant developments have taken place in Darwin which will hopefully begin the process of re-establishing the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (the NATSIAAs) as the pre-eminent art event in Indigenous Australia. Probably the most important is...» Read More
The courage of a few, and the backing of the Nation
Posted by | 10.03.14
Introduction by the Aboriginal Art Directory In a recent interview, Uncle Max, head of Culture is Life said, "Strengthening Indigenous youth back to the land and culture gives [Aboriginals] a sense of connectedness to self, land and spirit". It has...» Read More
Aboriginal Art from the Eastern APY Lands (South Australia) tours Germany in 2014
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 10.03.14
From March to September 2014 ARTKELCH, the leading gallery for Contemporary Aboriginal Fine Art in Germany, presents artists from South Australia´s Eastern APY Lands in their yearly touring exhibition PRO COMMUNITY. PRO COMMUNITY is an exhibition format developed and organized...» Read More
Painting is the Skin of the World
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 31.03.14
“Painting is the Skin of the World.” Robert Motherwell Turkey Tolson Tjupurrula said: “When you sit down without a painting, you are lonely”. These simple words from two giants of art speak volumes of what painting meant to them. Motherwell,...» Read More
April, 2014
TIWI PANTO
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.04.14
It's taken a while to get all of its act together, but the world's first Tiwi Island pantomime is off and touring the country currently. 'Wulamanayuwi and the Seven Pamanui' – a Melville Island-mouthful version of Snow White and the...» Read More
TRAGIC CONFRONTATION IN THE DESERT
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.04.14
Anyone reading the usually-reliable Nicolas Rothwell in The Australian newspaper a couple of weekends ago (The Review 22/23 March) in a major essay entitled 'Culture War', would have come away convinced that an exhibition designed to reveal the extent of...» Read More
PATRON/ COLLECTOR = THE FUTURE
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 15.04.14
I had arranged to meet Pat Corrigan – Art Collector and Patron, especially of Aboriginal art, at the Art Gallery of NSW at 5 o'clock for a glass of wine and a chat. He was already there when I arrived...» Read More
ABORIGINAL ARTIST WINS BIG BULGARI PRIZE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 17.04.14
Anyone who bought a painting by Daniel Boyd (via the Ros Oxley9 Gallery) will have had their taste and wisdom confirmed by this week's announcement that he's taken out the third Bulgari Art Award worth $80,000, and delivered his stunning...» Read More
Djilpin Arts to stream live on YouTube
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 22.04.14
Djilpin Arts, with host Tom E Lewis, is set to stream live in the first ever YouTube screening by an indigenous community. Located in the remote community of Beswick (Wugularr) on the south-west border of Arnhem Land, Djilpin Arts will...» Read More
Danie Mellor: Exotic Lies Sacred Ties
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 24.04.14
A decade of artwork by leading contemporary Indigenous artist Danie Mellor is the focus of a major survey exhibition opening at TarraWarra Museum of Art on May 10, on tour from The University of Queensland Art Museum. The exhibition brings...» Read More
Desert Song and the Pike Family
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 24.04.14
There are two very worthwhile exhibitions on in the West right now, and if you're not able to make it the good folks there have also reproduced these exhibitions online: Desert Song and the Pike Family. The first exhibition, Desert...» Read More
Entries now open for the Victorian Indigenous Art Awards
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 26.04.14
The Victorian Indigenous Art Awards (VIAA) celebrate the quality and diversity of art practice among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and the richness of Victoria's Indigenous arts and culture. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists are invited to submit...» Read More
27TH MERREPEN ARTS & CULTURAL FESTIVAL
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 29.04.14
The Daly River community (Nauiyu), 240 kilometres south-west of Darwin, celebrates the 27th Merrepen Arts and Culture Festival from Friday 30 May to Sunday 1 June, with a weekend of traditional and contemporary performance, colourful designs, fashion and fabrics, art...» Read More
May, 2014
Monstrous figures in Arnhem Land
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 04.05.14
There's some impressive writing going on at The Conversation at present - and that's not only from the contributors, check out the feedback as well. The following is an excerpt from Christine Nicholls' latest, Monstrous figures in Arnhem Land, the...» Read More
DANIE MELLOR'S YEAR
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 09.05.14
We recently reported here on a major solo show for Danie Mellor – Exotic Lies, Sacred Ties - touring from Brisbane to the TarraWarra Museum of Art in the Yarra Valley – where it opens this weekend - and from...» Read More
CAIRNS HEADS THE PACK
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 12.05.14
Winter in Australia may well make tourists dream only of skiing in the Snowy Mountains. But in 2014, art is throwing up a fair challenge to the world of goggles, gloves and gluwein, with three major events in three different...» Read More
Man on Fire: the Art of Tim Storrier and Other Desert Masters
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 20.05.14
Polarities between Australia’s artists and painters, black or white, achieve compatibility and oneness of intent when they collectively embrace the one big thing about this country – THE DESERT. Storrier, Nolan, Drysdale etc. ‘white’ painters; Paddy Bedford, Tommy Watson, Emily...» Read More
Djilpin Arts Arrives at Melbourne's Federation Square
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 22.05.14
Walk with Us: Djilpin Arts, the Northern Territory’s globally recognised Aboriginal Corporation located at the remote Beswick (Wugularr) community on the south-west border of Arnhem Land, brings a rich and ancient tapestry of indigenous culture to Federation Square in Melbourne...» Read More
Tali Gallery gives Sydney's International Grammar School Helping Hand
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 22.05.14
The co-educational secular school in Ultimo (Sydney), International Grammar School (IGS), is hosting an Indigenous art exhibition to benefit Sydney’s Indigenous community through the school’s Indigenous Scholarship Program. The event, being organised in partnership with Sydney's Tali Gallery, will also...» Read More
Wayne Quilliam at NZ Photography Festival
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 27.05.14
One of Australia's most respected Aboriginal photographers, Wayne Quilliam, will deliver a keynote address at the prestigious Auckland Festival of Photography on Saturday 31st of May. Quilliam's expertise in contemporary visualisation of Indigenous Australians has seen him create and curate...» Read More
Sydney Film Festival to Premier Black Panther Woman and The Redfern Story
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 28.05.14
Sydney Film Festival, in partnership with Screen Australia's Indigenous Department (Screen Black), will premier documentary films by two Indigenous directors, Rachel Perkins and Darlene Johnson. Rachel Perkins, who founded Blackfella Films in the 1990's, directed Black Panther Woman, the story...» Read More
Bowness Photography Prize Open
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 31.05.14
An initiative of the Monash Gallery of Art Foundation, the William and Winifred Bowness Photography Prize, established in 2006 to promote excellence in photography, is one of the country's most open prizes for photography. It carries with it a $25,000...» Read More
Applications Open - Accelerate Program for Future ATSI Leaders
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 31.05.14
Now in its 5th year, the Accelerate Program offers Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders who have at least 5 years' experience in an arts-related field, with no formal age limit but with a strong forward vision, to enter. Four recipients...» Read More
June, 2014
THEATRE AS POLITICS
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 12.06.14
With the shining exception of Stephen Sewell, political theatre in Australia has only ever played the role it might have done – think early David Hare in Britain, Arthur Miller in the US or Eastern European theatre under the yoke...» Read More
BLACK PANTHER WOMAN
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 17.06.14
My interest in the history of Aboriginal activism in Australia is unbounded – so the prospect of the two documentaries selected by Blackfella Films for this year's Sydney Film Festival (SFF) was enticing. Both set in the early 70s when...» Read More
MAGNT ushers in New Board
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 20.06.14
With the legislation now passed which establishes the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) as a statutory authority, a new board has been appointed as it prepares to enter a new and exciting era. From 1 July,...» Read More
NATSIAA SURPRISES
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 25.06.14
The great names are there at this year's National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards – Namatjira, Marawili, Marika, Burton, Thaiday, Petyarre, Mabo, Yalandja and Nadjamerrek. But rather than having the Christian names you'd probably recognise, 2014 will introduce...» Read More
GORDON BENNETT 1955 to 3 June 2014
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 28.06.14
“I am an Indigenous Australian. My mother is an Indigenous Australian and her mother before that and so on for countless generations. My father was English. My work comes out of small town and suburban Australia. I was socialised into...» Read More
July, 2014
RED OCHRE FOR HECTOR BURTON
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 04.07.14
At the end of May, the supreme national Indigenous arts awards – the Red Ochres – were handed out by the Australia Council. And the senior, peer-reviewed award went to artist Hector Tjupuru Burton from Tjala Arts in Amata, South...» Read More
FEAR & LOATHING AMONG THE SMSFs
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.07.14
Art values are suffering as a result of misinformation and disproportionate anxiety about changed rules for art investments in Self-Managed Super Funds, says accountant and Indigenous art community expert, Brian Tucker. And it's been particularly damaging for Aboriginal communities, where...» Read More
ART IS THE VOICE OF OUR PEOPLE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.07.14
So, Hetti Perkins is back with us, refreshed from a sabbatical period post-Art Gallery of NSW, where she used to be the first, and so far only, senior curator of Aboriginal Art. I wonder why they think they can manage...» Read More
GULPILIL'S COUNTRY
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 11.07.14
I've often said that the major problem with the Intervention – and all the hyperventilation about the reported spate of child abuse and domestic violence in remote Aboriginal communities that justified the imposition of its quasi-military rule – was that...» Read More
ART IS THE VOICE OF OUR PEOPLE - TAKE 2
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 15.07.14
Hetti Perkins second 'Art+Soul' TV series returns to the ABC tonight, and winds up with a third episode next Tuesday. And the question I asked after previewing her first program remains as relevant to the thinking behind this production as...» Read More
ABORIGINAL ART 'COMES HOME'
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 22.07.14
A significant dinner held in Melbourne last week was a homecoming of sorts for that dominant feature of the Aboriginal art market over the past two decades – the auction. Aboriginal art auctions have been maligned, but some have done...» Read More
TARNANTHI – THE NEW NAME IN FESTIVALS
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 23.07.14
South Australia’s Premier Jay Weatherill has announced that the State's new Aboriginal visual arts festival will be known as Tarnanthi – pronounced TAR-NAN-DEE - a local Kaurna word meaning 'to come forth', as in the sun and the first emergence...» Read More
LIFE IMITATES ART IMITATES ART AT SELLERS PRIZE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 25.07.14
Announced tomorrow is the lucky winner of the $100,000 Basil Sellers Art Prize for a work or works which confront issues and themes in sport. As an enthusiastic press release puts it: “From fandom to fanaticism, motivation to morality, and...» Read More
August, 2014
31st NATSIAAs: TONY ALBERT DOES IT AGAIN
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 08.08.14
The three judges for this 31st NATSIAA Award all come from the south; Tina Baum from the National Gallery, Clotilde Bullen from the WA Gallery and David Broker from the Canberra Contemporary Art Studio. Perhaps it wasn’t surprising that they...» Read More
DARWIN 2014 - The Bigger Picture
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 13.08.14
In the wash-up to the 31st National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards, it seems possible that the man who lead the charge to free MAGNT (the Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory) from the unenthusiastic hand...» Read More
Jenny Crompton wins Victoria's Richest Indigenous Art Award
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 23.08.14
Bellbrae artist Jenny Crompton has taken out the State’s richest Indigenous art prize, the $30,000 Deadly Art Award at the 2014 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards. Crompton, who takes much of her artistic inspiration from Victoria’s surf coast, won for her...» Read More
TWO CHARITY AUCTIONS
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 25.08.14
With what looks like an unfortunate coincidence of timing, two worthy Indigenous charities are holding art auctions within days of each other. Arts Law is first cab off the rank, celebrating its 30th anniversary of advice specifically tailored for artists...» Read More
September, 2014
Ricardo Idagi at the Kluge-Ruhe
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 01.09.14
An exhibition of Melbourne-based Indigenous artist Ricardo Idagi's (Merium) sculptural works is underway at the Kluge-Ruhe. Gurari – Saltwater Drinker comprises 9 works made from a variety of materials - raffia and feathers to beer cans and wrought iron -...» Read More
KLUGE GOES TO THE TORRES STRAIT
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.09.14
The Kluge-Ruhe Museum – America's only permanent institution displaying Australian Aboriginal art and educating Americans about it through associations with the University of Virginia – re-opened earlier this year after refurbishment with a semi-permanent exhibition called Art and Country. It's...» Read More
Warlayirti: The Art of Balgo
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 09.09.14
After a period in which social unrest and an emphasis on film dominated the cultural scene, the revitalisation of Balgo painting continues apace. Two different projects are under way which will see a major contextual exhibition open in Melbourne next...» Read More
The Martu 'Did it Together'
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 10.09.14
Twelve large collaborative desert artworks will go on show at Sydney's Museum of Contemporary Art next week in a show entitled Martu Art from the Far Western Desert . The Far Western Desert is a region that is commonly described...» Read More
KALDOR GOES NATIVE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 11.09.14
The first Kaldor Public Art Project to involve an Australian artist creating art in Australia will also be John Kaldor's first Indigenous project. Sydney-based Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi identifying artist, Jonathan Jones is going to re-imagine the Garden Palace that burnt down in...» Read More
LOLA GREENO – LIVING TREASURE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 11.09.14
The first Indigenous artist/craftsman has been recognised as a Living Treasure – Master of Australian Craft. Tasmania's Lola Greeno joins a distinguished list of Treasures which includes potters Les Blakebrough and Jeff Minchin, glass artist Klaus Moje, and jeweller Marian...» Read More
DID A BITCH WIND BLOW ABORIGINAL ART ONTO THE WORLD STAGE?
Posted by Frannie Hopkirk | 14.09.14
Was Cyclone Tracy a freak accident of cosmology, an epic drama involving a vengeful wind, or just a pissed off tropical storm? The insinuated anthropological terminology given to destructive natural disasters such as Tracy has 'Her' with the best of...» Read More
PETER BROKENSHA OAM 12/10/26 TO 24/06/14
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 20.09.14
“He was a good man who did good things”, assessed Bob Edwards, long-time friend, one-time employer and a partner with Peter Brokensha in early efforts to turn the nascent Aboriginal art movement into a viable business. Coincidentally, the Pitjanjatjara people...» Read More
Art Adds to the Beauty of a Long Distance Walking Trail
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 22.09.14
Since reading the book, Wild: From Lost to Found Along the Pacific Crest Trail by Cheryl Strayed, I, like many others, have been romancing the idea of a long-distance walk. And today the Larapinta Trail, a 223km walking trail along...» Read More
2014 Parliament of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize Finalists
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 30.09.14
Digital photographs, handmade paper, sculptures, jewellery and paintings are among some of the unique works to be chosen as finalists in this year’s Parliament of NSW Aboriginal Art Prize – the most valuable art incentive on offer for Aboriginal artists...» Read More
October, 2014
ABORIGINAL LANGUAGES
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 05.10.14
I've just discovered a new TV series starting TONIGHT about Indigenous languages - such a key element in maintaining culture for Aboriginal people. You'll notice that a high proportion of participants are also artists. It's on the NITV channel (associated...» Read More
ABORIGINAL ARTISTS GO MENTAL
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 06.10.14
High profile artists, including four Archibald winners, have joined forces with the ABC and have donated artworks to be auctioned online to help raise funds to boost mental health research in Australia. The ABC Mental As... Art Auction is a...» Read More
THE TORRES STRAIT IN SYDNEY
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 08.10.14
Ken Thaiday Snr. is an artist of rare talent whose works only infrequently make their way down south. So it's all the more exciting that Sydney is getting to see his largest ever work, specially commissioned by the dynamic Carriageworks...» Read More
NICOLE FORESHEW WINS 2014 NSW PARLIAMENT ABORIGINAL ART PRIZE
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 16.10.14
Nicole Foreshew, a Sydney-based Aboriginal artist, has taken out the 2014 Parliament of New South Wales Aboriginal Art Prize - announced at the awards ceremony held at Parliament House overnight. Her work, It comes without seeking 1, was chosen by...» Read More
2014 Redland Art Prize Goes to Margaret Loy Pula
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 16.10.14
Margaret Loy Pula wins another - this time with the 2014 Redland Art Award for her artwork, Anatye (Bush Potato), selected from 250 entries and 49 finalists. Margaret Loy Pula is the daughter of Kathleen Petyarre and niece of Wynne...» Read More
TWO SENIOR ARTISTS LOST TO US
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 22.10.14
In recent weeks at Yuendumu in the Central Desert and at Amata in the APY Lands, marvellous artists have died. Here are their official life stories: Shorty Jangala Robertson was born around 1925 at Jila (Chilla Well), a large soakage...» Read More
EVERWHEN EVERYWHERE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 23.10.14
The Queensland Art Gallery │Gallery of Modern Art (QAGOMA) has unveiled a new permanent display of Indigenous Australian art: ‘Everywhen Everywhere’, which opened last Saturday, 18 October. QAGOMA Director Chris Saines said the collection-based exhibition, curated by the Gallery’s curator...» Read More
WHITLAM MALIGNED BY FAIRFAX
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 24.10.14
A great wrong has been done to both history and Gough Whitlam's memory by the Fairfax press. Their splendid supplement on Wednesday to commemorate the passing of that great mover and shaker of a slothful Australia contained a section on...» Read More
MICHAEL BRAND GOES OUT ON A LIMB
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 29.10.14
There have been some pretty controversial decisions made since Michael Brand took over the Directorship of the Art Gallery of NSW more than a year ago. Many a senior curator fled in advance of his coming; decent, efficient people have...» Read More
REACHING FOR THE STARS IN WA
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 30.10.14
A collaborative exhibition by artists from Australia and South Africa, exploring the skies as seen through the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project, is currently on at Curtin University’s John Curtin Gallery, and will later tour internationally. Yamaji and...» Read More
Boneta-Marie Mabo Is The People’s Choice
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 30.10.14
Sydney artist Boneta-Marie Mabo has been voted the People’s Choice Award winner at the end of this year’s 31st Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory (MAGNT) Director Pierre Arpin...» Read More
November, 2014
Waringarri Begins Casting...in White Aluminium
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 14.11.14
Waringarri artists, commissioned by Wesfarmers for its official centenary gift, have cast a collection of carved boab nuts in white aluminium. And so impressive is the result that today this Collection officially called, Boab100, was gifted to the Art Gallery...» Read More
Christmas Cheer in Rozelle this Sunday
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 16.11.14
Head along to Rozelle this Sunday to experience some early Christmas Cheer when the Pormpuraaw Arts and Culture Centre artists and Art Centre Manager visit the Tali Gallery. All the way from the Cape York Peninsula, the Pormpuraaw Arts and...» Read More
Ups and Downs Amongst the Art Centres
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 17.11.14
The thriving art centre at Blackstone in WA hard by the SA/NT borders has been devastated by a fire that caused irreparable damage to its archival collection and all of its stock. They lost about 90% of the works and...» Read More
THE KIMBERLEY ONLINE
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 20.11.14
Desert River Sea: Kimberley Art Then & Now has gone live online at last after a mighty development saga. It's been developed in two phases over 6 years by the Art Gallery of Western Australia (AGWA) with $1.8m. support from...» Read More
DOOM & GLOOM??
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 26.11.14
The Australian newspaper's galumphing headline writers had a field-day last Friday with their ultra-bold claim: 'Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi’s demise echoes the fate of Aboriginal art'. The obituary continued in the words of pallbearer Nicolas Rothwell: “The high-end market for traditional...» Read More
December, 2014
TRACEY MOFFATT IS SPIRITED
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 02.12.14
When I first arrived in Australia, an early writing commission was to preview the expat playwright Ray Matthew's wonderful outback play, 'Spring Song'. It captured country values and setting perfectly – so well, in fact, that he was whisked off...» Read More
THE CODE REFRESHED
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 09.12.14
The recent AGM of the Indigenous Art Code has been singularly unreported by mainstream press. Thank heavens for the specialists like AAD! For we can report a new CEO to replace John Oster and a new Chair to replace Ron...» Read More
A Lycett for Christmas
Posted by Jeremy Eccles | 18.12.14
A delightful project has emerged from the National Library in Canberra and the University of Newcastle's Wollotuka Institute of Aboriginal Studies. “True Light and Shade” takes the early 19th Century artworks of that infamous forger Joseph Lycett and sets them...» Read More
Vale Peter Taylor
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 24.12.14
Kwementyaye Taylor (c 1940 – 12/2014) Watercolourist Peter Taylor has died in a car accident. Peter Taylor was born into a large family at Oodnadatta in South Australia. His father worked as a station hand in the Central Desert region,...» Read More
2014 in Review
Posted by Aboriginal Art Directory | 28.12.14
No one could call it a stunning year for Indigenous art - with the market delicate and the product, perhaps in response, not leaping any dramatic hurdles. No one, that is, apart from Danie Mellor and Tony Albert, the two...» Read More
