New Beginnings and Desert travels

Recently our little family left the harmonious familiarity of  home for a month long car journey onto the mainland.  We basically went from Melbourne to East Gippsland in Victoria -then on to Canberra  where we spent a blissful week of cultural exploration through the nations best Galleries, Museums and other governmental institutions until we forged further North - West into NSW travelling to some of the remotest and most isolated towns in Northern Australian.  I was amazed that Australian aborigines had been able to survive in these hostile landscapes before the white man came and my interest in them and their culture was piqued.  I  also discovered the art of Nura Ruperts while visiting the Australian National Gallery and immediately fell in love with her style and subject.  She is an aboriginal artist from Nth/West South Australia, born in 1933.  I loved her paintings for their whimsical mood and felt that the gentle subjects she painted were truly painted from her heart.  She began painting around 2000, producing acrylic paintings on canvas and then developed her printmaking techniques a few years later.
Most of Nura's designs depict stories from her childhood. They are usually images of children or animals, such as dingos and goats, but she is best known for her depictions of mamu (spirits). These are from traditional Pitjantjatjara stories told to children to make sure they stay away from trouble.Her style is often described as "child-like", because the shapes are very simple and look like a child's drawings.
Works by Nura have been featured in exhibitions since 2000, in many of Australia's major cities and also in cities in the United Kingdom. Her work is held in several major collections, including Flinders University, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the National Gallery of Australia, the National Museum of Australia, and Parliament House in Canberra. Prints by Nura were chosen as finalists for the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards in 2006 and 2007, and the Western Australian Indigenous Art Awards in 2010.  Clearly Nura is a phenomenal artist and yet I had not discovered her work before visiting the National Gallery of Australia and now I can see how far-reaching the influence of indigenous Australian art is;  I see strong parallels with the art of Mirka Mora and Nura and then there is the beautiful work of Del Kathryn Barton whose art also shares some similarities with indigenous artists' design techniques.

 

A beautiful linocut by Nura Rupert titled Mamu kutjara from 2003.

 

 

 

  I think Nura's style has influenced the likes of Mirka Mora who also paints in a whimsical childlike vein.  Mirka's characters are stylized and fantastic weaving in and out of the picture plane in a dreamlike fashion that to me is very evocative of Australian aboriginal art.
Sometimes I worry that painting and hoping to make a go of selling that art is a pipedream for me as I have had no formal long term art training and I am getting on age wise too!! But I glean some hope and confidence from the likes of Nura who began her painting career at the ripe old age of 67!  and is forging ahead with collections in the Nations biggest and best galleries.  I do not aspire to such dizzying heights but admit that my urge to create and paint is undaunted by the realities of the commercial art world so onward I go!
I have been loving the art of three Australian artists lately  -all young and enjoying commercial success:  Del Kathryn Barton (twice Archibald winner), Anya Brock and Sara Winfield -two very popular West Australian contemporary artists.

Anya Brock

Sara Winfield

Del Kathryn Barton

 

 So here in these three artists I can see a common theme with my own recent art production.  I only hope that the very "fashion" oriented theme of the girls I am painting does not devalue the art itself!

Now I need to do another painting!