Durrmu Arts

New web site!

2008-03-22T19:28:00.000-07:00

We now have our own domain name - http://www.durrmuarts.com.au/ and new site, so please go and have a look.

We all think it's pretty flash (but also able to be downloaded on our slow adsl here in Peppi!)

Content is slowly but surely being uploaded.

Regina Wilson selected for Wynne Prize 2008

2008-02-29T16:10:00.000-08:00

CONGRATULATIONS! to Regina Wilson for being selected as a finalist for the 2008 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales.

Regina's selected painting is Message Sticks, acrylic on linen, 2oo x 200cm. Detail shot at right.

We'll upload some more photos as soon as we see the work hanging.

Exhibition opens 8 March 2008.

Important Aboriginal Art at Caruana Reid

2008-02-20T18:00:00.000-08:00

The annual Important Aboriginal Art exhibition at Caruana Reid, Michael Reid at Elizabeth Bay, opened last night and will run until the 22nd March 2008.

One of the highlights of the show, and the work chosen for the catalogue's cover is Regina Wilson's Syaw (fish-net), 2008, acrylic on linen, 200 x 200cm, below.

Other artists include Kitty Kantilla, George Tjungurrayi, Netta Loogatha, Judy Napangardi, Sally Gabori and Danie Mellor.

Wally Caruana's series of educational Aboriginal art lectures, held over the course of the exhibition, have sold out! But definitely go and see the show if you're in Sydney.

Singapore success

2008-02-07T16:13:00.001-08:00

Here are some images from the exhibition Ancient Culture. Modern Art at Club 21 Gallery, Four Seasons Hotel, Singapore.

The exhibition opening was attended by the High Commissioner and Austrade representatives, and the show has attracted many curious visitors and indigenous art collectors.

For more information about the works included, or to request a copy of the printed catalogue please contact us at durrmuarts@gmail.com.

Ancient Culture. Modern Art: the art of Regina Wilson & Peppimenarti at Club 21 Gallery, Singapore

2008-01-05T17:09:00.000-08:00

Club 21 Gallery and tjala, supported by the Australian High Commission and the Australian Trade Commissioner, are proud to present Ancient Culture. Modern Art - an exhibition of contemporary Aboriginal Australian art by Regina Wilson and the artists of the Peppimenarti community.

From January 17 - February 17 2008.

Club 21 Gallery is located at the Four Seasons Hotel, 190 Orchard Boulevard Singapore.

Regina Wilson, Syaw (fish-net), acrylic on linen, 200 x 120cm, right.

Patsy Marfura, Fi (sand-palm twine), acrylic on linen, 120 x 200cm, below.

Peppimenarti art at Govett Brewster Gallery, NZ.

2007-12-19T17:50:00.000-08:00

Indigenous Australian Art In NZ

Press Release: Govett-Brewster Art Gallery, Paintings from remote communities: Indigenous Australian art from the Laverty Collection, Sydney
15 December 2007 - 24 February 2008

The most expansive exhibition of Indigenous Australian paintings ever seen in Aotearoa New Zealand opens at the Govett-Brewster Art Gallery on 15 December 2007.

Paintings from remote communities: Indigenous Australian art from the Laverty Collection, Sydney comprises 61 recent paintings from the private collection of Dr Colin and Mrs Elizabeth Laverty.

It highlights the diversity and complexity of visual languages and in particular, the heightened colour used by contemporary Indigenous artists.

Within Aboriginal culture, art has always represented a means by which the present is connected to the past and human beings with the supernatural and spiritual world of the Dreaming. It expresses identity and the deep spiritual relationship between the people, their stories and their land.

Govett-Brewster Director Rhana Devenport says, "Paintings from remote communities offers an insight into an incredibly rich and complex cultural expression that marries contemporary perspectives with stories that stretch back as long as 60,000 years".

The exhibition comprises paintings by 34 artists, many of whom have received significant international acclaim. Artists include Paddy Bedford, Eubena Nampitjin, Makinti Napanangka, Prince of Wales, Freddie Timms, Helicopter TjungarrayI and Regina Wilson.
Paintings from remote communities focuses on four groupings: artists of the Central and Western Deserts through Papunya Tula Artists; the Balgo community from the Southern Kimberley; Peppimenarti, Lajamanu, Ngukurr and Darwin in the Northern Territory; and Hall's Creek, Turkey Creek and Kununurra in the East Kimberley.

The exhibition will be accompanied by a publication featuring Will Owen's essay Transmuted Traditions, which Devenport says captures one of the key issues in presenting such an exhibition, the innovation of forms that is constantly present in this very contemporary art.

Owen says that "contemporary painters of Indigenous Australian descent are engaged with a whole tradition, one that includes both ceremonial culture - itself never a static or monolithic enterprise - and the demands, dictates and and opportunities afforded by their interaction with other Indigenous artists as well as the hurly-burly of the western art market with its exhibition programs, art awards and very different ceremonies. At the interface of two cultures Aboriginal art today is unremittingly modern, art of its time." This essay will also form part of a major, soon to be published book on the Laverty Collection.

This collection is today recognised as one of the most important private collections of Indigenous Australian Art. It was built over many years through the Laverty's longstanding relationships with artists and advisers across many remote communities and through city galleries.

Paintings from remote communities will also be complemented by a comprehensive programme of public events. Included is Radiance, a film programme which profiles the work of three celebrated Indigenous Australian filmmakers, Beck Cole, Rachel Perkins and Warwick Thornton. Radiance is curated by Kathryn Weir, Head of International Art and the Australian CinÃ©mathÃ¨que at Queensland Art Gallery / Gallery of Modern Art.

In the presentation of this exhibition the Govett-Brewster Gallery acknowledges the support of the Australian High Commission, Aalto Colour and Radio Network Taranaki.

Paintings from remote communities: Indigenous Australian art from the Laverty Collection, Sydney is presented from 15 December 2007 until 24 February 2008.

*information courtesy of Govett Brewster Gallery. Dorothy Sams' Untitled, 2003, above left.

Patsy Marfura - new work

2007-11-28T15:57:00.000-08:00

Patsy Marfura is a Ngangiwumerri speaker, born at the Daly River Mission in the early forties. In her late thirties she moved her husband and six children to Peppimenarti. There her grandmother and other elders taught her to weave dilly bags and mats.

Patsy decided to take up painting 5 years ago, drawing on her knowledge of weaving and ceremonial body paint designs.

Patsy predominantly paints durrmu (body painting dot) and fi (sand-palm twine) subjects. The sand-palm twine is the fibre used for weaving dilly bags and fish-nets.

Patsy’s stunning, colourful compositions play visual chess, drawing the eye across their energetic surfaces. By transferring the patterns and rhythms of weaving directly onto the canvas, Patsy realises sculptural forms in two dimensions.

Durrmu (body painting dot), acrylic on linen, 150 x 150cm, above.

Fi (sand-palm twine), acrylic on linen, 150 x 100cm, left.

Printmaking project report

2007-11-15T00:35:00.000-08:00

With the assistance of ANKAAA, the artists of Durrmu Arts, Peppimenarti, have recently completed a printmaking workshop with Basil Hall Editions.

Printers Basil Hall and Jacqueline Gribbin led the three-day etching and silkscreen workshop in late October.

Margaret Kundu and Regina Wilson were the first to tackle the etching medium. Using bitumen paint, both artists transferred their distinct styles onto their zinc plates.

Kevin Gilbert and Patsy Marfura also tried this process, with great success. A sugar lift technique was used on Patsy’s fi (sand-palm twine) design, and was then highlighted by a wash of acid, giving it a varied effect that better emulated her paintings (Patsy can be seen bravely applying the acid below).

On the second day, most of the artists braved the heat to try out silkscreen. Using familiar acrylic paints, Regina produced a traditional syaw (fish net) design of an entirely new composition - as seen above.

Linda Gilbert, Teresa Lemon, Rosina Tirak and Annunciata Wilson made a start on their silkscreen designs too, drawing on their tradition of weaving as well as durrmu (dot) body paint designs.

On the final day of the workshop Basil and Jacqueline prepared their mobile printing press and printed a couple of the artists’ finished plates.

This was undoubtedly the highlight for all involved. As the paper emerged, the women were awestruck by the results and congratulated each other on their new work.

As well as introducing a new medium to push the artists into new creative territory, the workshop was a significant communal event for the artists, and attracted great interest from the wider community.

As a result of the workshop, Regina Wilson has recently travelled to Basil Hall Editions in Darwin to observe the studio at work and learn more about the printmaking process.

We will let you know as soon as the prints are exhibited!

Cologne Fine Art fair 2007

2007-11-05T17:33:00.000-08:00

Paintings by Patsy Marfura, Kevin Gilbert, Rosina Tirak and Regina Wilson have been exhibited at the Cologne Fine Art fair this past week in Cologne, Germany, by Gallery HM.
This has been a great opportunity for Durrmu Arts, as it has been for the German public, who have been exposed to some truly unique examples of contemporary indigenous art.

Patsy Marfura, Durrmu, below and Kevin Gilbert, Durrmu, at right.

Basil Hall Editions printmaking workshop

2007-10-23T17:22:00.000-07:00

The artists of Durrmu Arts are in their third day of printmaking (etching & silkscreen) and the results so far have been fantastic. Printers Basil Hall and Jacqueline Gribbin have managed to capture the artists' individual styles through various techniques including sugar lift and aquatint. This afternoon Basil and Jacqueline will be printing some of these finished plates to show the artists how they will translate to paper.

Patsy Marfura's Fi (twine) design in sugar lift etching is shown at right.

Regina Wilson working on her silkscreen syaw (fish-net)design at left.

ANKAAA Katherine regional meeting

2007-10-19T18:53:00.000-07:00

The ANKAAA (Association of Northern, Kimberley and Arnhem Aboriginal Artists) Katherine regional meeting was held last week, both in Katherine and at Djilpin Arts' new and impressive Ghunmarn Cultural Centre at Beswick. It was a fanstastic few days, with representatives from art centres such as Waralungku Arts (Boroloola), Mimi Arts and Crafts (Katherine), Manyalluluk Art and Craft Centre, Coomalie Cultural Centre (Batchelor), Wudikapildiyerr Women's Centre, Lajumanu and Peppimenarti discussing the needs of their centres, and the wider region.

Fibre & paint

2007-09-22T23:59:00.000-07:00

Installation images from the Chalk Horse exhibition, showing the women's fish-net, baskets & string bags displayed alongside the paintings. The relationship between the two and three dimensional works is significant to the women artists. Annunciata Wilson says that "the weavings are important and we've always wanted to hang them with the paintings."

Regina Wilson in Australian Art Review

2007-09-21T17:50:00.000-07:00

'Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Artists Dazzle', Australian Art Review

September 2007 | Matthew Smith

See here for the entire article.

Peppimenarti art featured in Sydney Morning Herald

2007-09-18T01:01:00.000-07:00

Aboriginal art under threat
Stephanie Peatling and Joel Gibson

September 17, 2007

THE Federal Government's intervention in remote indigenous communities in the Northern Territory could devastate a lucrative industry and leave artists open to exploitation by carpet-baggers, leading indigenous art academics and artists' representatives say.

They want to keep the Community Development Employment Project, which is being scrapped as part of the intervention, because the industry depends on it to support art centres and workers who do not earn enough to live on from inconsistent art sales.

Jon Altman, the director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University, said ending the program was likely to "jeopardise" the most successful indigenous industry.

"Why would you undermine the most robust sector? [Art] is a huge drawcard for international tourists and has enormous spin-off benefits for the nation," Professor Altman said.

As part of the intervention into Northern Territory remote communities, indigenous people will have up to half of their welfare payments quarantined by the Federal Government.

But employment project payments cannot be quarantined because they are technically income. People receiving these payments will be moved to the lower unemployment payments, which are subject to quarantining, and receive top-ups to cover the difference.

The Minister for Workforce Participation, Sharman Stone, told the Herald all art centres in the Northern Territory would be visited by departmental staff to see if some of their staff could be employed by the public service.

"If there are artists who are able to sell their work and they are doing well they should be self-sufficient and they should be assisted to manage their income," Dr Stone said.

Richard Birrinbirrin, a Ramingining artist and one of the producers of the AFI-award-winning film Ten Canoes, said: "Nearly all of our art centre workers and artists rely on CDEP payments, which have supported jobs in art centres for the past 20 years. Due to years of under-funding of indigenous education, many of our people are not job-ready and some never will be. They do have meaningful work, though: their job is the expression and teaching of our culture. They are artists."

Alan Murn, the manager of Julalikari Arts, said that moving artists to the work-for-the-dole scheme would require them to perform menial jobs such as cleaning communities instead of painting, and would reduce their base pay rate, making them more vulnerable to carpet-baggers.

Professor Altman agreed, saying that if artists were working in other areas as part of the work-for-the-dole scheme they would be susceptible to carpet-baggers coming into communities and offering cash for artworks.

A recent Senate report on the indigenous art industry warned about carpet-baggers, finding it was common practice for Aboriginal artists to be offered small amounts of instant cash for their paintings, much less than they would receive if the paintings were sold through an art centre or gallery.

Harriet Fesq, co-ordinator of the Durrmu Arts centre in Peppimenarti, said that community was protected from carpet-baggers by its remoteness but the end of employment project payments would affect the industry across the Territory.

"It's a fragile thing, having an art program and ensuring the artists are happy and comfortable so they can produce good work."

Photo: Adam McLean

Peppimenarti exhibition at Chalk Horse Gallery, Sydney

2007-09-05T00:10:00.000-07:00

The exhibition Peppimenarti will be held at Chalk Horse Gallery from September 6-22, 2007. A range of work by all the Durrmu Arts painters will be exhibited, and for the first time in Sydney, a selection of fish-nets, baskets and string bags will accompany the paintings.

From top: Regina Wilson, Message Sticks, 200x250cm, Teresa Lemon, Mat Weaving 120x200cm, Regina Wilson, Message Sticks, 120x120cm, Patsy Marfura, Fi, 150x150cm, Regina Wilson, Syaw (fish-net), 160x200cm. All acrylic paint on linen.

Peppi Open Day 2007

2007-09-01T21:45:00.000-07:00

The Peppimenarti Community open day 2007 attracted a large number of visitors from the Daly River region, Darwin and interstate. The day was launched by an amazing display of men's and women's dancing, as well as a welcome speech by Stuart Hodgson, President of the Council and and local Daly member Rob Knight.
Dancing was followed the women's weaving demonstration, led by Freda Kundu and involving Regina Wilson, Annunciata Wilson, Patsy Marfura, Margaret Sams, Mabel Jimarin and Clara Kundu., which led to numerous commissions. Visitors also enjoyed an outdoor art exhibition, where the paintings were snapped up by savvy buyers in minutes! Art work by all active members of Durrmu Arts was exhibited, alongside recent work by the Peppimenarti School students.
A Humpty Doo Aboriginal rock band played throughout the BBQ lunch, put on by the Peppi Club, and kept everyone entertained throughout the afternoon.
Many dropped by Durrmu Arts to learn how the art room functions, as well as admire the works in progress. The artists were on hand to explain their individual styles and subjects.
Curious visitors were taken on minibus tours around the entire community and marveled at the beauty of the Peppimenarti school and housing.
The Land Care program, run by Tony Schwartz, held a stand that displayed information relating to cane toads, native frog populations as well as their plan to domesticate local beeds for native honey production.
By 4pm the visitors were heading back in their troopies to Darwin or Daly. The community consensus was that it had been a most enjoyable, successful day, and a good benchmark for next year!