What's On - Events in the Galleries
Precinct Pass: $10 full, $7 conc & child, $30 family (2 Ad, 2 Ch), Free for NT ResidentsAboriginal Cultural Art Tour
Learn about the connections between the Dreaming - the Altyerre - contemporary Aboriginal art and the land of Mparntwe (Alice Springs), rich in songs, dance and stories.
Experience an Aboriginal view of the World and develop a deeper meaning of ancient Aboriginal culture.
Journey through a visual country and be inspired by spiritual beings from the past, present and future, as you experience the exhibition, “Origins to Innovation: Aboriginal Art in Central Australia”.
Share in the ancient knowledge of the Arrernte people, in this, their country.
Tour Cost: $20pp (includes Precinct entry)
Tours run Tuesdays and Thursdays at 11am and 2pm
Bookings are essential. Please phone (08) 8951 1121.
Click here for printable flyer
Albert Namatjira: Saplings and Survivors
Image: Keith Namatjira, 'Ghost gum, MacDonnell Ranges', watercolour on board, 1959
The Ghost gum, the Red River gum, the palm trees of Palm Valley and the unique Corkwood tree, are iconic features in the landscape of Central Australia.
Trees were a major focus in many of Albert Namatjira paintings. In some paintings they are like portraits of living entities: a history of their survival is evident in the way they are depicted.
This exhibition features paintings by the artist Rex Battarbee who taught Albert Namatjira watercolour painting, iconic works by Namatjira, his family contemporaries and descendants.
Permanent Exhibition
Origins to Innovations: Aboriginal Art in Central Australia
Image: Ruby Tjangawa Williamson, "Puli Murpu"', acrylic on linen, 122 x 152.5 cm, 2007
Origins to Innovations: Aboriginal Art in Central Australia is a dedicated, permanent exhibition of Aboriginal art, with works drawn primarily from the Araluen Art Collection. Origins to Innovations traces and explores the development of Aboriginal art in Central Australia, from the early 1930’s through to current time, linking displays in the Albert Namatjira Gallery and the early watercolor landscape tradition. This exhibition explores the origins of Aboriginal art in cultural practice and the development and innovative qualities of key Central Desert artist and arts communities.
A welcome to country display greets visitors to the exhibition, introducing a selection of works by of Central, Western and Eastern Arrernte artists, and includes an audio visual display featuring the Antulye Women’s Dance group, based in and around Alice Springs.
An introduction to the early practice of textile production in Aboriginal art centres then leads on to an exploration of the Papunya movement and the early symbolic works that emerged in the early 1970’s through to the early to mid 1980’s. The exhibition then traces the developments through symbolism and abstraction in more recent times, and in a series of works under the theme of Spirit Country, looks at the visual interpretations of spirits in the land and the spiritual connection to land, western religions and Aboriginal culture. The exhibition then culminates in a look at recent developments in crafts practice and a children’s interactive area based on works featured in the exhibition.
Tours of the exhibition, including an introduction to concepts related to the Altyerre (dreaming) and Aboriginal cultural traditions in relation to arts practice are available on request.
Araluen Arts Centre
Permanent Exhibition
Paper Cuts
Featuring Works from Non Indigenous Artists Represented in the Araluen Collections
Image: Jennie Nayton, Seaform, 2007, h andcut and folded archival photograph, 71 x 122 x 9 cm
A new exhibition, Paper Cuts, featuring works by non Indigenous artists represented in the Araluen Collections opens today, Monday 26 October 2009, at the Araluen Arts Centre.
The works in the exhibition highlight both eccentric and innovative works on paper in the Collection holdings and include photographs, watercolour paintings, drawings and prints by from national and local artists.
Works are drawn primarily from the Collection of the Alice Springs Town Council - especially the Alice Springs Art Foundation component of the Collection - and include both donations and acquisitions.
Featured artists from Alice Springs include Christine Godden, Rod Moss, Myrtle Noske and Sally Mumford, while nationally recognised artists include John Wolseley, Mike Parr, Deborah Paawe and Helen Geier.
The work, Undoolya Road Eastside, by Myrtle Noske, a charcoal and chalk drawing, dates from 1950 and was kindly donated by the artist.
The Helen Geier work in the exhibition, Half Size Screen V, was purchased from an exhibition held at the Araluen Arts Centre by the artist in 2008 and is an intriguing three dimensional work. As the artist has stated:
This work on paper explores my response to the local landscape: its clarity of light and deep purple shadows: the physical layering and sense of suspension in space often found in the framed views in the ‘gaps’: its illusive imagery, camouflage and the transforming effects of light.
The name of the exhibition comes from a work by Alison Alder, one of the most recent acquisitions in the exhibition, from the 2008 Alice Prize, and purchased for the Collection with the assistance of the Alice Springs Art Foundation. According ot the artist in her statement at the time:
The paper cuts are all made from paper that has been screen printed using images of the outback Australia that I have taken from old book covers. It isn't a random process in that I select the images in the first place and also adjust the colour palette
The contrast of local artists reflecting on their experience in the Alice Springs region and the national artists who bring a more urbane sensibility with individual perceptions relating to people and place is an overarching theme of the exhibition, which highlights works from the 1950's to 2008.
| Araluen Arts Centre |
| Exhibition Open until Early 2010 |
Other side art: Trevor Nickolls
A SURVEY OF PAINTINGS AND DRAWINGS 1972-2007
Image: Trevor NICKOLLS, "Mother Earth and Father Space stealing a kiss during the war against humanity", 2004, synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 150 x 180 cm, Collection of Arthur Roe, Melbourne
The Araluen Arts Centre is pleased to present Other side art, the first museum survey of the work of South Australian indigenous artist, Trevor Nickolls, known as “the father of urban aboriginal art” (Brenda Croft, former senior curator of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art at the National Gallery of Australia ).
Spanning Nickolls’ work over a thirty-five year period, the survey tracks the social history of Australia using the artist’s visual
vocabulary, his own iconic language that has influenced and informed subsequent indigenous artists’ practice. Nickoll’s unique vision
set the direction for a generation of urban indigenous artists.
The survey includes more than 55 paintings and works on paper, brought together for the first time from public and private collections
across Australia.
The exhibition has been curated by Michael O’Ferrall, a senior independent consultant and curator who has worked with Trevor
Nickolls for over three decades, including as the curator of the official Australian Pavilion at the 1990 Venice Biennale, which
presented Nickolls’s work alongside Kimberley artist Rover Thomas.
Nickoll’s works are widely recognised for their ‘dreamtime/machinetime’ theme, which combines the sheer natural wonder of the
Aboriginal land and Dreamtime stories with robust symbols of urban Australia, and has become an enduring leitmotiv for the dichotomy
of European and Aboriginal histories in Australia.
His drawings and paintings reflect his personal experience as a Nunga man and his relationship to land, place and history. These
relationships are of universal relevance. They make accessible ideas about nature vs nurture, the psychological and physical self,
black and white, ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ that inform our experience of contemporary life.
Director of the Ian Potter Museum of Art, Chris McAuliffe, says the exhibition will establish for new audiences a strong sense of
Aboriginal cultural history and socio-political experience.
“It will connect contemporary artists to a tradition of endeavour and experiment. The project will have a substantial impact on younger artists, who, in experiencing survey exhibitions, discover role models and see at first-hand the meaning of commitment, longevity and personal vision”, McAuliffe said.
The exhibition will tour nationally under management by NETS Victoria and with support from ‘Visions of Australia’, an Australian
Government program which supports touring exhibitions with funding assistance to develop and tour Australian cultural material across
Australia.
| Araluen Arts Centre |
| Exhibition Opening: Friday 20 November, 6pm |
| Exhibition Open until Sunday 31 January |
Application to Exhibit in the Araluen Galleries
If you are an artist interested in having a show at Araluen, please complete the application form (below) and return it to Antony Gribble (contact infomation is in the application form).
- Exhibition Application Form (71Kb)
