previous Exhibitions
BETTY MUFFLER, MARINGKA BURTON & NELLIE NGAMPA COULTHARD: Nganana Mukurikula Paintamilani – We Love to Paint!
BETTY MUFFLER MARINGKA BURTON
NELLIE NGAMPA COULTHARD
Alcaston Gallery is thrilled to present new paintings by Betty Muffler, Maringka Burton and Nelllie Ngampa Coulthard in Nganana Mukurikula Paintamilani – We Love to Paint! This exhibition showcases the sublime paintings of three senior Anangu women, as they each incorporate their innate spiritual knowledge to depict their beloved country in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia.
Betty Muffler is a highly respected Pitjantjatjara/Yankunyjatjara artist and a revered Ngangkari, a traditional Anangu healer. Embracing a subtle monochromatic palette, Muffler creates sophisticated and dynamic compositions through luminous lines and motifs to depict sacred Anangu sites that are relevant to her Ngangkari spirit. Her brilliant collaborations with fellow Anangu artist and Ngangkari Maringka Burton are a continuation of this distinctive visual aesthetic that resonates with the evolving power of the Ngangkari traditions. In 2020-21, a selection of major works on paper by Betty Muffler together with Maringka Burton were on exhibition at TARNANTHI Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art at the Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide. Most recently Betty Muffler and Maringka Burton collaborated on two large-scale paintings for The National 2021: New Australian Art and these magnificent are currently on display at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney until 5 September 2021.
Nelllie Ngampa Coulthard is a Pitjantjatjara/Yankunytjatjara artist originally from the far eastern desert near Oodnadatta, who later moved to the community of Indulkana in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands in South Australia.In her paintings entitled Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle), Coulthard depicts her favourite native flora that surrounds her country with vibrant, luminescent colour and a distinctive and precise dotting technique.
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Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country)
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Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country)
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Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country)
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Ngangkari Ngura (Healing Country)
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$9,600 AUD
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$11,000 AUD
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$11,000 AUD
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$9,600 AUD
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$9,600 AUD
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Tjuntala Ngurangka (Country with Acacia Wattle)
$10,000 AUD
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Betty Kuntiwa Pumani - Kunpu Naranyi (Standing Strong)
Alcaston Gallery is honoured to present a solo exhibition by acclaimed Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands artist Betty Kuntiwa Pumani.
Recognised as one of the most distinctive painters in Australian contemporary art working today, Pumani’s large scale visionary compositions depict her mother’s Country of Antara, a significant ceremonial site north-west of Mimili community in north west South Australia.
An artist of sophistication and restraint, Pumani continues to paint using her refined and distinctive palette of cobalt blues, vibrant reds and shimmering cream and grey - intense and saturated colours that have become synonymous with her practice – yet in this new body of work Pumani explores innovative compositional techniques, utilising complex motifs and tonal variations, signalling an exciting artistic progression.
Bugai Whyoulter - Survey Exhibition 2015 - 2021
Alcaston Gallery, in conjunction with Martumili Artists, is delighted to present an important survey exhibition of paintings by Bugai Whyoulter, a Kartujarra woman and a senior custodian of the lands surrounding Kunawarritji in Western Australia, with a curated selection of the artist’s significant works from 2015 to 2021 based on Place - depicting key sites across Whyoulter's ngurra (Country).
Winner of the General Painting Award in the 2021 Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards for her painting Wantili (Warntili, Canning Stock Route Well 25), Whyoulter is known as a master of colour and gesture.
Karen Mills - Unfold
MEET THE ARTIST EVENT | Saturday 2 April 2022, 2pm - 4pm - RSVP at art@alcastongallery.com.au
Darwin-based artist Karen Mills paints 'lyrical landscapes of memory'. Deeply connected to place, yet transcendent of time, Mills paintings capture a sense of the rich history and survival of Aboriginal culture concealed and embedded within the land.
Mills’ practice investigates identity, her sense of connection and disconnection with her Aboriginal heritage and the timeless relationship First Peoples maintain with their ancestral Country despite recent histories of dispossession and displacement. Reflecting on her series, Someday we will walk together [on Country], recently exhibited at Tarnanthi 2021-2022 at the Art Gallery of South Australia and now presented in Unfold, Mills writes:
'I like looking at the landscape, breathing it in, listening, seeing the beauty, thinking, painting and remembering. It brings me joy and a deep sense of belonging to the natural world. Over the years, whenever I feel sadness caused by the loss of connection with my Aboriginal family or consider the grief experienced by generations of Aboriginal children who have been separated from their families and culture, I find a lot of strength and comfort in believing the Old People will always be there and that someday we will walk together [on Country] and everything will be all right.'
Mills makes her own paint using a combination of pure colour pigments or natural ochre and synthetic polymer binder to create multi-layered, highly textural paintings. Her paintings only truly reveal themselves to the viewer when experienced in person, unveiling the traces of her practice, her brushstrokes, layers and techniques, as well as her knowledge of the land and the layers of geology and history hidden beneath.
Mills' artworks are held in the permanent collections of the National Gallery of Australia, the Art Gallery of South Australia, and the Parliament House Art Collection, as well as private collections in Australia and internationally.
Unfold will be on exhibition at the Alcaston Gallery Exhibition Space 30 March - 22 April 2022.
Shirley Macnamara - Yesterday
EXHIBITION OPEN DAY | Saturday 2 April 2022, 2pm - 4pm RSVP at art@alcastongallery.com.au
Alcaston Gallery is thrilled to present a collection of sculptural artworks including guutu, woven laga bags and delicate headpieces by the highly celebrated artist, Shirley Macnamara.
Macnamara's sculptures are a unique expression of her Country, created from the natural materials that she encounters while out mustering throughout Spinifex Country, a region named for the resilient stringy grass that envelops the landscape. Macnamara's guutu, a traditional word meaning ‘a vessel that can carry things’ are highly contemporary artworks that not only reflect the artist's rich life experiences on Country but also honour cultural resonances from the past, symbolically carrying the traditions of her mother and ancestors before her. Woven from spinifex and lined with varying shades of ochres, each guutu recalls the Country from which it was formed; with the natural features of the land wielding a powerful aesthetic and cultural influence on the design of each piece.
Similarly, Macnamara’s hand sculptured dillybags, known as laga bags, draw upon Macnamara's memories of the dillybags made by her grandmothers and aunties. Imbued with a deep sense of self, these creations reveal who Macnamara's family were and how they lived. In turn, Macnamara’s laga bags offer a contemplation of the artist’s own sense of self, and her deep relationship with her land, woven from spinifex and lined with ochre, feathers, quills and collected objects.
Presented together this installation of sculptures is an evocative representation of the harsh, dry, yet beautiful region of her traditional Indjalandji Country surrounding Camooweal and her home on Mt Guide in far north-west Queensland; a delicate and refined collection that can only be truly appreciated in person. Macnamara's artworks are poetic objects of immense beauty and poignancy; alluding to memory, family, and Country.
KUNMANARA MUNGKURI OAM (1946 - 2021)
Alcaston Gallery is honoured to present a very special collection of paintings by the late Kunmanara Mungkuri OAM (1946 - 2021), created in the final year of the artist’s life. This exclusive online exhibition, presented in conjunction with the artist's family and Iwantja Arts, respectfully pays tribute to Mr Mungkuri; a celebrated contemporary Australian artist, highly respected Tilpi, important Yankunytjatjara elder and cultural leader.
