Therese RYDER PARULA - Ghost Gum and Witchetty Trees
ADG: 1653
DescriptionGhost Gum and Witchetty Trees, 1998
19 x 55cm, Watercolour on paper (archival artists board)
Therese RYDER PARULA - Biography
Born 1946
Country Todd River Station, Alice Springs, N.T.
Community Santa Teresa N.T.
Language Eastern Arrernte
Subjects Central Desert landscapes- Father’s Country, Bush foods including Yerramp (Honey Ants); lyelyake; mwanyeme; alperrantyeye; ararente (Bush Tomatoes).
Therese was born in 1946 at Todd River Station east of Alice Springs. Her parents worked on stations mustering cattle and cooking. As a young child she travelled around from place to place with her family. "We moved around to where other members of family were staying."
When Therese was six or seven she was taken to Santa Theresa Mission. She lived in the dormitories with the other Arrernte children and went to school. This is where she was also taught to paint with watercolours. In 1978 she moved to Alice Springs. Therese is the mother of the noted artist, Marie Ryder.
Theresa has worked with the Institute of Aboriginal Development in the Language Department, where she was one of the main contributors to the Central and Eastern Arrernte Dictionary. She has also worked at the Catholic High School in Alice Springs, in the Aboriginal Unit, teaching the Arrernte language.
"My paintings are east of Alice Springs, around Ross River,- my father's country. Aboriginal people must paint their country and their stories. This is my contribution to these places and to my family, the Arrernte people."
Collections
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA
Museum of Victoria, Melbourne, VIC
Exhibitions
1989, The Sixth Telstra Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Westpac Gallery, Melbourne; Design Warehouse Sydney [through Lauraine Diggins Fine Art]
1991, The Heritage of Namatjira at Flinders, Flinders University Art Museum, Bedford Park, South Australia. 1991, Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
1992/93, The Heritage of Namatjira, touring exhibition, toured by Flinders University Art Museum
1993, Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
Bibliography
Diggins, L. 1989, A Myriad of Dreaming: Twentieth Century Aboriginal Art, Malakoff Fine Art Press, North Caulfield, Victoria.
Green, J. 1988, Pmere: Country in Mind, Arrernte Landscape Painters, Tangentyere Council, Alice Springs
Green, J., 1994, A Learner's Guide to Eastern and Central Arrernte, Institute of Aboriginal Development Press, Alice Springs.
Hardy, J., Megaw, J.V.S. and Megaw, M.R. 1992, The Heritage of Namatjira - the Watercolourists of Central Australia, William Heinemann, Australia.
1991, Aboriginal Women's Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney.