Lucky MORTON KNGWARREYE - Flower Spirits

ADG: 4673

Flower Spirits, 2008

Acrylic paint on paper,  71 x 50cm

In this joyous painting, Lucky celebrates the wildflowers that cover the desert landscape in springtime after rain with the spirit figures that guide seasonal change and the flowering of the desert landscape. The spirits are painted in traditional body paint designs with ochre (natural earth pigments) to dance in an Awelye (Ceremony).

Lucky Morton Kngwarreye - Biography

Born 1950

Language Alyawarr

Country Ngkwarlerlanem and Arnkawenyerr, Utopia Region, Northern Territory

Subjects Camp Scenes of Utopia life, Ilyarnayt Seed, Awelye (Women’s Ceremony), Dreamtime stories, Alpeyt (Wild Flowers), Rainbow Dreaming (Boor-la-da), Ilyarn,Tharrkarr,(Sweet Honey Grevillea), Yerramp (Honey Ant).

Lucky is the eldest daughter of Utopian artists, Mary Morton Kemarre and the late Billy Petyarre (c.1920-2007). Lucky has featured in many group exhibitions since beginning her artistic career. Lucky participated in batik workshops that were held in Utopia from 1977 to 1987, with her mother and younger siblings. Her work is represented in the Holmes a Court Collection, which was exhibited extensively in Australia and abroad.

Like other batik artists living in Utopia, Lucky made the transition to painting in the summer of 1988-89 as part of CAAMA's The First works on Canvas, a Summer Project. With a more adaptable and immediate medium, Lucky continued to paint with acrylics and has travelled to Sydney and Melbourne for exhibitions featuring her work. Lucky has also worked with wood sculpture.

Lucky attended a bush school near Hatcher's Creek, North East of Utopia and spent her childhood years growing up around Kurrajong Camp in Utopia and MacDonnell Downs Station. Lucky attended Batchelor Institute in Alice Springs and has travelled to Darwin and Tenant Creek for further education. Lucky plays an important role liaising with her community and health workers, assisting in the Health Clinic at Utopia.

Achievements

2011 Finalist, 27th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT.

Collections

Art Centre Meerzigt, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands

Cooloola Shire Public Gallery, QLD

Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, SA

Gladstone Regional Art Gallery, QLD

Museums and Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT

Noosa Regional Gallery, QLD

Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, Townsville, QLD

Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, NSW

Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, QLD

Riddoch Art Gallery, Mount Gambier, SA

Robert Holmes á Court Collection, Perth, WA

Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy

Exhibitions

1989 - Utopia Women’s Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney

1990 - Utopia- A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on Silk from the Holmes a Court; Collection by Utopia artists that toured Eire and Scotland,

1990 - Balance 1990: views, visions, influences, QAG, Brisbane,,

1991 - The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,

1991 - Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,

1998 - Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy and Vlaams Eurospeech, Conferentiecentrum, Brussels, Belgium,

1998 - Exhibition in Art Centre Meerzigt, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands,

1998 - Art Gallery 'Culture Store', Rotterdam, the Nerherlands,

2002-05 - Regional Galleries Association of Queensland Tour

2002-2005 - Native Title Business - Contemporary Indigenous Art, a national travelling exhibition

2007 - Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay Gallery, Sydney

2007 - Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane

2007 - Desert Song, Brush with Art Festival, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, SA

2008 - Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya: National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide.

2008 - From the Desert to the Sea, Yurlunggar Art, Brisbane

Bibliography

Brody, A., 1989, Utopia Women's Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988-89, Heytesbury Holdings, Perth.

Brody, A., 1990, Utopia: a Picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Heytesbury Holdings Ltd, Perth.

Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales

1990, Balance 1990: Views, Visions, Influences,  Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane.

Winter, Joan., Native Title Business, Contemporary Indigenous Art (Catalogue), Keeira Press, Qld, 2002.