ADA BIRD PETYARRE - NGENYA- SWEET WILD FLOWER
ADA BIRD PETYARRE
NGENYA- SWEET WILD FLOWER, 1993
70 x 50 cm
synthetic polymer paint on paper
REGION
Mulga Bore Utopia, NT
PROVENANCE
Austral Gallery, USA
Cooee Art Leven Gallery, NSW
The acrylic paintings on paper resulted from a project organised for Utopia artists by Rodney Gooch. Some thirty three paintings were made and collected by Rodney in a short period during 1993. The objective was to expand the creative challenges of the artists who had proved themselves to be highly skilled artists using the mediums of batik and canvas. Clearly, working with paper in the desert presented significant logistical challenges. The artists included Ada Bird Petyarre who contributed the largest number of works, June Bird, Paddy Bird, Eileen Bird, Colin Bird, Launa Purvis and Angelina Pwerle. Rodney described these as the first paintings on paper at Utopia.
STORY
Ada paints like her personality. Vibrant, outgoing and blatantly honest! She is a lover of bright colours, in particular blue, but also paints in more traditional and subdued colours. Fine detailed works are not traditional works of her group nor are they any part of Ada's works. Her works express her lifestyle.
She is a traditional senior Aboriginal woman who involves and expresses herself to the fullest extent both on canvas and in her ancient culture.
She began applying acrylic on canvas around 1988 after having been involved in Utopia batik since the early 1970's. Her works are collected throughout the world including Holmes a Court, National gallery of Australia and Wim Wenders. Dreamings include Mountain Devil Lizard, Bean, Emu, Yam and Grass Seeds.
ARTIST PROFILE
