In These Hands (Mara nyangangka) Celebrating 70 years of Ernabella Arts
The fruits of a collaboration that took place 46 years ago are the subject of this very special exhibition, In These Hands (Mara nyangangka) Celebrating 70 years of Ernabella Arts.
Showing at JamFactory at Seppeltsfield from 30 November 2018 – 11 February 2019, In These Hands is about Australia’s two oldest centres for craft and design – Sturt Gallery & Studios (1941) and Ernabella Arts (1948).
In the late 1960s two women from different worlds struck up a friendship and artistic collaboration that would last a lifetime. Elisabeth Nagel, master weaver from Sturt in the lush green Southern Highlands of NSW travelled to the remote Pukatja Community in far north western South Australia where she met Winifred Hilliard, the then-manager of the craft industry at Ernabella Mission. Together they sparked a ground-breaking initiative between two of Australia’s oldest craft centres that saw five young artists from Ernabella travel to Sturt as part of a residency to learn new weaving techniques.
To celebrate Ernabella’s 70th birthday, In These Hands (Mara nyangangka) tells the story of that residency, its impact on subsequent generations and offers a showcase of the contemporary work in painting, ceramics and tjanpi (native grass) weaving and punu (timber) work.
Ernabella Arts is now a renowned Indigenous centre for art and design famous for paintings and ceramics and it is an honour to showcase the quality and depth of work being made by Ernabella artists today. In These Hands celebrates the long tradition of craft and design in Australia while at the same time being testament to the positive collaboration and understanding between an Indigenous and non-Indigenous cultural institution sharing that same passion for ‘making’.
Featuring works by Yurpiya Lionel, Imiyari (Yilpi) Adammson, Rachel Mipantjiti Lionel, Pepai Jangala Carroll, Katrina Tjtapayi, Langaliki Lewis, Alison Milyika Carroll, Tjunkaya Tapaya, Lynette Lewis, Elizabeth Dunn, Rupert Jack, Thomas Illyarta Tjilya, Derek Jungarrayi Thompson, Carlene Thompson, Janelle Nakamara Thompson, Alison Lionel, Margaret Winton, Nancy Thompson, Niningka Lewis, Langaliki Lewis, Atipalku Intjalki, Nyukana Baker, Yipati Kuyata.
In These Hands (Mara nyangangka) Celebrating 70 years of Ernabella Arts is a Sturt Gallery Touring exhibition.
Curated by Alison Milyika Carroll & Slavica Zivkovic.
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