In the Frame

From the stockroom, a selection of framed prints are reduced for the months of December and January, including discounted unframed prints from Pormpuraaw Arts, Warlukurlangu Artists and Northern Editions print making studio. Featured artists include Jean Baptiste Apuatimi (dec), Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO (dec), Judy Watson, Robyn Djunginy and others.

Contact the Gallery for more information 08 8981 6382.

New Collections

Nomad Art Gallery has an eclectic range of new artworks from across the Top End including small and large carvings from the Tiwi Islands, camp dog sculptures from Yuendumu, scarves and jewelry from Groote Eylandt and recent fabrics from Maningrida.

For more information contact: gallery@nomadart.com.au

Fabrics and Fibre by Bobbie Ruben and Peta Smith

Windows in the Wetland is a collection of recent fabrics by Bobbie Ruben depicting the wetland landscape of tropical Australia viewed through iconic Darwin louvre windows. The fabrics are digitally collaged photographs printed on 100% linen and compliment a beautiful new selection of woven woollen baskets by Darwin artist Peta Smith.

For more information contact: gallery@nomadart.com.au

Gapan 2016: New prints from Yirrkala Print Space

Buku Larrnggay Mulka at Yirrkala community in Arnhem Land has a long and proud history as one of Australia’s premier Indigenous art centres and printmaking studios. 

These major artists have established a national reputation for their work, having won many of Australia’s Indigenous art prizes.

Artists in this exhibition include: Djambawa Marawili AM, Nonggirrnga Marawili, Nyapanyapa Yunupingu, Mulkun Wirrpanda, Garawan Wanambi, Marrnyula Mununggurr, Malaluba Gumana, Banduk Marika, Ishmael Marika and Dundiwuy #2 Mununggurr.

The 2016 Gapan print selection includes lithographs, screenprints, linocuts and etchings produced in collaboration with  Sean Smith, The Ownership Project, Adrian Kellett and Virginia University as part of Artist in Residency Program at Kluge-­Ruhe Museum of Aboriginal Art, Charlottesville, USA.

The Midawarr – Harvest Series

The Midawarr – Harvest Series suite of woodblocks is the outcome of collaboration between Mulkun Wirrpanda and John Wolseley. Wirrpanda is a senior female artist for the Dhudi-Djapu clan from Dhuruputjpi. Wirrpanda is a leader of her clan and has a lifetime’s knowledge of her country, which is distilled into her art.

Wolseley has lived and worked all over the continent and is known for his large scale works on paper which relate the minutiae of plant, bird and insect to the greater movements of the earth’s geological and ecological systems.

Wolseley and Wirrpanda first met in 2009 in Baniyala, east Arnhem Land. Both artists were part of a group of Yolngu and visiting artists working on the cross-cultural project and touring exhibition Djalkiri: we are standing on the their names  – Blue Mud Bay organised by Nomad Art Productions in Darwin.

Since 2009 they have spent a week or two together each year in the Miwatj region in Midawarr, the harvest season. The two have hunted rare plants, painted them; and eaten the unique tropical yams and tubers. Wirrpanda has now compiled comprehensive series of barks and larrakitj about the poorly recognised food plants of northeast Arnhem Land. Her mission is to renew the knowledge of these plants for future generations. Since 2009 John Wolseley has also been making woodcuts and large works on paper about the same plants and landscape.

View the catalogue of works

Kidin – Time of Plenty

Kidin – Time of Plenty combines both art and cultural knowledge with the rich natural heritage of the Ngan’gikurrungurr and Ngen’giwumirri (Ngan’gi) people of the Daly River region. The collection of images is a study of the relationships between plants and animals and Ngan’gi people who are intimately connected with their country.

In March 2016 Merrepen artists participated in an innovative etching project with master print maker Basil Hall. The outcome is a collection of 18 beautiful images celebrating the biological diversity and cultural associations of the Daly River Region by: Aaron McTaggart, Kieren Karritpul, Patricia Marrfurra McTaggart AM, Christina Yambeing, Margaret Gilbert, Marita Sambono, Louise Pandella, Gracie Kumbi, Troy Madigan and Philip Wilson

The title Kidin (meaning the abundance of life after the wet season) is symbolic of life and nature of the tropical north of Australia. The collection of colour plate etchings creates a highly innovative and unique portrayal of both the environment and the traditional knowledge of the Ngan’gi people with an emphasis on traditional language and association with plants and animals.

View the catalogue of works

The Kunwinjku Counting Book and other works of art from Gunbalanya

This exhibition focuses on paper and bark paintings by acclaimed Western Arnhem Land artists Gabriel Maralngurra, Roderick Maralngurra and Graham Badari and includes a set of 12 paintings that feature in a children’s book entitled The Kunwinjku Counting Book illustrated by Gabriel Maralngurra. The Kunwinjku Counting Book is published by Injalak Arts and launched by Nomad Art in July 2016.

This book serves as a small window into the complex ecology of West Arnhem Land and the wholistic nature of Kunwinjku Aboriginal culture. The Kunwinjku Counting Book Suite provides a cross cultural dialogue, where traditions intersect in a spirit of respect and sharing. It involves the passing of knowledge from one generation to the next and from one cultural tradition to another, culminating in the preservation of a shared national heritage.

The works express the resilience and connections between people, stories, place, plants and animals that live and thrive in the Stone Country of Western Arnhem Land.

I really wanted to do this book to make children happy … to share my culture in Kunwinjku and English and help children learn how to count.

Gabriel Maralngurra, 2016.

View the works on the online gallery

The Kunwinjku Counting Book Suite

Gulf Country: New screen prints from Waralungku Arts

Waralungku Arts represents the Yanyuwa, Garrwa, Mara and Gudanji peoples from the Borroloola Region in the Gulf of Carpentaria, Northern Territory. The Art Centre is set in an arresting landscape of rocky hills, cattle-grazed scrub, billabongs, and wide horizons.

The screen prints depict both the life and the history of the community, as well as the distinctive beauty of the surrounding landscape with bright colours and a sense of past histories and continuing connections.

Gulf Country is the result of a print workshop facilitated by Cathy Cummins in 2015 and printed at Basil Hall Editions 2016.

Badem gooyarrg yirranyjende, goodoo yirranyjende – We collect ochre and grind it

This exhibition brings together new explorations of ochre to works on paper by emerging, mid career and establish Gija artists. Warmun art is a contemporary expression of land and culture central to Gija identity and has a national and international reputation. Artists draw on Ngarranggarni (Dreaming) stories and contemporary life.

The Wealth of the Land

Chips Mackinolty celebrates the natural and cultural wealth of Sicilian horticulture through a new series of digital prints. Based in Vucciria, near the oldest market in the historic centre of Palermo, Mackinolty set about depicting the new seasons fruit and vegetables as they appeared in the market. The images represent centuries of agricultural practice and cuisine which are fundamental to the cultural identity of Sicily and beyond.

The Wealth of the Land is an antidote to the sterile mass economy of the supermarket; it pays homage to the men and women who make a living from the soil, a reminder of things past and pointer to a good-natured and sustainable future. Above all they are images of luscious beauty and charm, reminding us of real natural wealth, the good food that emanates from the land.

As we face the potential disintegration of massive carbon intensive food distribution networks, and the ravages of climate change, it is likely that all of us will have to think about locally grown fresh foods, and the ways they get to the kitchen or restaurant table. Chips Mackinolty, 2016.

Hand drawn digital prints, editions of 19, available in the following sizes: 30 x 30 cm – $180, 45 x 45 cm – $250, 90 x 90 cm – $880 (unframed).

Download the exhibition catalogue (copies available $40).

ABC News interview

View the opening night

Imprint interview with Anita Angel

Books and Arts Daily with Michael Cathcart

The dark reactions

Michelle Culpitt is a photo media artist whose experimental methods include anthotypes, a pre-photographic process using photosensitive material from plants to create an image.

Anthotypes were invented by Sir William Herschel in 1842. The process involves coating a sheet of paper with an emulsion that has been extracted from light-sensitive plant material. An object such as a plant is then placed on the paper and exposed to sun-light until the background is bleached out. Color remains in the shaded or protected areas creating subtle, shadowy images.

Michelle Culpitt’s imagery explores organic elements of place, history and the environment. The dark reactions refer to a part of the photosynthesis process in plants that occurs in the second phase of photosynthesis that does not require the presence of light.

The works include native plants from Darwin, weeds from Castlemaine in Victoria and native plants in Carna and Anaghmakerrig in Ireland.

Read the opening speech by Dr Greg Leach

Ground: works in paper by Winsome Jobling

Ground: works in paper by Winsome Jobling

Winsome Jobling is one of Australia’s pre-eminent paper artists. Her work transcends notions of paper making into highly original works of contemporary art.

Steeped in knowledge, intellect and beauty these works draw us deep within the natural environment, unveiling a hidden world and reminding us of the mysteries and wonder of nature.

In this series of works in handmade paper Winsome Jobling explores Ground as the surface of the earth, the roots, the soil, the substrate for plant growth, and life on the planet.

We stand on it, we own it, we grow food in it and we treat it like dirt.

Winsome Jobling 2016

View the works on the online gallery

The Mirrored Image: Ten years of prints at Nomad Art

This exhibition commemorates the 10^th anniversary of Nomad Art Gallery, over 100 exhibitions and the numerous projects Nomad Art has facilitated or hosted since 2005. The ethos of Nomad Art is to explore and highlight the cross-cultural and collaborative nature of printmaking through the culturally rich and natural diversity of the Top End of Australia.

The prints selected for this exhibition are linked by subject matter, geography or aesthetic relationships which illustrate the diverse expression of Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

The prints have been produced by individual artists and printmakers working in the Northern Territory. Print studios represented include Yirrkala Print Studio, Basil Hall Editions, Northern Editions, Australian Print Workshop, AKS Studio and numerous independent artists’ studios.

Key Nomad Projects include Replant: a new generation of botanical art, 2006 and Djalkiri: we are standing on their names, Blue Mud Bay, 2010.

Curated by Eloise Baldwin and Clare Armitage.

View the works on the online gallery