Sculpture & Textiles
In our Darwin Store we stock a carefully selected range of sculpture and textiles ranging from fabric, rugs and cushions to fibre, ceramics and jewellery.
Please see below a sample of some of these items.
We are working to have online store up soon, but in the mean time please feel free to drop into one of our galleries or contact us directly here
Fabric
A range of quality hand printed fabrics in colourful designs reflect the cultural and linguistic diversity of textile artists from different language groups and geographical locations.
Designs are hand printed using linocut or silkscreen techniques on a range of quality cottons, linen, drill and silk. Fabric producers include Babbarra Women’s Centre at Maningrida, Tiwi Design, Palngun Wurnangat Association at Wadeye, Injalak Arts at Gunbalanya, Merrepen Arts at Daly River, Bima Wear on the Tiwi Islands and Darwin artist Peta Smith.
Image: Fabric from Tiwi Design and Babbarra Designs
Silk Scarves
Our selection includes:
• Beautiful and richly coloured batik scarves uniquely painted by artists from Ngaruwanajirri on the Tiwi Islands.
• Natural tie-dye patterns and earthy tones from native plants and campfire ash from Yarrenyty-Arltere in Central Australia.
• Nomad Art in Canberra also stocks colourful hand screen printed scarves by local Canberra artist Lyndy Delian.
Image: Silk scarves from the Tiwi Islands
Rugs and Cushions
High quality and colourful rugs, cushions and carpets combine original art from Australian Aboriginal artists from Central Australia with the traditional skills of artists and from the remote Himalayan region of Kashmir and Katmandu.
Cushions, rugs and carpets of various sizes are available upon request.
Image: Rugs and cushions from Better World Arts
Arnhem Land Fibre
Nomad Art stocks an exquisite selection of natural fibre baskets, dilly bags, mats, string bags and sculpture that typify the dyed pandanus fibre of the tropical north or ‘Top End’ of Australia. Contemporary fibre objects made with traditional methods are selected from Injalak Arts and Crafts, Gapuwiyak Culture and Arts, Mardbalk Arts, Elcho Island Arts, Djilpin Arts, and Durrmu Arts. The works are a celebration of the skill, ingenuity and creativity of the artists and highlights the individual nature of their work and geographical diversity of their style.
Image: Pandanus baskets with natural dyes from Arnhem Land
Central Desert Fibre
Woven sculpture and baskets by Tjanpi Desert Weavers are made from desert grass (tjanpi), wool, raffia and found objects. The artists collect the materials and make the work in their traditional homelands. The weavings reflect the culture, environment and activities of Ngaanyatjarra, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara women in Central Australia. Tjanpi (grass) began as a series of basket-weaving workshops held in 1995. Today women across 18 central desert communities make a spectacular array of quirky and animated sculptural forms as well as magnificent baskets from locally collected grasses. Working with fibre in this way is a fundamental and vital part of contemporary desert culture.
Image: Fibre sculpture from Tjanpi Desert Weavers
Bronze
Bronze sculpture first emerged from Tiwi Design artists in 1999 working with Melbourne sculptor Brendan Hackett from Blue Print Foundry. Tiwi ancestral figures were first carved in wood by Tiwi artists and then cast in bronze creating highly collectable limited edition bronze sculptures. Since then a number of bronze pieces have been produced by artists from Nguiu and Melville Island.
Alongside Tiwi bronze a number of workshops were also held in Maningrida to produce large-scale public art sculpture and many Arnhem Land artists have traveled to Brisbane to work with Urban Arts Projects. Over the last decade many bronze sculptures have been produced on various scales and Nomad Art stock a selection of these in bronze and aluminum.
Image: Bronze sculpture by Cyril Kerinauia from Tiwi Islands
Ceramics
There are only a few select art centres working in ceramics, they include:
· Tiwi Islands artists
· Ernabella Arts
· Hermannsburg Potters
· Waralungku Arts in Borroloola.
Nomad Art stocks work as it becomes available. Ceramic art varies from functional vases and bowls to decorative and sculptural pieces.
Image: Ceramics from Tiwi Islands
Jewellery
Nomad Art stocks a select range of silver jewellery by Tiwi Island and Central Australian artists. The jewellery is designed and produced through collaborations between Aboriginal artists and Jewelers. The range includes jewellery by:
· Siri Omberg and Mavis Wari who collaborate in Alice Springs.
· Tiwi Artists and Melbourne jeweler Ali Limb
· Better World Arts working in collaboration with Central Australian artists in the remote north west corner of South Australia and Peruvian silversmiths
· Ikon Jewellery produced with Warlukurlangu Artists' Aboriginal Corporation in Yuendumu, Central Australia.
· Hand made seed necklaces from Arnhem Land and the Central Desert.
Image: Jewellery from Tiwi Islands and Central Australia
Carved Boab Nuts
In the Kimberley region of Western Australia, the boab tree produces nuts during the Dry Season (May – September). Collecting nuts is often a social occasion and may be part of 'women's business' and 'men's business'. The nuts are prepared for carving by removing the green "fur" coating. Carving tools include razor blades, pocket knives, sharpened kitchen table knives, bits of cans and proper engraving tools. Traditionally boab nuts are decorated by carving geometric designs and in recent years with figurative and landscape images. Carving time depends on the artist, the size of the nut and the complexity of the artist's design.
Image: Carved boab Nuts from the Kimberley, WA
Unique Folios
Nomad Art facilitates and promotes cross-cultural and collaborative projects with artists nationally. A range of collectors’ folios are available including:
• Replant: A new generation of botanical art, an excursion through the eyes of six different artists into the remarkable world of plants in the tropical north of Australia.
• Djalkiri: We are standing on their names – Blue Mud Bay. A cross-cultural folio of etchings and screen-prints with accompanying catalogue and DVD film. Featuring Djambawa Marawili, Fiona Hall, John Wolseley, Jorg Schmeisser, Judy Watson, Marrirra Marawili, Marrnyula Mununggurr, Mulkun Wirrpanda and Liyawaday Wirrpanda. Collaborative printer Basil Hall Editions.
• Bardayal Bim. A folio of ten limited edition prints by renowned artist Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO (deceased). Collaborative printmaker Andrew Sinclair
• I am Tiwi. A boxed folio of ten prints by Tiwi artist Jean Baptiste Apuatimi. Etchings produced at Australian Print Workshop and lithographs produced at Tiwi Design.
• Desert Mob 20th Anniversary Print Folio. A boxed folio of forty original woodcuts by Indigenous artists from DesArt Art Centres (Central Australia). Editioned at Basil Hall Editions to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Desert Mob in 2010.
• Injalak Hill Suite - Kunwarrde Bim (2006). A collection of etchings by nine artists from Injalak Arts and Crafts in Western Arnhem Land.
Image: Unique Folios and Gifts from Nomad Art