Gracie Pwerl Morton is an important Australian artist represented in throughout the world including Beher-Sammlung Privatsammlungen Reimers-Stiftung, Slaughter and May International Law in London, Art Gallery of South Australia (Adelaide), Queensland Art Gallery (Brisbane), National Gallery of Australia (Canberra), Museum and Art Gallery Northern Territory (Darwin), Art Bank (Sydney), National Gallery of Victoria (Melbourne), Art Gallery of Western Australia (Perth) and Homes a Court Gallery and gallery Collection (Perth). Gracie style of painting is distinctively minimalist and she uses a very delicate dotting technique, her career began in the 1970's with the Utopia Women's Batik Group and on canvas in the late 1980's - BIOGRAPHY

Gracie Pwerl Morton career began in the 1970's with the Utopia Women's Batik Group and on canvas in the late 1980's. Her work has been well received in galleries throughout Australia and around the world. Gracie works with great strength and dynamism of the Utopian women artists that continues across the generations. Gracie's delicate dotting and colour variation uses an aerial perspective to portray the seasonal changes of the Amwekety - the Bush Plum, a plant of great significance to the women of Gracie's traditional country, Mosquito Bore. Gracie Morton style of painting is distinctively minimalist and she uses a very delicate dotting technique and traditional colors. Her signature theme is the "bush plum" stories known to the Alyawarre as Arnwekety. Gracie work, first featured in the important Robert Holmes à Court Collection, is now in many important private and public collections around the world.

Blue Bush Plum

Artist:     Gracie Pwerle Morton (B.1956-)
Title:       Blue Bush Plum
Medium:  Acrylic on Belgian linen
Image Size: 70 x 100 cm

Bush Plum Yellow

Artist:     Gracie Pwerle Morton (B.1956-)
Title:       Bush Plum Yellow
Medium:  Acrylic on Belgian linen
Image Size: 130 x 120 cm

Black Lady

Artist:      Gracie Pwerle Morton and Kathleen Petyarre (B. 1940-)
Title:        Black Lady
Medium:  Acrylic on Belgian linen
Image Size:  121.5 x 123.5 cm

Gracie Morton Pwerle aka Gracie Morton Pwerl Biography:

Gracie Morton Pwerle (aka Gracie Morton Pwerl)
Born: circa 1956  
Region: Utopia, Australian Northern Territory  
Language Group: Alyawarre.

An Alyawarre woman from Utopia Station, approximately 250km north-east of Alice Springs, Gracie's works are represented in major private collections such as The Robert Holmes a Court Collection in Western Australia. She exhibits regularly in Australia, more recently in a solo show titled 'Mosquito Bore - The Art of the Minimalist' at Ancient Earth Indigenous Art Gallery in Cairns and in a group exhibition at the Alliance Francaise de Canberra and French Embassy in Canberra.

Gracie was born in Utopia, Northern Territory around 1956. Her exact date of birth is not known, though she says ‘it was a long time ago’. There is a rich artistic tradition that runs in Gracie’s family and she is related to a string of well respected artists. Her mother is sister to Gloria, Kathleen, Violet, Mrytle and Ada Bird Petyarre, all well established artists. Her sisters Mary, Rita and Elizabeth also paint. Gracie Morton is the daughter of artist Myrtle Petyarre.  Gracie now lives in the Central Desert. Gracie Pwerl Morton is one of the senior traditional custodian for both the Altyerre (Dreaming) and the vast expanse of related country, some 263kms north of Alice Springs, Australia. In accordance to traditional law the responsibility for the Bush Plum Dreaming has been passed down to Gracie from her father and her aunt, who are responsible for ensuring that she perseveres its traditions.

Gracie Pwerl Morton areer began in the 1970's with the Utopia Women's Batik Group and on canvas in the late 1980's. Her work has been well received in galleries throughout Australia and around the world. Gracie works with great strength and dynamism of the Utopian women artists that continues across the generations. Gracie's delicate dotting and colour variation uses an aerial perspective to portray the seasonal changes of the Amwekety - the Bush Plum, a plant of great significance to the women of Gracie's traditional country, Mosquito Bore. Gracie Morton style of painting is distinctively minimalist and she uses a very delicate dotting technique and traditional colors. Her signature theme is the "bush plum" stories known to the Alyawarre as Arnwekety. Gracie work, first featured in the important Robert Holmes à Court Collection, is now in many important private and public collections around the world.

Gracie Pwerl Morton
Born: c.1956
Region: Utopia, (Eastern Desert)
Language Group: Alyawarre

Gracie Pwerl Morton began her career as an batik artist in the 1970's with the Utopia Women's Batik Group before transferring her designs onto canvas in the late 1980's. In the works of Gracie Pwerl Morton one can readily see that the great strength and dynamism of the Utopian women artists that continues across the generations. Gracie's delicate dotting and colour variation uses an aerial perspective to portray the seasonal changes of the Amwekety - the Bush Plum, a plant of great significance to the women of Gracie's traditional country, Mosquito Bore.

The finesse of Gracie's style creates a wonderful lyricism in her works. An Alyawarre woman from Utopia Station, approximately 250km north-east of Alice Springs, Gracie's works are represented in major private collections such as The Robert Holmes a Court Collection in Western Australia. She exhibits regularly in Australia, more recently in a solo show titled 'Mosquito Bore - The Art of the Minimalist' at Ancient Earth Indigenous Art Gallery in Cairns and in a group exhibition at the Alliance Francaise de Canberra and French Embassy in Canberra.

Gracie Pwerl Morton - Bush Plum

The delightfully subtle paintings of the Amwekety - the Bush Plum, depict the changing seasonal influences on a plant that is of the greatest significance to the Alyawrre women of the Eastern Desert region of the Northern Territory.

Gracie Pwerl Morton is one of the senior traditional custodian for both the Altyerre (Dreaming) and the vast expanse of related country, some 263kms north of Alice Springs, Australia. In accordance to traditional law the responsibility for the Bush Plum Dreaming has been passed down to Gracie from her father and her aunt, who are responsible for ensuring that she perseveres its traditions.

The Bush Plum is a highly nutritious small fruit with black seeds, rich in vitamin C, that can be eaten raw or cooked. Growing in a great profusion of flower and fruit throughout the winter months, the women, accompanied by the children collect the Bush Plums, while at the same time reconfirming their connection to the land.

The flourish of colour that distinguishes the Bush Plum after the fall of rain, is quickly transformed with the long hot summer months. Dried and separated, the seed and husk are scatter over the vast sunbaked landscape by the hot summer winds.

The incredible finesse of Gracie’s style creates a wonderful lyricism in her works, causing a three-dimensionality that pulls at the eye guiding the viewer through the soft, outward-reaching fields of colour, while simultaneously transfixing one in its undulations.

Gracie Pwerl Morton - Bush Plum stories.
The delightfully subtle paintings of the Amwekety - the Bush Plum, depict the changing seasonal influences on a plant that is of the greatest significance to the Alyawrre women of the Eastern Desert region of the Northern Territory. The incredible finesse of Gracie’s style creates a wonderful lyricism in her works, causing a three-dimensionality that pulls at the eye guiding the viewer through the soft, outward-reaching fields of colour, while simultaneously transfixing one in its undulations.

The Bush Plum is a highly nutritious small fruit with black seeds, rich in vitamin C, that can be eaten raw or cooked. Growing in a great profusion of flower and fruit throughout the winter months, the women, accompanied by the children collect the Bush Plums, while at the same time reconfirming their connection to the land. The flourish of colour that distinguishes the Bush Plum after the fall of rain, is quickly transformed with the long hot summer months. Dried and separated, the seed and husk are scatter over the vast sun baked landscape by the hot summer winds.

Solo Exhibitions:

• 2000 Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns, Australia Group Exhibitions:

• 1985 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1986 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1989 Utopia Women's Paintings. The First Works on Canvas. A Summer Project, SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australia

• 1989-91 Utopia - A Picture Story, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australia; The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Ireland; Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

• 1991 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1991 8th National Aboriginal Art Awards, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Australia

• 1992 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1993 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1994 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1996 Desert Mob, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1998 Utopia und Balgo Hills, Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer, Germany

• 1998 Culture Store, Art Gallery, Rotterdam. Netherlands

• 1998 Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florenz, Italy

• 1999 Alliance Francaise de Canberra and French Embassy. Australia

• 1999 Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1999 Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, Australia

• 1999 My Country - Journey of our Ancestors, Ancient Earth Indigenous Art, Cairns

• 2000 Kunst der Aborigines, Leverkusen, Germany

• 2000 Mosquito Bore - The Art of the Minimalist, Ancient Earth Indigenous Art,Australia

• 2001 alice.fitzroy@af, Alliance Francaise de Canberra , Canberra, Australia

• 2001 The Unseen in Scene, Staedtische Galerie Wolfsburg, Germany

• 2001-02 Recounting the Essence of Life. Art from Australia, Kunstforum HDZ, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany

• 2002 Land is Life. Art from Australia, Jagdschloss Granitz, Binz, Ruegen, Germany

• 2002 Kult(o)urnacht, Aboriginal Art Galerie Baehr, Speyer, Germany.

COLLECTIONS: 
Corporate and private collection in Australia and throughout the world including Beher-Sammlung Privatsammlungen Reimers-Stiftung, Slaughter and May International Law, London; National Gallery of Victoria Melbourne; National Gallery of Australia;  Art Gallery of South Australia; Artbank Sydney; Holmes a' Court Collection Perth.

Bibliography and PUBLICATIONS:
Das Verborgene im Sichtbaren. The Unseen in Scene. Aboriginal Art Galerie Bähr, Speyer, ; Utopia - A Picture Story: 88 Works on Silk. The Robert Holmes à Court Collection. Brody, A. (Hrsg.), Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide 1989 ; Utopia Women's Paintings: The First Works on Canvas. A Summer Project 1988-89. Brody, A. (Hrsg.), Heytesbury Holdings, Perth 1989.

Source & FURTHER REFERENCES:
 "Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert - A Biographical Dictionary" by Vivien Johnson, published by Craftsman House 1994,
 "The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture" edited by Sylvia Kleinert and Margo Neale published by OUP 2000,
 “Australian Aboriginal Artist Encyclopedia” – dictionary of biographies” Kreczmanski, Janusz B & Birnberg, Margo (eds.): Aboriginal Artists: Dictionary of Biographies: Central Desert, Western Desert & Kimberley Region (JB Publishing Australia, Marleston, 2004).
Brody, A. 1989 Utopia women’s Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A summer Project, 1988-89 exhib. Cat. Heytesbury Holdings, Perth Brody, A. 1990 Utopia, a picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Homes a Court Gallery and gallery Collection, Heytesbury Holdings LTD Perth NATSIVAD database.