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Pansy Napangardi (B. 1947-)
261A Mt Scanzi Road Kangaroo Valley NSW 2577 Australia T: +612
4465 1494 www.galeriaaniela.com.au
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Pansy Napangardi is an important Australian artist highly sought by National and international art collectors her paintings are represented in major private and public collections throughout the world. View Pansy Napangardi Biography |
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Artist:
Pansy Napangardi
(B. 1947-)
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Pansy Napangardi (a Luritja/Warlpiri decent) was born at Haasts Bluff in the late 1940s during the early years of mission settlement and was moved with the settlement to Papunya in the early 1960s. She is a major painter in what is today known as the Papunya Tula movement. She is from the Warlpiri language group. Although she observed the men's painting business there, she is one of the rare women associated with Papunya Tula who did not serve an apprenticeship with the men. She sold her works independently in Alice Springs at first, but during the 1980s she became the pre-eminent woman painter at Papunya Tula, winning the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award (NATSIAA) in 1989. She is associated with the Jukurrpa group of women artists in Alice Springs where she lives today. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Please view resume on page 258 Australian Encyclopedia Aboriginal Artists dictionary of biographies.
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Pansy Napangardi is an important Australian artist represented in National Gallery of Australia - Canberra; Art Gallery of New South Wales - Sydney; Richard Kelton Foundation, Santa Monica, BBC UK Collection, London, England; National Gallery, London; Art Gallery of South Australia - Adelaide; Art Gallery of Western Australia - Perth; Museum of Contemporary Art - Sydney; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney; Museum & Art Gallery Northern Territory Darwin; Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery - Hobart; Homes a Court Gallery and gallery Collection; Queensland Art Gallery - Brisbane; The Kerry Stokes Art Collection; Australia; Art Bank, Sydney; Michael Hollow Collection, Alice Springs; Pansy work was included in the company's display at the 1988 Brisbane Expo and also featured on the cover of The Inspired Dream catalogue of a major survey of Aboriginal Art shown and long admired by Corporate and private collections around the world.. In 1989 she won the 6th Australian National Aboriginal Art Award. In 1993 Pansy won the Australian Northern Territory Art Award. Pansy father and grandfather are Warlpiri tribesmen and were born at Pikilyi (Vaughan Springs), west of Papunya. Pansy paints; Bush Banana, Water Snake, Seven Sisters, Hail, Desert Raisin and Two Women, Kangaroo, Cockatoo, Bush Mangoes and Willy Wagtail. Her mother who was Luritja was born at the site of Illpili. Pansy mother's cousin taught Pansy the Dreamings from her mother's side of the family. Napangarti’s grandparents first showed her how to depict her inherited stories 'Dreamings' by drawing them in the sand. Napangarti was born in Haast Bluff in central Australia. She bases her work on the traditional Dreamings handed down through her family. Unlike other aboriginal women artists, Napangarti did not serve an apprenticeship by working on the paintings of her male relatives. Instead, she forged her own distinctive style in the 1970s and is now represented in major collections across the world. Warlpiri artist, Pansy Napangardi moved to Alice Springs in 1989. "When I was a young girl we always travelled around a lot. We'd go to a swimming hole, hunting or gathering bush tucker. Later on I saw my uncle painting and I asked him, 'Can you tell me my mother's dreaming? I want to put them down.' " They told her the stories and showed her in the sand how to depict them. She practised on paper and later used her designs to do collages made up with the ininti seeds from which the women used for making jewellery. As she gained experience in this form, she moved into her forte', acrylic on canvas. Since that time Pansy's paintings have inspired world acclaim. Today she is considered on of the foremost artists from Alice Springs. Although it has been said that Aboriginal women have only been painting since the 1980's, Pansy states that she, like her sister Eunice Napangardi, commenced painting earlier. She began recording her dreamings in the early 1970's at the start of the Papunya Art Movement. By observing Johnny Warangkula and Kaapa, two established artists, Pansy's style emerged. Unlike many other women artist now associated with the Papunya Tula Artists she did not serve an apprenticeship, but began painting for herself. At the time the resources were the province of the senior initiated men that started the movement. She sold her work privately through Alice Springs until 1983 when she started painting with the Papunya Tula Artists on a full time basis. Pansy's work gives voice to her traditional beliefs and symbolises a triumphal cultural statement by the once near defeated people of the Central Australian Desert. Her paintings are remarkable with their use of colour. Blues, greens and pinks create a spiritual vigour and nervous energy that excite the eye. They are refreshing with their striking vitality and exploring diversity. Her paintings represent the fertility and glory of her traditional land, making a statement about the relationship of the her people and the land. Pansy is an artist who constantly experiments and surprises. Her close contact with Non-Aboriginal Australians has progressed her in her search for new rhythms and frontiers yet she always remains firm within the confines of Aboriginal traditions. Her work was seen at the 1988 Brisbane expo as well as the cover of 'The Inspired Dream', which was published at the same time. She has had several solo exhibitions, one of them at the Sydney Opera House, followed by the Gallery Gabrille Pizzi. Her work is featured in many group exhibitions including Richard Kelton Foundation collection, 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery Canberra and the 'Karnta' exhibition at the New South Wales Art Gallery. In 1989 she won the 6th National Aboriginal Art Award and in 1993 won the Northern Territory Art Award. From 1960 onwards Pansy lived in Papunya where she observed older artists like Johnny WARANGKULA and KAAPA Tjampitjinpa. From this, she developed her own style. Pansy recalls her grandmother and grandfather telling her stories about her Dreamings and also showing her how to depict them by drawing them in the sand. She practiced on paper and later used her designs to do collages comprised of glue and the ininti seeds from which the women usually made necklaces. Unlike other women artists now associated with Papunya Tula Artists, she did not serve an apprenticeship by working up to the 80's on the paintings of her male relatives. She began working for herself from the early 70's. The resources of Papunya Tula Artists at this time were exclusively the province of the senior initiated men who began the painting enterprise. Pansy independently sold her works in Alice Springs. She worked in this manner for about five years followed by a long break. In 1983 she resumed painting, working for Papunya Tula Artists. During the late 80's she emerged as Papunya Tula's foremost women artist. Her work was included in the company's display at the 1988 Brisbane Expo and also featured on the cover of The Inspired Dream catalogue of a major survey of Aboriginal Art shown at the same time at the Queensland Art Gallery. She has had two solo exhibitions. The first one was at the Sydney Opera House in September 1988 promoted by the Centre for Aboriginal Artists (for whom she still paints for occasionally). The second showing occurred at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in Melbourne in May 1989 promoted by Papunya Tula Artists. In 1989 she won the sixth National Aboriginal Art Award. She showed again at the Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi in late 1991 and also in Brisbane with EUNICE Napangardi in early 1992. Her work has appeared in several major surveys of Aboriginal art, including 'Mythscapes' at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1989 and 'Karnta', a show of Aboriginal women's work at the Art Gallery of NSW in 1991. She has a son and four other adopted children, the youngest of whom she now lives with in Alice Springs. Pansy attends literacy classes at IAD with many of the other women from the Tjukurrpa painting group. Her sister Alice Napangardi is married to artist Dinny NOLAN and lives in Papunya. Her younger brother BROGAS TJAPANGATI also paints for the Papunya Tula Artists and the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery. Papunya Tula, or Papunya Tula Artists Pty Ltd, is an artists' cooperative formed in 1972 to market the paintings of a group of Aboriginal Australian men. They began painting traditional designs using western art materials at the Papunya settlement, 240 km northwest of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory in 1971. The Australian government moved several different groups living in the region to Papunya in an effort to remove them from cattle lands and assimlate them into western culture. They were primarily Pintupi, Luritja, Walpiri, Arrernte, and Anmatyerre peoples. Papunya is the epicenter of the Honey Ant Dreaming where songlines converge. The name "tula" derives from a small hill near Papunya, and refers to the Honey Ant Ancestor of the indigenous inhabitants of the area. For many years only men participated in this commercial activity. A few women, notably Pansy Napangardi, began to paint for the company in the late 1980s, but it wasn't until 1994 that women generally began to participate. The company operates today out of Alice Springs and is widely regarded as the premier purveyor of Aboriginal art in Central Australia. Also known as the Western Desert Art Movement, the style of painting, although traditionally used in the sand and for body adornment in ceremonies, had never been painted before in Western style – that is, using acrylic paint, and a hard surface. Popularly referred to as "dot painting", the paintings of Papunya Tula brought Aboriginal art to world attention, and have inspired many other Aboriginal artists and styles. Some would say they have brought Australian art in general to the world stage. Traditionally, this painting style was used for spiritual purposes, and so had strict protocols around its use. Many symbols depicted personal totems and Dreamings, and others more general Dreamtime creation stories. Once the art became popular, many symbols were therefore omitted or changed for public viewing.
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