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William Sandy Biography:
William Sandy was born circa 1944 near Ernabella
in South Australia.
View William Sandy
Curriculum Vitae
page 337 Australian
Encyclopedia
Aboriginal Artists dictionary of biographies.
Wlliam Sandy started to paint in 1975.
From the early 1980s, he began painting for the Papunya Tula Artists. William Sandy
has ived in Areyonga and Haasts Bluff in Papunya, since 1973, with his family where he began
painting in 1975. William moved to Papunya in 1973 and two years later did his first
painting for Papunya Tula Artists, after teaching himself to paint by
watching the older artists. At Papunya he married Violet Nakamarra,
Michael Nelson Jagamarra’s sister. They have four children. William
Sandy was the first of the Pitjantjatjara involved in the contemporary
art movement. From the early 1980s, he began painting for the
Papunya Tula Artists. William Sandy is also a very knowledgeable,
traditional
medicine man.
Warumpi Community Art Centre
in Alice Springs was one of the first Art Centers operated fully by
Aboriginal artists. Many
of painters
who started the Aboriginal art movement
like William Sandy,
Billy Stockman,
Long Jack
Phillipus
are very old
or
have passed away and the
younger generation is learning western customs.
Today
Aboriginal Australians live and work around the world, from
Papunya to London, from
Arnhem Land to New York.
Thus,
it
is probably the last chance that anyone on this planet can obtain
important
authentic
paintings of
William Sandy.
Kunapi, far to the south
of Papunya out towards Docker River, is his country from his grandmother
and mothers side.
William Sandy grew up walking around these places
- and further north around Hermannsburg, Areyonga and Haasts Bluff.
Eventually the family settled at Ernabella, where William attended the
mission school. From here William Sandy came to Papunya in 1973 and
married Violet Nakamarra, sister of Michael NELSON Jagamarra. They have
four children, a boy and three girls, one adopted. From the time of his
arrival in Papunya settlement, William worked for the Papunya Council.
He is married to Violet Nakamarra, the
sister of Michael Nelson Jakamarra. Some of his subjects are
dingo, emu, women and green bean.
William Sandy is also a very knowledgeable, traditional medicine man. From the late '80's, he and his wife have been health workers with the
Papunya Medical Service. William Sandy paints Dingo, Emu, Woman, Green Bean and other
Dreaming stories for his country. His work was included in the
'Dreamings' show which toured the USA in 1988 - 89, and in the
subsequent show of Papunya Tula Artists at the John Weber
Gallery in New York. He had a solo exhibition in 1990 at Gallery
Gabrielle Pizzi, and the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery Melbourne
1994-95-96-97-98 . Grand Hyatt, Jakarta 1992, London 1993, Sydney
1994-95-96-97-98, , Australian Embassy Washington and New York 1999.
William's wife, Violet Nakamarra, has also painted occasionally since
the early '80's. William Sandy has stopped other employment
to painting since the early '80's when he began painting full-time for
Galleries including Papunya Tula Artists group and the Aboriginal Desert
Art Gallery in Alice Springs. In 1985 he won the Australian North Territory Art Award.
EXHIBITIONS:
1982 Georges Exhibition, Melbourne; 1983 Mori Gallery, Sydney; 1985
Aboriginal Artists Gallery, Melbourne;
1986 Queensland University,
Brisbane;
1988 Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery;
1988 - 1989 "Dreaming"
Exhibition which toured the USA;
1989 John Weber Gallery, New York,
USA;
1989 Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo, Mexico City, Mexico;
1990
Isaacs Gallery, Toronto, Canada;
1990 Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi,
Melbourne; 1990 Wagga Wagga Art Gallery;
1991 Lowe Art Museum,
University of Miami, USA;
1992 IBM - Kawasaki City Gallery, Kawasaki, Japan;
1993 Chapman
Gallery, Canberra;
1997 Manningham Art Space, Melbourne;
1999, 2000
Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne;
1999, 2000 Aboriginal
Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne;
1999 Embassy of Australia,
Washington, USA;
2003 Chapel off Chapel Gallery, Melbourne; Lowe Art Museum University of Miami USA, IBM
Kawasaki City Gallery Japan, John Weber Gallery New York USA, Centro Cultural
Arte Contemporaneo Mexico City,Traveling exhibition USA, Wollongong City Art
Gallery, Isaac Gallery Toronto Canada, National Gallery of Victoria, Embassy
of Australian Washington, Mori Gallery Sydney, Wagga-Wagga City Art Gallery,
Georges Exhibition Melbourne, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi Melbourne, Aboriginal
Art Gallery Melbourne, Queensland University Brisbane, Art Gallery of Western
Australia, Araluen Centre Alice Springs, Chapmen Gallery Canberra,
Manningnham Art Space Melbourne, Chapel of Chapel Gallery Melbourne.
AWARDS:
1985 Northern Territory Art Award, Darwin; William Sandy was the first
of the Pitjantjatjara involved in the contemporary art movement
COLLECTIONS:
Holmes a Court collection
Perth;
Art Gallery of Western
Australia Perth;
Art Gallery of South
Australia Adelaide;
National Gallery of Victoria,
Melbourne; Wollongong
City Art Gallery;
National
Gallery of Australia Canberra;
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Darwin; Broken
Hill Art Gallery;
Artbank
Sydney; Manningham
Art Space, Melbourne;
Queensland Art Gallery
Brisbane;
Queensland University, Brisbane; Wagga Wagga Art Gallery; Michael Hollow Collection, Alice Springs;
Aboriginal Art Galleries of Australia, Melbourne; John Weber Gallery New York USA;
Centro Cultural Arte Contemporaneo Mexico City Mexico; Isaacs Gallery
Toronto Canada; Lowe Art Museum University of
Miami USA; Araluen Arts Centre Alice Springs; IBM Kawasaki City
Gallery Japan; Embassy of Australia Washington,USA; Mori Gallery Sydney;
Grand
Hyatt Jakarta and London; Donald Khan
Collection USA; Groninger Museum Groninger The Netherlands; Oxford University
England; Donald Kahn Collection USA; Corporate and private collections
all over the world
Literature:
Amadio, N. und Kimber, R., Wildbird Dreaming. Aboriginal Art from the
Central Deserts of Australia, Greenhouse Publ., Melbourne 1988; Auckland
City Art Gallery, Auckland 1990, Ausst. Kat.; Australian Aboriginal Art
from the Collection of Donald Kahn. Lowe Art Museum, University of Miami
(Hrsg.), 1991, Ausst. Kat.; Droombeelden - Tjukurrpa. Groninger Museum (Hrsg.),
Groningen 1995, Ausst. Kat.; Isaacs, J., Australia´s Living Heritage.
Arts of the Dreaming, Lansdowne Press, Sydney 1984; Isaacs, J.,
Australian Aboriginal Paintings. Lansdowne, Sydney 1989, ISBN
186302011X; Johnson, V., Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert. A
Biographical Dictionary, Craftsman House, East Roseville 1994, ISBN
9768097817; Modern Art - Ancient Icon. The Aboriginal Gallery of
Dreamings (Hrsg.), o.O. 1992, ISBN 0646080520; Nangara. The Australian
Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection. The Aboriginal
Gallery of Dreamings (Hrsg.), Melbourne 1996, Ausst. Kat.; Stourton, P.
Corbally, Songlines and Dreamings. Lund Humphries Publ., London 1996,
ISBN 0853316910; The Painted Dream. Contemporary Aboriginal Paintings.
Johnson, V. (Hrsg.), Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland 1991, Ausst.
Kat.; Tjinytjilpa. The Dotted Design. Aboriginal Art Galleries of
Australia (Hrsg.), Melbourne 1998, Ausst. Kat.; Traumzeit - Tjukurrpa.
Kunst der Aborigines der Western Desert. Die Donald Kahn-Sammlung,
Danzker, J.B. (Hrsg.), Prestel, München und New York 1994, Ausst. Kat.;
Voices of the Earth. Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from
Aboriginal Australia. Gabrielle Pizzi (Hrsg.), Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi,
Melbourne 1996, Ausst. Kat., ISBN 0646288954 |
