BORN: c1945
REGION: UTOPIA, ALICE SPRINGS-NORTHERN TERRITORY
LANGUAGE GROUP: ANMATYERRE
GLORIA PETYARRE HAS RECENTLY BEEN COMMISSIONED TO DESIGN A SIGNITURE SCARF FOR THE FRENCH FASHION HOUSE HERMES. SHE IS TRULY ONE ARTIST TO INVEST IN!
Gloria Petyarre was born in 1945. An Anmatyerre speaker, Gloria’s country is Anungara and her Dreamngs are Mountain Devil Lizard (Arnkerrthe), Bean (Atnwerle), Emu (Ankerre), Pencil Yam (Arlartyeye), Atnangkere and Grass Seed (Ntange).
Petyarre’s country is the inspiration for all of her art. Gloria first gained recognition as an artist working in the medium of Batik, exhibiting with the Utopia Women in shows around Australia and abroad, for a decade before taking up the medium of canvas.
Gloria most frequently paints the changing hues of the bush medicine leaf as it dries under the harsh desert sun..
Hers is a unique style, and one that has evolved into abstract fields that represent leaves, grasses and body paint.
By 1991, she had her first solo exhibition in Sydney followed by one in New York. In 1999 Gloria was the winner of the prestigious Wynne Prize for her Bush Medicine piece; “Leaves Blowing In the Wind”.
She has also been selected as a finalist four times since.
Her work has also featured numerous times in the most important Aboriginal art prize in the country, The Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Straight Art Award in Darwin.
It was of no surprise to those in the industry that Gloria’s record at auction was also topped in November 2007, for Bush Medicine, 2004.
The artwork brought $78,000.00 against an estimate of $40,000.00- $60,000.00
Gloria’s work is represented in the collections of: The National Gallery of Australia; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide; Art Gallery of Queensland, Brisbane; Flinders University, Adelaide; Griffith University Collection; Queensland University of Technology; Supreme Court, Brisbane; Westpac Gallery, New York, U.S.A.; Wadsworth Anthenaeum, Hartford, U.S.A.; Wollongong University Collection; Artbank, Sydney; Macquarie Bank; Singapore Art Museum; The Art Gallery of N.S.W., Allen, Allen, and Hemsley, Victorian Museum, Museums and Art Gallery of The Northern Territories, Powerhouse Museum, Gold Coast City Gallery, and the Holmes a Court Collection.