Description
- Ink colors: pale blue and metallic silver
- Base cloth color: peacock blue – vibrant
- Composition: Princess dupion silk
- Width: 137 cm (54 inches)
- Weight of base cloth: 85 gsm
- The artist is paid royalties for every metre printed
- The photo of Therese shows the scale of the print in a different colour/fabric
About the artist: Kumuntjayi (Alice) Nampitjinpa Dixon (dec)
Alice was a Luritja and Pintupi artist; born in 1943 near Talaalpi: country east of Walungurru on the Western Australia / Northern Territory border. Alice is an established artist who has exhibited widely around Australia and the world. Her late father, Uta Uta Jangala, was one of the original Papunya Tula painters. Prior to painting, Alice worked for many years at the Kintore School teaching the young girls dancing and the traditions of the desert people. Alice remains an active “dancing woman” who travels widely to participate in annual ceremonies and “Women’s Law” meetings. She was a lead singer in the Sydney 2000 Olympics. Alice’s personal Tjukurrpa (Dreaming) is Tjilkamata – the porcupine. Her story is told in bright colours often utilising orange and yellow to mirror the ochres that are used in ceremonial body painting. In her Tjukurrpa story there is often the porcupine scurrying about rock holes and hiding places looking for tucker while nearby the women are themselves hunting, laying in wait for the porcupine
Art story: Watiya Tjuta at Talaalpi
This design shows the acacia trees in Alice’s country, Talaalpi, which is located beyond the Kintore/Kiwikurra road near the West Australian and Northern Territory border. This is the country where her father and mother used to travel by foot when she was a young girl. The place was of great spiritual significance to Kumuntjai and her father’s family as it contains both, personal and tribal law to which Kumuntjai related in her work. When it rains at Taalalpi, water collects between the sandhills, providing sustenance for her porcupine.
Tjilkamata (porcupine) was Kumuntjai’s own personal Tjukurrpa (Dreaming). She returned to her country for a visit in late 2005.
Alice passed away in late 2020. She was one of the co-founders and is a great loss.
Ikuntji Artists: the first art centre established by women in the Australian Aboriginal Western Desert Art Movement. Already in the 1980s women began painting in Haasts Bluff in the aged care facility. They had been instructed by their husbands and fathers, and they had often assisted them in completing their paintings. By the early 1990s these women artists decided to pursue setting up their own art centre. Ikuntji is an Aboriginal owned, non-profit Aboriginal Corporation.
Printed by:
Publisher Textiles & Papers in Sydney is one of Australia’s leading print houses. Focused on producing original patterns through traditional hand-screen printing methods they create bold and colourful textiles, hand printed wallpaper, clothing and fabric. www.publishertextiles.com.au
Fabric care instructions:
Dry clean if you want to retain the same handle/feel.
