Bush Medicine Leaves
Gloria Tamerre Petyarre (1942 - 2021)

Bush Medicine Leaves 
Artist: Gloria Tamerre Petyarre (1942 - 2021)

Region: Utopia, Northern Territory, Australia
Language Group: Anmatyerre.
Medium: Acrylic on Linen
Date: 2010

Dimensions: 40 inches x 27 inches (101 x 69 cm)

This painting is one of Gloria’s trademark artistic interpretations of her well-known design, the Bush Medicine Dreaming. It features Gloria’s unique style depicting the leaves of the bush medicine plant in broad, vibrant brush strokes with well defined segments filled with curved lines, that evoke a strong rhythmic quality. 

Biography

One of Australia’s most accomplished contemporary artists, Gloria Tamerre Petyarre was born in 1945.  An Anmatyerre speaker, Gloria’s country is Anungara and her Dreamings are Mountain Devil Lizard (arnkerrthe), Bean (atnwerle), Emu (ankerre), Pencil Yam (arlartyeye), and Grass Seed (ntange).  Petyarre’s country is the inspiration for all 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. She traveled to Ireland, England, and India in 1990 as part of the Utopia – A picture story exhibition. She held her first solo exhibition in 1991. She is represented in major Australian galleries such as the National Gallery of Australia. Gloria’s work has increased in scale and precision in recent years, and she is now regarded as one of Utopia’s most significant artists. She is the niece of Emily Kngwarreye and the younger sister of Kathleen Petyarre, two of the greatest Aboriginal artists. 

Awards
1999—Winner, Wynne Prize for Landscape Painting;
1993 Tapestry for Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, Vic ;
1993 Mural for Kansas City Zoo, U.S.A. ;
1994 Tapestry Commission for the Law Courts, Brisbane, Qld

Commissions

1993 Tapestry for Victorian Tapestry Workshop, Melbourne, Vic
1993 Mural for Kansas City Zoo, USA
1994 Tapestry Commission for the Law Courts, Brisbane, Qld
1999 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of NSW

Select Collections

Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Surfers Paradise QLD
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin NT
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne VIC
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane QLD
The Holmes à Court Collection, Perth WA
The Art Gallery of New South Wales
Allen, Allen and Hemsley, AUS
Victorian Museum, AUS..
Powerhouse Museum, Westpac Collection, New York, US.
Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, AUD 
Levi Collection in Seattle, USA.

Solo Exhibitions

1991 Utopia Art, Sydney
1991 Australia Galleries, New York, USA.
1993 Awelye, Utopia Art Sydney
1994 Utopia Art, Sydney
1995 Gloria Petyarre: On the Line, Utopia Art, Sydney
1997 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
1998 The Aknangkere Growth Paintings, Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT
1998 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne, Vic
1998 Gloria Petyarre, Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery
1998 Wildflowers, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs
1999 Red Desert Gallery, Eumundi, Qld
2000 Leaves you thinking, Walkabout Gallery, Sydney
2003 Changes – Gloria Petyarre, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
2009 New Works, Big Leaves, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2010 DACOU Gallery, Melbourne
2014 Gloria Petyarre: Leaves, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane

Selected Group Exhibitions

1984 1st National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin NT
1985 2nd National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin NT
1988 Time Before Time, Austral Gallery, St. Loius, USA
1988 Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Utopia Art, Sydney.1989 Utopia Women, Coventry Gallery, Sydney NSW
1989 Art From Utopia, Austral Gallery, St Louis USA
1989 Aboriginal Art: The Continuing Tradition, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra ACT
1990 Utopia – A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on silk from the Holmes à Court Collection
1990 Tagari Lia:My Family, Contemporary Aboriginal Art 1990-from Australia, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow UK
1991 8th National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
1991 Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney NSW
1992/3 New Tracks Old Land: Contemporary Prints from Aboriginal Australia, touring USA and Australia
1993 Asia Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Queensland Art Gallery QLD
1994 Power of the Land, Masterpieces of Aboriginal Art, National Gallery of Victoria VIC
1995 Dacou Gallery, Adelaide SA
1996 Framed Gallery, Darwin NT
1996 Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane QLD
1997 Mountain Devil Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
1998 Women Painters of the Desert, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane QLD
1998 ARTEXPO New York USA
1998 Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne VIC
1998 Utopia Dreamings, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
1999 Bush Garden, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
1999 Utopia – Recent Works, Desert Designs on King, Perth WA
1999 Utopia: Ancient Cultures/New Forms, Gloria Petyarre, Art Gallery of WA
2000 Australian National University, Canberra ACT
2001 Selected Works, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2001 Manawatu Gallery, New Zealand
2001 Kunst der Gegenwart, Vienna, Austria
2001 Icons of Australian Aboriginal Art, Singapore
2002 The Art and Soul Gallery, Nashvillle Tennessee USA
2002 Art from the Dreamtime’, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon USA
2002 Generations, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2002 Singapore Art Museum; 2002 Light Square Gallery, Adelaide SA
2002/2003 National Gallery of Victoria at Federation Square, Melbourne VIC
2003 New City Merchants, Knoxville, Tennessee USA
2003 Art from the Dreamtime, Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon USA
2005 Utopia Revealed, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006 Colour of Utopia, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006 Towards Black and White, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2006 Luminaries of the Desert, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2008 Utopia Collection 2, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, WA
2010 Bush Medicine – Gloria Petyarre, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2011 In Black and White, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2012 Desert Gold, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2017 Yam Dreaming, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2018 Blue, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2019 Landscape Colours, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle WA
2019 Summer Show & Art Parade, Salt, Queenscliff, VIC
2019 Defining tradition | black + white, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 International Women’s Day, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2019 Defining tradition | the colurists, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Colours of Spring, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Pointillism Perfection, Art Mob, Hobart
2020 Still in the Desert, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane
2020 Director’s Choice 2020, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2020 Spring, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane
2020 Top Ten – Our Most Popular Artists 2019, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2021 Private Collection | Private View: One Collector’s Passion & Soul, Cooee Art, Redfern
2021 Abstraction, Utopia Art, Sydney
2021 Country in Mind, University of the Sunshine Coast, QLD
2021 Voyage across Aboriginal Australia – Founders’ Favourites, Fondation Burkhardt-Felder Arts et Culture, Moitiers, Switzerland
2021 Top Ten Artists 2020, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2021 Big Names Little Paintings, Cooee Art Gallery, Sydney
2022 Happy New Year, Yaama Ganu Gallery, Moree

Awards and Recognition

2021 Gloria’s portrait by R. Ian Lloyd features in daily tours during Reconciliation Week, which highlights some remarkable, resilient and inspirational Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the collection, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
2020-2021 A portrait of Gloria Petyarre by R. Ian Lloyd features in the exhibition ‘Before hand: The private life of a portrait’ at the National Portrait Gallery, Canberra
National Portrait Gallery
2009 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – Finalist
2009 Kings School Art Prize, Sydney – Winner
2008 25th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
2007 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – Finalist
2006 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – Finalist
2005 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – Finalist
2004 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney – Finalist & Highly Commended
2004 Fremantle Print Award 2004, Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle – Finalist
2003 20th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
2002 Redlands Westpac Art Prize, Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney – Finalist
2000 5th National Indigenous Heritage Art Award 2000, (Reconciliation Prize), Old Parliament House, Canberra – Finalist
Canberra, ACT
2000 Top 50 Collectable Artists, Australian Art Collector Magazine
1999 Top 50 Collectable Artists, Australian Art Collector Magazine
1999 Wynne Prize, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney – Winner
1996 The Third National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Art Award, Old Parliament House, Canberra – Finalist
1996 Full Fellowship Grant, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board, the Australia Council
1994 Tapestry Commission for the Law Courts, Brisbane
1993 Design for tapestry for Victorian Tapestry Workshop
1993 Mural for Kansas City Zoo

Bibliography

Brody, A., 1990, Utopia: a Picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Heytesbury
Holdings Ltd, Perth. (C)Caruana, W., 1987, Australian Aboriginal Art, a Souvenir Book of Aboriginal Art in the Australian National
Gallery, Australian National Gallery, Parkes, Australian Capital Territory. (C)
McCulloch, A., & McCulloch, S.,1994, The Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, NSW