Rewards, Awards and Living Treasures

Thelma John provides an insight towards the National Trust Living Treasures Program, which recognises outstanding Australians that have contributed to our society with invaluable knowledge and experience within different disciplines such as visual art, acting and sport. John goes on the say that the program was initially for the elderly but has recently included more youthful luminaries. Although in retaliation to this John continues to elaborate on Australia's consistent movement towards a suitable Living Treasures program that includes awards that recognise such achievements within the Australian community.

More from this Issue

Joan Brassil: Force and Tension

Joan Brassil was a rare spirit, a charismatic and immensely generous artist. She died at age 86 on 19 April 2005. Anne Sanders interviewed Brassil in July and August 2004 questioning her about her remarkable practice, her collaborations with scientists and her views on the cosmos. How did she conceive of the nature of art and what makes a person become an artist? Key figures here discussed include Malevich, Darwin, John Pollack and Brian Robinson.

Anneke Sanders

Minyma Tjukurrpa Canvas Project Kintore

Minyma Tjukurrpa is the Pintupi term for womens law or story. When the older women of Kintore saw members of their immediate family painting at the Ikuntji Womens Centre at Haasts Bluff they instigated a painting project which was to become known by that name. These same women went on to paint for Papunya Tula and are now represented in public galleries nationally and internationally. This article documents the history of the Ikuntji community, the links between the Pintupi from the Walungurru area and Haasts Bluff and the dancing and painting practices of these twenty-five senior women.

Marina Strocchi

Ray Crooke: The Stillness and the Colour

Though born and educated in Melbourne, Ray Crooke spent most of his career in the tropics away from the metropolis, risking anonymity, at a time when equity funding and regional issues were unheard of. Despite these odds he is recognised as one of Australias visionary artists, his tropical and outback paintings suffused with a contemplative stillness. What are some of the pivotal points that shaped his independent career? What is he involved in at present? These were some of the questions put to him in Cairns where he and his wife June, now in their early eighties, live. Some of Crooke's artistic influences and contemporaries here discussed are Arthur Boyd, Charles Blackman, Russell Drysdale and Sidney Nolan.

Anneke Silver

Inge King: Playing Seriously

Zara Stanhope talked to Inge King on 28 August 2006 shortly after the dedication of her latest piece of public art Rings of Saturn at Heide Museum of Modern Art. The interview took place at the Robin Boyd designed house where King (b. 1918) and her aristist partner Grahame King have lived for half a century. The both have small studio spaces in the buildings, which are set on several acres in Warrandyte in outer Melbourne.

Zara Stanhope

Udo Sellbach: Harsh Truths and Strong Feelings

Artist, educator and arts administrator Udo Sellbach (1927 2006) has made, and up until his death in September 2006, continued to make a profound contribution to the fine arts in this country. Born in Cologne in 1927, Udo emigrated to Australia in 1955. His experience as a founding member of the Kolner Presse and printmaker at the Kolner Werkschulen (1947-53) equipped him with the expertise to promote the development of printmaking as a studio practice within Australian art schools, particularly in the areas of etching and lithography. Sarah Scott conducted this interview with Udo in his studio in Taroona, Tasmania shortly after his seventy-ninth birthday in July 2006.

Sarah Scott

Richard Larter: The Seasons of Art

For Richard Larter the material act of making paintings is an essential part of his daily life. He has written that my first mature paintings were pointillist abstracts done in house paints and enamels on lilac coloured masonite (Larter, 1998). Larter is an artist well aware of the visceral qualities of paint. Larters syringe paintings, made by forcing paint in raised lines onto hardboard, became the signature works for his initial Australian success. His role as assistant to the ceramicist Zora Merabek who was restoring the Marabout Tombs in Algiers led to a continuing interest in the visual forms of Islamic culture and a love of strong pure light. This article follows Larters prominent career and a lifetime of travel throughout Australia, New Zealand and abroad.

Joanna Mendelssohn

Hector Jandany 1927-2006: Teacher of Culture

Hector Jandanys work was informed by the ever-present knowledge of his country, and the ngarranggarni or Dreamtime the time the world and the rules for life began. He was renowned as a teacher of Gija language and culture in Warmun since the 1980s and he helped spread knowledge of song and ngarranggarni throughout the East Kimberley. Jandany was part of an amazing cultural team including George Mung Mung, Jack Britten, Henry Wambiny, Queenie McKenzie and others supported at Texas Downs by the kindness of manager Jimmy Klein.

Frances Kofod

Butcher Cherel Janangoo: Imanara

Butcher Cherel Janangoos birth took place around eighty-five years ago. His mother was a Gooniyandi and Kija woman and he cites this as his heritage. He is first and foremost a markmaker. The lexicon of dots, dashes, strokes, washes, lines and imprints of brush, carving tool and sponge that Butcher employs are played out on canvas and paper as well as on etching and lithography plates and lino blocks. He is happy to work in any of these media yet regardless of the form or content of Butchers works, the subjects are all spectres of the same country, his riwi or home country that he calls Imanara.

Karen Dayman

Alicia King: i'm growing to love you

I'm growing to love you Linden, St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts Victoria, Melbourne 18 August - 24 September 2006

Amy Spiers

Daphne Williams: The Solid Core

Richard (Dick) Kimber

Ernest Orel: Master of the Press

The relationship of the artworld with the world of mass production printing has always been a very important one. Graphic designers and their clients have been blessed in Adelaide by the presence here of Ernest Orel whose commitment to quality, attention to detail and willingness to experiment has helped and inspired many people and set a very high benchmark for the whole of Australia. Here Irene Previn looks at the prominent career of Ernest Orel now aged 74 and the outstanding achievements of his printing company Finsbury in the production of environmentally friendly products and processes.

Irene Previn

Pioneering gallerist: Frank Watters

Jo Higgins

View all articles in this issue