[icon name=”bookmark”] JUDY NAPANGARDI WATSON

DOB:

C. 1935

LANGUAGE:

WARLPIRI

BORN:

YUENDUMU

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ABOUT:

Judy Watson Napangardi was born around 1935 at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri and other Central and Western Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. With her family Judy made many trips on foot back to (and lived for long periods at) Mina Mina and Yingipurlangu, her ancestral country on the border of the Tanami and Gibson Deserts. These places are rich in bush tucker such as wanakiji (bush plums), yakajirri (bush tomatoes), and wardapi (sand goanna). Judy still frequently goes hunting in the country west of Yuendumu. Most of her works depict Mina Mina or Dreamings connected to it: Karnta (Women), Kanakurlangu (Digging Stick), Ngalyipi (Snake Vine), Yunkaranyi (Honey Ant), Jintiparnta (Native Truffle) and hair belt.

Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own unique style. Though a very tiny woman Judy has had ten children, two of whom she has outlived. She is a woman of incredible energy and this is transmitted to her work through her dynamic use of colour, and energetic “dragged dotting” style. She is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa by Warlpiri artists, however her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture.

Major collections:

  • (1) Aboriginal Art Museum, Utrecht
  • (2) Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney
  • (3) Flinders University Art Museum, Melbourne
  • (4) Gordon Darling Foundation, Canberra
  • (5) Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
  • (6) National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
  • (7) National Gallery of Victoria
  • (8) South Australian Museum, Adelaide

Selected exhibitions:

  • 2004:
  • ‘Painting Country’, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland
  • 2004:
  • ‘Painting Country’, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland
  • 2004:
  • ‘New Works from Yuendumu’, Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
  • 2004:
  • Little Warlu, Big Stories, Hot Little paintings by Big artists of Yuendumu, Australia’s NT & Outback Centre, Sydney
  • 2004:
  • ‘Dreaming Stories’, Indigenart, Perth
  • 2004:
  • ‘Divas of the Desert* Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
  • 2004:
  • ‘Desert Mob’ Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
  • 2004:
  • ‘Big Country’ Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs, NT
  • 2003:
  • ‘Yimi Pirrijirdi – Strong Stories’ Alison Kelly Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2003:
  • True Blue Christmas 2003, Framed Gallery, Darwin, NT
  • 2003:
  • ‘The Colours of Mina Mina’ Judy Watson and Betsy Lewis, Raft Gallery, Darwin
  • 2003:
  • Kurruwarri Wirijarlu – Big Story’ Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
  • 2003:
  • Kurruwarri Pipangka – Designs on Paper’ CDU Gallery
  • 2003:
  • Black and White. Colour. seeing country in two ways Counihan Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2003:
  • Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2003:
  • Desert Mob Araluen Art and Cultural Centre Alice Springs
  • 2002:
  • ‘Warlukurlangu Collection’ Parliament House, Canberra
  • 2002:
  • ‘Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu’, Jeffrey Moose Gallery, Seatlle USA
  • 2002:
  • ‘Warlukurlangu Artists Cooperative of Yuendumu’ One Union Square Lobby, Seattle, USA
  • 2002:
  • Onshore Art Barwon Heads Victoria
  • 2002:
  • ‘New Works from Warlukurlangu’ Indigenart, Perth WA
  • 2002:
  • ‘New Paintings from Yuendumu’ Rebecca Hossack Gallery, London
  • 2002:
  • Indigenart Perth
  • 2002:
  • Bellas Gallery Brisbane
  • 2000:
  • ‘Wayuta’, The Desart Janganpa Gallery, Alice Springs
  • 2000:
  • Shell Fremantle Print Award, Fremantle
  • 2000:
  • Kurawari, Desart Gallery, Sydney
  • 2000:
  • ‘Journey to the North West’, Palya Art, Sydney
  • 2000:
  • Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
  • 2000:
  • Beaver Galleries, Canberra
  • 2000:
  • Marking the Paper, Desart Gallery, Sydney
  • 2000:
  • jangku yinyi, Carey Baptist Grammar School, Melbourne
  • 1999:
  • ‘Mina Mina’, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
  • 1999:
  • International Women’s Day Exhibition, Watch This Space, Alice Springs
  • 1999:
  • Desert Mob Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs
  • 1998:
  • ‘Kurrawarri – Kirli’, Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
  • 1998:
  • Framed Gallery, Darwin
  • 1998:
  • Desert Designs, Perth
  • 1998:
  • Art Gallery *Culture Store* Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • 1998:
  • ‘A Thousand Journeys’, Tin Shed Gallery, University of Sydney
  • 1997:
  • Hogarth Gallery, Sydney
  • 1995:
  • SOFA, Miami, U.S.A
  • 1995:
  • SOFA, Chicago, U.S.A
  • 1995:
  • Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
  • 1994:
  • Armstrong Gallery, Florida
  • 1994:
  • Echoes of the Dreamtime, Osaka, Japan
  • 1993:
  • Sutton Gallery, Melbourne
  • 1993:
  • Northern Territory Art Award, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs
  • 1993:
  • CINAFE (Chicago International New Art Forms Exposition), U.S.A.
  • 1993:
  • Bellas Gallery, Brisbane
  • 1993:
  • Adelaide Town Hall, (in assoc. with The Pacific Arts Symposium)
  • 1992:
  • The Long Gallery, Hobart
  • 1992:
  • Hogarth Gallery of Dreams, Sydney
  • 1991:
  • Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin
  • 1990:
  • ‘Women’s Exhibition’. The Women’s Gallery, Melbourne
  • 1990:
  • I.U.N.C. (showing at Hilton Hotel), Perth
  • 1990:
  • Darwin Performing Arts Centre, Darwin

Auction Record:

  • Title: Women’s Dreaming 1995
  • Details: Synthetic polymer paint on linen, inscribed verso: KA 883/97, 193 x 367 cm
  • Auction Price: A$216,000- 93 offered for auction
  • Auction House: Lawson~Menzies