Gladdy Kemarre

Artist: Gladdy Kemarre

Skin Name: Kemarre (also known as Gladys or Glady Kamara)

Language Group: Alyawarr

Region: Camel Camp, Utopia, Northern Territory

Vendor: Utopian Aboriginal Art

Dreaming: Bush Plum (Arnwekety), Wild Flowers (Alpeyt), Country, Bush Men

Born in 1937, Gladdy Kemarre (also spelt Gladys) lives at the outstation of Camel Camp, Utopia. She paints her Dreaming - Bush Plum - as well as Bush Men which are very interesting hunting and family scenes which she describes as ‘olden times - these things my mother told me’.

Her career in painting began in the late 70s when the Utopia Women's Batik Group was formed. Under the expert guidance of CAAMA and Rodney Gooch the first major communal project - a series of eighty eight works entitled Utopia - A Picture Story was launched onto the Australian and international stage. The Holmes a Court Collection sponsored these art projects from Utopia projects which toured Australia and worldwide.

This was followed by the first foray into acrylic paint on canvas in the summer of 1988-9 as part of CAAMA's "The First works on Canvas, a Summer Project". This first body of paintings was exhibited - and enthusiastically received - at the SH Ervin Gallery in Sydney. Gladdy Kemarre has continued to use this medium to express her Dreamings and since 1985, has held a number of exhibitions in Australia, Belgium and Germany.

Her work is held in a many private and public collections throughout Australia.

Bibliography:

• 1998 - Art Australia Guide, Stephen Pearson
• 2001 - Utopian Aboriginal Artists: paintings from the centre, Tanya Morton

Collections:

• Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands
• The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
• The National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne
• The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth

Exhibitions:

• 1985 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, NT
• 1986 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, NT
• 1989-91 - Utopia – a Picture Story, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide; The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin; The Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork; Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick; Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne
• 1991 - Alraluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
• 1992 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
• 1993 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
• 1994 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
• 1996 - Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs
• 1996 - Nangara: The Australian Aboriginal Art Exhibition from the Ebes Collection, Brugge, Belgium.
• 1996 - Voices of the Earth: Paintings, Photography and Sculpture from Aboriginal Australia, Seoul, South Korea, Calcutta, India
• 1997 - Exposition collective, arts d’Australie, Arts D’Australie Equation Transparence, Bruxelles
• 1998 - Utopia and Balgo Hills, Gallery Bahr, Speyer, Holland
• 2001 - Exposition collective, arts d’Australie, Arts D’Australie Equation Transparence, Paris
• 2001-02 - Land of Diversity, The Northern Territory, Hogarth Galleries, Paddington
• 2002, 2002, 2004 - Aboriginal Art exhibition, Gallery Bahr, Speyer
• 2006 - Senior Women of Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
• 2007 - Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney.
• 2008 - From the Desert to the Sea, Yurlunggar Art, Brisbane