Joy Kngwarreye Jones

Artist: Joy Kngwarreye Jones

Skin Name: Kngwarreye (also known as Ngwarrai)

Language Group: Alyawarr

Region: Utopia, Northern Territory

Vendor: Utopian Aboriginal Art

Dreaming: Awely (Women's Business)

Sister of the renowned artist Lily Sandover Kngwarreye (deceased) and Freddy Kngwarreye Jones and auntie to Charlie Petyarre Jones, Joy Kngwarreye Jones was born in 1959 at MacDonald Downs and lives at Theleye, an outstation on Utopia. Like her sister before her Joy paints with a stick and a gutta nib applying paint in bold and confident strokes. Although she participated in the early Utopian art movement Joy didn't become immersed in her art again until 2006.

Her confidence has now grown to the extent where her outpourings are prolific.

Joy’s paintings are in many important collections including the Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands; Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane and The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth.

Bibliography:

• Brody, A., 1989, Utopia Women's Paintings: the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988-89, exhibition catalogue, Heytesbury Holdings, Perth. ©
• Brody, A., 1990, Utopia: a Picture Story, 88 Silk Batiks from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, Heytesbury Holdings Ltd, Perth. ©

Collections:

• Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands
• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
• The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth

Exhibitions:

• 1989, Utopia Women's Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, 1988-89, S. H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
• 1990, Utopia - A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on silk from the Holmes a Court Collection by Utopia artists which toured Eire & Scotland
• 2006 - Senior Women of Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
• 2007 - Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney.
• 2007 - Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
• 2007 - Eastern Desert Song - Brush with Art Festival, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna
• 2008 - Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc.
• 2008 - From the Desert to the Sea, Yurlunggar Art, Brisbane