McCulloch & McCulloch News
An Exhibition of Aboriginal Art
Art gathered by art writers Emily and Susan McCulloch on their research trips over almost two decades to Australia's remote art producing regions including the Central Desert, Arnhem Land & the Top End, Queensland, the Kimberley, NPY and PY lands.
Paintings, beads, cushions, scarves, baskets, sculptures, books and other indigenous objets d'art from the quirky to the collectible.
February 19–23, 2009
Flinders Village Cafe
49 Cook St, Flinders, Victoria
Opening drinks: Thursday February 19 6–8 pm
Free talk: Exploring the outback– an introduction to Aboriginal art
Saturday, February 21 7.30 pm
All welcome
RSVP opening and talk by February 14
M.0419896 473
E.rsvp@mccullochandmcculloch.com.au
All works for sale
Note: 5% of all sales donated to the national indigenous literacy programme World Without Books
www.worldwithoutbooks.org
Gabriella Coslovich's piece on McCulloch & McCulloch, and buying Aboriginal art, appeared in The Age today, click here to read.
Louise Martin-Chew has a wonderfully written review of McCulloch & McCulloch in the latest issue of Art World magazine, where she calls us 'a rare thing in Australia – a dynasty involved in art publishing' and speaks fondly of our 'highly pictorial and breezily informative' Encyclopedia as her 'best friend' that she has always kept close by.
She describes McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art as a 'triumph in clarity, with maps, styles and artists outlined area by area, community by community' and says of our titles that they display a 'lively intelligence and art-market savvy.'
We have a been doing a fair bit of media lately, talking about our latest books, McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art, New Beginnings and of course our beautiful new Australian Art Diary.
Kieran Finnane interviewed us for the Alice Springs News, we were included in Gabriella Coslovich's article on Desert Mob for The Age, and we went on Richard Watt's Smart Arts program on 3RRR, this time together.
Susan has appeared on ABC Radio in Perth and Hobart and 3MBS.
New Beginnings has been featured by Katrina Strickland in The Australian Financial Review, by Rosemary Sorensen in The Australian, and the launch was included in The Brisbane Times.
Our Aboriginal art books have also been mentioned in an article in the new magazine Canvas, and on the ABC Artworks program.
But probably the loveliest article has come from a Mornington Peninsula local, Fran Henke, who wrote a piece for the Hastings Independent on the Melbourne launch (below).
Stay tuned for upcoming articles in Art World magazine, Australian Art Review, Craft Arts International, Frankie and more...
Opening 6 pm Tuesday December 9th 2008
Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery
31 Lamrock Ave, Bondi Beach NSW
The exhibition features important works by Freddie Timms, Jimmy Nerrimah, Kathleen Petyarre, Rover Thomas, Walangkura Napanangka, Jock Mosquito and exciting works by emerging artists Helen S Tiernan, Joanne Currie and Lloyd Kwilla.
Opened by Pat Corrigan AM, who will be available to personally sign copies of the recently released book New Beginnings: Classic Paintings from the Corrigan Collection of 21st Century Aboriginal Art.
Aden Ridgeway, inaugural chair of Indigenous Tourism Australia, will launch the exhibition Across Country: Ken Hinds Collection, curated by Susan McCulloch, on Sunday 30 November, 2.00pm.
A Caloundra Regional Art Gallery and Arts Park travelling exhibition, Across Country features a selection of significant Aboriginal art from the Ken Hinds Collection. Includes watercolours from the 1940's Namatjira watercolour school; those of the most significant artists of the Papunya, Kintore and related schools of painting; Arnhem Land barks; works in ochre from the Kimberley and Torres Strait Islands; and Contemporary Colour works.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue written by Susan McCulloch.
Showing: 26 November – 18 January 2008
Caloundra Regional Art Gallery
22 Omrah Avenue, Caloundra, Queensland.
Long Tom Tjapanankga, Detail, Puli Tjuta (Many Hills), acrylic on canvas, 122 x 173cm, 1999.
The Prime Minister of Australia's wife, businesswoman and patron of the Indigenous Literacy Project, Thérèse Rein, gave a positive and moving speech at the launch of the latest McCulloch & McCulloch book: New Beginnings: Classic Paintings from the Corrigan Collection of 21st Century Aboriginal Art at the Gallery of Modern Art in Brisbane last Wednesday night.
In what was a historical moment for Australia, the inroads made through Aboriginal art in the process of reconciliation was acknowledged in speeches by both Thérèse and the book's author, Emily McCulloch Childs.
Speaking to a large crowd of friends, family, artists (many in Brisbane for the launch of the gallery's Optimism show), art dealers, fellow collectors, curators, writers and librarians, Thérèse expressed her 'great pleasure' at being invited to launch the book, and spoke of Pat Corrigan's importance as a collector and patron.
She expressed her impressions of what she called a 'beautiful book', noting the quality of the works displayed in it, which she called 'beautiful, intriguing, stunning, powerful vibrant, exquisite and spiritual'.
'Pat's generosity has been a huge encouragement to the new Indigenous artists,' she said 'It has allowed them to flourish and develop – and to encourage others to speak through art.'
She noted the 'new beginning'; the healing that had been brought about by her husband's Apology to the Stolen Generations, and that she was proud to say that several major Indigenous paintings now hung in the dining room of The Lodge.
'The publication of this beautiful book is one more of the new beginning' she said.
Susan McCulloch, Pat Corrigan and the book's author, Emily McCulloch Childs also spoke at the launch.
For the complete transcripts of Thérèse and Emily's speeches, please visit our media page.
Pat Corrigan, Emily McCulloch Childs and Therese Rein at the launch of New Beginnings
Susan McCulloch will be opening two new exciting exhibitions of important Aboriginal art in November in Hobart and Perth.
The first is a new exhibition of the famous Yuendumu art centre, Warlukurlangu. Entitled Warlukurlangu Wonders, the exhibition will feature some of the freshest work from this innovative art centre, including important paintings by artist such as Paddy Japanangka Lewis, and will be held at
Artmob
29 Hunter Street Hobart
Tasmania
euan@artmob.com.au
03 6236 9200
on Friday, 7th November, 2008 at 6 pm
The second exhibition is of art from one of the most important art centres to have emerged in recent years from the APY lands, Tjungu Palya. Susan will open this Perth exhibition held at
Randell Lane Fine Art
cnr Vincent & Beaufort St
Mt Lawley WA 6050
art@randellart.com
08 9227 6619
on Friday, November 14 at 6 pm
Tjungu Palya artists include Jimmy Baker, Maringka Baker, Angkaliya Curtis, Lance Peck, Wingu Tingima, Bernard Tjalkuri and Nyankula Watson.
Tjungu Palya artists will be in attendance at the opening.
Susan McCulloch, Emily McCulloch Childs and collector Pat Corrigan will be speaking about the new developments in Aboriginal art, particularly in relation to art from the NPY and APY lands, which feature in the upcoming book from McCulloch & McCulloch, New Beginnings: Classic Paintings from the Corrigan Collection of the 21st Century Aboriginal Art, by Emily McCulloch Childs and Ross Gibson, with a preface by Margo Neale, as well as the new edition of the best-selling Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide, by Susan McCulloch & Emily McCulloch Childs.
Corrigan has collected art from this area since 2004, as reflected by the stunning painting featured on the book's cover, Kura Ala, by Wingu Tingima, which hails from the APY art centre Tjungu Palya, who are holding an exhibition at Randell Lane Fine Art, and whose artists will be in attendance at this free event.
This event is held in partnership with Randell Lane Fine Art on Saturday, 15 November 2008 from 2-5pm at the
Telethon Institute for Child Health Research
100 Roberts Road, Subiaco, WA
To RSVP to this event, please email us at rsvp@mccullochandmcculloch.com.au
or fax to +61 3 9347 2330
mail to PO Box 2482 Fitzroy VIC 3065
call +61 3 9347 1022
Please feel free to invite your friends and colleagues
We look forward to seeing you at this special event
Signed copies of all books will be for sale during this event
ALICE SPRINGS, SEPTEMBER 28, 2008— The centre of Australia is buzzing as the renowned annual Aboriginal art gathering, Desert Mob, for which Susan McCulloch wrote the catalogue essay, unfolds. Last night’s launch of the McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide was warmly received in the Red Centre, and brought together over 150 key people in Aboriginal art from around Australia, including artists, community arts centre representatives, private gallery directors and collectors, who were first in line to purchase the new edition of Australia’s authoritative guide.
Launching the guide, Alison Hunt, Mutitjulu elder and spokeswoman, and author Susan McCulloch’s childhood friend, spoke about the importance of art in bringing people together. She said how proud she was to be launching her “sister’s” book and how, since a chance meeting when they were both 14, they had formed a bond that has been reflected in lives spent working to teach non-indigenous people about Aboriginal culture.
Cecilia Alfonso, director of one of the top four arts centres in Australia, Warlukurlangu Artists at Yuendumu, said that when she was first looking for a job in art she had picked up a copy of the first edition and was inspired to go after the job that she did because she’d seen a picture of Susan outside an arts centre building at Yuendumu, the building of which she is now director. She remarked on how the book, a constant reference source for her, has introduced Aboriginal art to so many people, and that the new edition shows there’s still much to learn.
McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide is an illustrated, informative guide that traces the growth in modern Aboriginal art through its regional differences. It is three times the size of the original, now covering over 80 art-producing communities across the country. Leading Aboriginal art commentator Susan McCulloch and her co-author, daughter and publishing partner Emily McCulloch Childs (authors also of the seminal reference on Australian art, McCulloch’s Encyclopedia of Australian Art, which celebrates its 40th birthday this year) have travelled widely for more than 20 years throughout the central and western deserts, the Top End, Kimberley, Arnhem Land and Australia generally.
Both are attending today’s major event:
11am Media Preview: Desert Mob Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, 61 Larapinta Drive
2pm Opening: Desert Mob Exhibition by The Honourable Alison Anderson, MLA, and Member for Macdonnell and Minister for Central Australia, and Hetti Perkins, Senior Curator, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Art Gallery of NSW.
40th Birthday events and local launches of McCulloch’s Contemporary Aboriginal Art will also be held at Melbourne Fine Art at 6pm Tuesday, October 7; at Art Sydney on Friday, October 24; at the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art on Wednesday, November 12, and in Perth at 2pm Saturday, November 15. For details of the guide and other titles visit www.mccullochandmcculloch.com.au
Further information and interviews:
Rée Izett 0418 101 399
reeizett@gmail.com
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