Nancy Kunoth Petyarre was born at Soakage Bore near Utopia in Central Australia, circa 1938. She comes from a large family of artists and is the sister of the well-known Indigenous artists Gloria Petyarre, Kathleen Petyarre, Ada Bird, Violet Petyarre and Myrtle Petyarre.
Like many of the female artists from the Utopia area, Nancy worked in batik and gradually evolved her art to canvas in the late 1980’s. Nancy is noted for her linear style of painting depicting Mountain Devil Lizard (Arnkerrthe) Dreaming with flowing strokes and bright colours. Often surrounding these broad areas of colour are small dots creating the effect of the lizards skin that is the basis of this Dreaming.
Nancy Petyarre also uses small dots to in her paintings. These dots form an intricate display of patterns that display Nancy's love of her country.
Her Dreamings include Mountain Devil Lizard Dreaming, Body Painting and Grass Seed; these are stories that come from her family and her country.
Nancy is also well known for her carvings that have featured in numerous exhibitions, and for wood block prints which are in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
Sadly, Nancy Kunoth Petyarre passed away in 2009.
'MINIMALISM IN ABORIGINAL ART' EXHIBITION (APRIL 2022)
ARNKERRTHE’ | NANCY KUNOTH PETYARRE (FEB-MARCH 2019)
ARTIST PROFILE FEATURE (FEB 2019)
