SELINA TEECE PWERL

Selina Teece Pwerl was born in 1977. Her traditional country is Antarrengeny which lies in Alyawarr country north of the Utopia region in Central Australia Selina grew up surrounded by artists and developed her own artistic talents at a very young age. Her introduction to painting came about as a young child in the 1980’s when her Mother Lulu Teece Pitjara was involved in the silk batik project documented in Utopia: A Picture Story in which eighty eight Utopia artists were involved.

Her favourite painter and inspiration was Albert Namatjira. She remembers seeing his work at Araluen Art Gallery in Alice springs when she was young. At school (Yulara College) she painted with watercolour and enjoyed working in that medium. Encouraged by her mother to paint she would sit both with Lulu and her aunty Maggie Kemarre an established painter, who was another inspiration.

Selina recalls fond memories of her childhood in which as kids they had the freedom to roam out bush with her friends - sometimes they would go out and do ‘pretend camping’ – the kids would take their bicycles and pretend swags and say they were going out bush hunting but would return by the evening. These are very happy memories for Selina and she is passing these on to her own children, so that they too will enjoy the fun and adventure of living out bush.

In 2010 Artitja Fine Art Gallery hosted Selina and her mother Lulu’s visit to Perth, for the opening of MOTHER AND DAUGHTER exhibition at EARLYWORK in South Fremantle, Western Australia. The exhibition was to focus on Lulu’s paintings whilst introducing her daughter Selina as a young emerging artist. Due to flooding in the region causing road closures,Lulu’s paintings didn’t arrive in time for the exhibition.

Selina became the key artist, with just three works of Lulu’s on display. The exhibition was a resounding success, and Selina was on her way to successfully continuing her artistic career.

It was also the first time that Selina had flown out of her country and, indeed the first time she had visited the coast. This photograph, taken in March 2010 at South Beach in South Fremantle is a great reflection of that sheer joy of seeing the ocean for the first time.

Selina Teece Pwerl is constantly experimenting with design and colour. She feels a great sense of satisfaction with the response to her unique intricate Spinifex design which she has created, using a fan brush to apply the spinifex shapes, and an intricate background of dots, creating a threedimensional impression.

When Selina first came across a fan brush it conjured up images of the spinifex bush. She began experimenting with colour, shape and design to produce which is now one of Selina’s most well loved designs.