Big Colour by FORM WA

GLORIA

Big Colour

Gloria paints one day a week at Spinifex Hill Studio in South Hedland and on one particular day she effortlessly moved her paintbrush all around and over one of her canvases. Her smile lit up the room and everyone in it. Once the moment was over and she stood back from what she had done, Gloria whispered “Big Colour”.

GLORIA

Big Colour

Gloria

Once the moment was over and she stood back from what she had done, Gloria whispered â&#x20AC;&#x153;Big Colourâ&#x20AC;?.

Gloria

Big Colour

Gloria

Big Colour

GLORIA

Birth Date Language Place of Birth Lives

1975 Martu Wangka Pilbara South Hedland: WA

Born in the Pilbara in 1975, Gloria is a Martu woman working within a powerful matriarchal tradition that emerged from Australia’s Western Desert in the early 2000s. Her loose brushwork and pastel palettes have attracted critical attention for their highly affecting presence.

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019 - Salon des Refuses Charles Darwin University, Darwin, Australia

2020 - BIG COLOUR ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore

2019 - Cossack Art Award Cossack, Australia 2019 - Paru [Spinifex] Artitja Fine Art Gallery, Perth, WA 2019 - Born Strong Harvey Art Projects, USA 2018 - Revealed 2018 Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle, Australia 2018 - Good Enough! The Art of Spinifex Hill Artists Paul Johnstone Gallery, Darwin, Australia 2018 - Hadley’s Art Prize Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart, Australia 2018 - Hedland Art Award Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, Australia 2017 - Conversations, Suzanne O’Connell Gallery, Brisbane, Australia 2017 - Hedland Art Award Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, Australia

2018 - GLORIA The Goods Shed, Perth

AWARDS 2019 - Best Overall artwork Cossack Art Award Cossack, Australia 2018 - Hedland Art Awards [finalist] Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, Australia 2018 - Cossack Art Award, [finalist] Cossack, WA 2018 - Hadley Art Prize, [finalist] Hadley’s Orient Hotel, Hobart, Australia 2017 - Hedland Art Awards - Best Work by an Indigenous Artist Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery, Port Hedland, Australia 2017 - As We Are - Merenda Gallery Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Award, Central Park, Perth, Australia

2017 - As We Are Award Central Park, Perth, Australia

Gloria

Gloria is an emerging artist, only learning to paint in late 2015. Since then she has exhibited her work broadly across Western Australia, winning major prizes in the As We Are Art Awards (2017), the Hedland Art Awards (2017) and the prize for Best Overall Artwork in the Cossack Art Award (2019). Her first, self-titled solo exhibition took place at The Goods Shed in Perth in 2018. This catalogue has been produced in conjunction with her first international solo exhibition with ReDot Fine Art Gallery, in Singapore in April, 2020.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

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Gloria painting at Spinifex Hill Studio, 2020.

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Untitled 2018 45.5 x 40.5 cm Acrylic on linen Catalogue #18-346

Untitled 2017 101.5 x 122 cm Acrylic on linen

Gloria

Catalogue #17-1223

Gloria

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Gloria

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Untitled 2018

Untitled 2019

152 x 152cm

91.5 x 122 cm

Acrylic on linen

Catalogue # 18-1110

Catalogue 19-788

Gloria

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Gloria’s trajectory as an exhibiting artist has been swift and remarkable. Her first painting was not completed until November 2015 and the following year she managed to finish 11 small canvases. In this first year of a very casual practice there were, however, some shimmering signs of what was to come. A basic marker was that all of these paintings sold: a promising sign no doubt for any early career artist. Yet it was also that each of these early paintings was distinctly of and by Gloria. By this I mean that she had a very rare quality: her signature was in her mark making.

Gloria

Indeed 2017 proved a breakout year for Gloria both in terms of her practice and her critical reception. Working with a consistent studio time and on larger canvases saw her develop, improve and refine her work and in a very short space of time Gloria surged into a promising future only faintly illuminated by those early canvases. In June she was awarded the Merenda Gallery Award at the As We Are Awards and, more significantly, in October, she won ‘Best Artwork by an Indigenous Artist’ at the Hedland Art Awards at the Port Hedland Courthouse Gallery. In their presentation of the latter, the judges described Gloria’s entry as “an energetic, bold, vibrant work full of energy, a commitment to the brush and mark making.”

In the wake of these first successes was a flurry of work by an artist who clearly enjoyed the act of painting. In February 2018 Gloria held her first solo exhibition at The Good Shed in Perth, something which a year earlier would have seemed absurd. Gloria also was featured in Revealed at Fremantle Art Centre and was selected as a finalist in the Hadley’s Art Prize. Gloria’s work may draw stylistic comparison to other contemporary Australian abstract artists such as Todd Hunter, Sally Gabori, and Gemma Smith. Gloria is perhaps best located, however, as an artist within a powerful matriarchal tradition that emerged in the Pilbara region of Western Australia in the early 2000s. Her loose mark making and palettes are connected to Nora Nungabar, Nora Wompi and others from Martumili Artists, artists whom Gloria is likely to have seen work. Greg Taylor

Notes on process: Gloria typically works on an easel with fifteen paints next to her. She practices a ‘wet on wet’ technique. The compositions are essentially unplannable. The larger works all show a kind of scratchy arcs that were the limits of the artist’s reach at a particular moment. Her limited eyesight means she can only see a very close distance in front of herself. It’s likely that Gloria does not see the completed work as a viewer might see it.

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Untitled 2018 91.5 x 152 cm Acrylic on linen

Gloria

Catalogue #18-220

Gloria

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Untitled 2018

152.5 x 152.5 cm

152.5 x 76 cm

Acrylic on linen

Catalogue #18-172

Catalogue #18-335

Gloria

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Untitled 2018

Gloria

91.5 x 152 cm Acrylic on linen Catalogue # 18-1236

Gloria

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Gloria

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Untitled 2018

61 x 91.5 cm

152.5 x 76 cm

Acrylic on linen

Catalogue #18-731

Catalogue #18-336

Gloria

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Gloria

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Gloria

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SPINIFEX HILL STUDIO

For fifteen years cultural organisation FORM has worked to support the creative community of Western Australia’s remote Pilbara region. Since 2008 this has included managing the Spinifex Hill Artists, Port Hedland’s only Aboriginal art collective.

Gloria

From humble beginnings banding together to paint at the local Aboriginal church, the Spinifex Hill Artists have grown into one of Australia’s most dynamic indigenous art centres. The group now regularly participate in major national exhibitions and events, and are represented in significant collections including Artbank, the Art Gallery of South Australia, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, Beat Knoblauch Collection, Curtin University, Flinders University Art Museum, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, and the Western Australian Museum. The group is unique in Australia as a suburban-based art centre representing Aboriginal artists from numerous cultural backgrounds; there is no dominant ‘house style’, rather the Studio supports an eclectic range of art practices in recognition of the diversity of Indigenous experience. In 2014 with the support of Principal Partner BHP, FORM established the Spinifex Hill Studio in South Hedland as the permanent home of the Spinifex Hill Artists. From Monday to Friday the Studio opens to facilitate the practice of around twenty artists daily.

With a focus on acrylic painting, artists are given professional support in the preparation, creation and documentation of artwork. Artists are also offered transport to and from the studio, lunch, and the opportunity to work with studio staff in refining their paintings for exhibitions, awards, markets and other professional opportunities. In addition to supporting the core group of around 40 Spinifex Hill Artists, the Studio functions as a creative hub for the broader Pilbara region, accessed by over 100 artists from up to eight Aboriginal language groups each year. In 2020 a substantial expansion project will begin, to accommodate the needs of the artists in response to the growing national and international demand for their work. The artists will also explore a number of new artistic mediums including drawing, fibre weaving, and song writing. Through Spinifex Hill Studio FORM has sought to create a safe, holistic and dynamic environment for artists, which has grown into an important cultural and community place for South Hedland and the wider Pilbara region. Many artists have been able to build esteem and pride through their art making, gain confidence to share stories in a culturally appropriate way, travel outside their home region to attend exhibitions and art fairs, and create new income streams for themselves and their families. Most importantly, Spinifex Hill Studio has supported the artists of the Pilbara in articulating their culture to audiences around Australia and the world, helping build the reputation of the region as a dynamic cultural and artistic centre.

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Gloria

Gloria painting at Spinifex Hill Studio, 2019. Photograph by Greg Taylor.

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Untitled 2018

Gloria

122 x 122 cm Acrylic on canvas Catalogue #18-940

Spinifex Hill Studio is located in South Hedland, in the vast and remote Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia. One of the oldest landscapes on earth, the Pilbara has been home to Aboriginal people for tens of thousands of years, and contains some of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s oldest and most significant rock art. Spinifex Hill Studio is managed by cultural organisation FORM, based in the State capital of Perth, 1,200 km to the south.

Kuala Lumpur Singapore

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Hong Kong

Jakarta

South Hedland SPINIFEX HILL STUDIO

Pilbara region

Brisbane

Perth

Sydney Canberra Melbourne

Hobart Gloria

Adelaide

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Untitled 2018 152.5 x 76 cm Acrylic on linen

Gloria

Catalogue #18-690

Untitled 2018

61 x 91.5 cm

71 x 61 cm

Acrylic on linen

Catalogue #18-590

Catalogue #18-779

Gloria

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Untitled 2018

Gloria

152.5 x 152.5 cm Acrylic on linen Catalogue #18-933

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Untitled 2019 Acrylic on linen Catalogue #19-46

Gloria

101 x 122 cm

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G L O R I A’ S P R O C E S S IN CONVERSATION WITH NICOLE LEUCHTER SPINIFEX HILL STUDIO COORDINATOR

For the past six years Gloria has visited Spinifex Hill Studio once a week with her carer. Spinifex Hill Studio coordinator Nicole Leuchter, who has worked with Gloria over the past five years, discusses her process:

In the studio we have a ‘paint station’ where artists can choose their paints. The colour palette she selects is always unpredictable, which we are always curious to watch. The style she is uses to express herself is so unique and vibrant.

I have worked with Gloria for five years and it has been a joy seeing her evolve.

Everyone loves seeing Gloria at the Studio. The other artists are really proud that she, as a disabled artist, is able to come into the space and express herself in a safe environment.

Gloria first came into Spinifex Hill Studio in 2014 and began painting on 20 x 30cm canvas boards. She started painting over and over on top of the surface, mixing the colours directly onto the surface as she went along. Towards the end of 2015 we began to realise Gloria’s potential, and started giving her larger canvases. You could see her enjoyment in creating larger paintings.

Gloria

When Gloria comes in, we are all excited and have several canvas sizes for her to choose from. Gloria will point towards the one she wants to approach on that particular day with a smile on her face, expressing her excitement.

It is a big achievement for any artist to host a solo exhibition, especially for Gloria, who only accesses the studio on a weekly, sometimes fortnightly basis. We are so proud of Gloria and her creative journey which has led to outcome of this exhibition.

Big Colour

Untitled 2018 Acrylic on canvas Catalogue #18-941

Gloria

122 x 122 cm

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Untitled 2018 45.5 x 61 cm Acrylic on linen

Gloria

Catalogue #18-780

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Untitled 2018 Acrylic on linen Catalogue #18-9

Gloria

71 x 71 cm

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Untitled 2019

Gloria

122 x 181 cm Acrylic on linen Catalogue #19-1060

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Untitled 2019 Acrylic on linen Catalogue #19-232

Gloria

101.5 x 122 cm

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Gloria

Untitled 2019

61 x 91.5 cm

122 x 61 cm

Acrylic on linen

Catalogue #19-1245

Catalogue #19-1272

Untitled 2019 61 x 91.5 cm

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Acrylic on linen

Gloria

Catalogue #19-1246

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Published by: FORM building a state of creativity 39 Gugeri Street, Claremont, Western Australia, 6010 mail@form.net.au +61 8 9385 2200 Catalogue text by Sophia Constantine, Nicole Leuchter, Andrew Nicholls, and Greg Taylor. Big Colour exhibition with ReDot Fine Art Gallery, Singapore, in 2020. Designed by Ryan Stephenson. Printed by Scott Print. ÂŠ 2020. All rights reserved. Copyright for photographic images is held by Spinifex Hill Artists and the individual photographers. Copyright for written content in this publication is held by FORM or the individual writers. www.form.net.au IBSN: 978-0-9757274-9-2

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We acknowledge the traditional owners of Kariyarra Country, where the Studio is based, and all those throughout Western Australia. We pay our respect to their Elders past, present and emerging.

Spinifex Hill Studio is managed by FORM – building a state of creativity inc.

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This catalogue accompanies Gloria’s first international solo exhibition with ReDot Fine Art Gallery, for sales inquires and for more information contact info@redotgallery.com

Proudly supported by Principal Partner

With support from

Gloria

Gloria’s exhibition in Singapore is presented in partnership with