The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art

UTSA Art Gallery Department of Art and Art History One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 78249

The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art Scott A. Sherer

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presented by the UTSA Art Gallery of The University of Texas at San Antonio

The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art Scott A. Sherer, PhD

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This book has been published in conjunction with the exhibition The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art at the UTSA Art Gallery of The University of Texas at San Antonio, curated by Dr. Scott A. Sherer, and organized by the UTSA Art Gallery.

January 30, 2008 – March 2, 2008

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data Sherer, Scott A., 1965 – The Lam collection of aboriginal art / Scott A. Sherer. p. cm.

Published in conjunction with the exhibition The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art at the UTSA Art Gallery of The University of Texas at San Antonio, curated by Dr. Scott A. Sherer, and organized by the UTSA Art Gallery, January 30, 2008 – March 2, 2008.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN-13: 978-1-933979-19-9 [jacketed hardcover : alk. paper] 1. Art, Aboriginal Australian—Exhibitions. 2. Art—Private collections—Exhibitions.

3. Lam, May—Art collections—Exhibitions.

I. UTSA Art Gallery. II. Title.

N7401.S54 2008 704.03’99150074764351—dc22 2007052470

Cover Image . Tjayanka Woods, Minyma Kutjara Tjukurrpa [Two Sisters], synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 137 x 202 cm, 2006.

Curator . Scott A. Sherer, PhD Designer . Rachel Schimelman Photography [Artwork] . Rachel Schimelman Photography [Local scenes] . Dorothy Lam and Scott A. Sherer Text set in the Berthold Akzidenz Grotesk Family Publisher . Bright Sky Press, Albany, Texas Printed in China through Asia Pacific Offset

©2008 UTSA Art Gallery, The University of Texas at San Antonio. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this book may be reproduced, in whole or in part, without permission from the publisher.

Copyright of all artworks depicted remains with the artists and substantive explanations of artwork remains with the artists or Aboriginal community arts organizations

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Contents

Introduction

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Australian History

9

Dreaming

11

Arnhem Land

13

Tiwi Islands

23

The Kimberley

33

The Desert

43

Aesthetics | New Movements

63

Art around the Globe – Helen K. Groves

73

Adventures in Creativity – May Lam

75

Culture and Commitment – Dorothy Lam

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Acknowledgements

78

Suggested Reading

79

The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art

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Introduction The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art brings together superb examples of Aboriginal Art from across the Australian continent and offers an opportunity for fortunate viewers in the United States to enjoy and learn from this remarkable work and culture. The Lam Collection includes examples of artworks that demonstrate the great creativity of contemporary Aboriginal artists who work within the depth and integrity of cultural legacies while simultaneously expressing personal visions. Centuries–old traditions continue in Aboriginal culture in active conversation with other Australian and broader international contexts. In recent years, Aboriginal Art has received much global recognition for interweaving aesthetic inventiveness, respect of cultural traditions, and active discussion of the role of the arts in daily life and in the historical record.

Characterized by intricate patterns of finely drafted lines and countless layers of dots, Aboriginal art also displays a striking use of color. These colors range from earth tones ground from a palette of natural ochres to an eclectic selection of brightly colored acrylic pigments applied through painting and printing. Aboriginal artists are masters of traditional media such as carved bark and wooden poles, but have also applied their artistry to newer forms on canvas, silk, paper, ceramic, and even commercial design. Themes represent the complex concepts—called by desert peoples “Tjukurrpa” and often translated into English as “Dreaming”—that relate the relationships between all elements of nature, the landscape, human life, and the deeds of the Ancestral Spirits of Dreamtime. Images include abstract symbols, depictions of plants and animals, and representations of natural cycles in the landscape.

The legacy of visual languages in temporary ritual designs on bodies and on the earth are continued in Aboriginal art today with more permanent work on bark, wood, stone, and a variety of other materials.

Jenny Isaacs notes: “Once only painted or made for ceremonial display, Aboriginal art is now transposed onto new supports and enlivened through individual visual imagination and access to the spectacular color range of modern pigments. These paintings are new ways of expressing life, land, and Tjukurrpa in a visual form.”† While value in artwork often is a consequence of the historic and material character of objects, the significance and value in Aboriginal art most often persists in the cultural and spiritual knowledge communicated across generations and among different Aboriginal groups in extensive networks and around the globe.

Aboriginal art encompasses individual aesthetic creativity, interest in the preservation and promotion of religious thought and tradition, statements regarding property rights and the demand for respect of cultural heritage, as well as the generous desire to share Aboriginal culture and aesthetics with others.

The text that follows discusses Australian and Aboriginal history and culture with sections that illustrate the vitality of art from Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands, the Kimberley, and the Desert regions. This material is accompanied by essays from Helen K. Groves, May Lam, and Dorothy Lam. Their writings are testament to the power of Aboriginal art to inspire others.

† Jennifer Isaacs, Spirit Country: Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art [South Yarra, Victoria: Hardie Grant; San Francisco: Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 1999] 13.

For more information, or to order the full catalog, please contact the UTSA Art Gallery at laura.crist@utsa.edu.

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UTSA Art Gallery Department of Art and Art History One UTSA Circle San Antonio, Texas 78249

The Lam Collection of Aboriginal Art Scott A. Sherer

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