Details of Ruby Tjangawa Williamson
About
BIOGRAPHY
Ruby is a Pitjantjatjara senior law woman committed to fostering traditional law and culture, story-telling, hunting, punu (wood) carving, dancing and painting. She was born around 1940 in the bush, somewhere out west of Amata. Ruby said her family came to Amata when she was a young girl, most likely around the mid 1950's. At that time, Amata was a cattle station called Musgrave Park, which would eventually be returned to Pitjantjatjara people in the mid 1960's. Ruby married a young cattleman who worked at Musgrave Park adn nearby stations. His family are the traditional owners of the country around Amata. Tragically, her husband died in his early forties, leaving Ruby to bring up their five children on her own.
Ruby has been painting with Tjala Arts (formely Minymaku Arts) since 2000 and is receiving attention and acclaim for her unique, contemporary style. She is a prevailing artist whose imagery is distinctly modern in its ideas, perspective and application. Ruby is still developing and experimenting. All of her works have a quirkiness and freshness that makes it difficult for non-Aboriginal people to pigeon-hole her artworks or compare her works with other Aboriginal artists.
Ruby is receiving attention and acclaim for her contemporary style on canvas and also for her 'punu' woodblocks, a process that involves burning the design into a wooden surface using hot wire. The National Gallery of Australia purchased a selection of her prints in 2004.
MEDIUM
Acrylic on canvas
Punugraphs (woodblock prints)
Perspex engraving
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009 'Ruby Williamson', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi
2005 'Ruby Williamson Revisited', Art Mob, Hobart
2003 'Ngayuku Tjukurpa - My Dreaming', Art Mob, Hobart
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2011 'Ngayulu Witini Ngayuku Mamaku Tjukurpa: Ngayuku Wini Ngayuku Ngunytjuku Tjukurpa: I Hold My Mother's Story, I Hold My Father's Story', Raft Artspace, Alice Springs
2010 'Desert Country', Art Gallery of South Australia', Adelaide
2010 'Tjala Arts Ala Patintjaku: Tjala Arts Closing the Gap', Marshall Arts, Adelaide
2010 'Desert Mob', Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs
2010 'Our Mob', Adelaide Festival Centre, Adelaide
2010 'Tjala Artists Featuring Ruby Williamson', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2010 'Pulka. Important New Paintings from Tjala Arts', Chapman Gallery, Canberra
2010 'Raft Launch APY NPY Survey Exhibition', Raft Artspace, Alice Springs
2010 'Nganampa Tjukurpa Kunpu: Our Strong Stories Tjala Arts, Amata', Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Sydney
2010 'APY NPY Exhibition', Marshall Arts
2010 'Tjukurpa Pulkatjara', South Australia Museum, Adelaide
2009 'National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Awards', Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
2009 'Tjala Arts - New Works', Randell Lane, Perth
2009 'Tjala Women', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Sydney
2009 'Tjala Arts', Aboriginal and Pacific Art Gallery, Sydney
2009 'Tjala Arts', Chapman Gallery, Canberra
2007 'Colours from our COuntry', Harrison Galleries, Sydney
2006 'Wama Yungkunytja', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2006 'Tjala Arts: SALA Festival', Art Images, Adelaide
2006 'Our Mob', Adelaide Festival Centre Centre, Adelaide
2006 'Warka nganampa munuru: Our work is many and varied', Stephanie Burns Fine Art, Canberra
2006 'Tjala Arts', Kluge-Ruhe, University of Virginia, USA
2006 'ONE: Emerging South Australian Artists and selected Indigenous Artists', Pembroke Foundation/School, Adelaide
2006 'Divas of the Desert', Gallery Gondwana, Alice Springs
2006 'Utulu kuwaritja Amatala nguru - New Mob from Amata', Red Dot Gallery, Singapore
2005 'Waku Kunpu: Strong Work', Bandigan Art, Sydney
2005 'Minymaku Arts: SALA Festival', Art Images, Adelaide
2005 'Minymaku Arts: emerging artists from Amata, South Australia', Indigenart, Fremantle
2004 'Nganana worka wiru palyalpai - Our best work', Australia Print Workshop, Melbourne
2004 '29th Annual ShellFremantle Print Award', Fremantle Art Centre, Fremantle
2004 'Desert Mob', Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs
2004 'Minyma tjutuku paintings Amatala nguru', Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, Melbourne
2004 'Looking after country: Manta Atunymankunytja', Flinders Universoty Art Museum, Adelaide
2003 'Groundswell: An exhibition of Aboriginal Art (various artists), Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2003 'Nganampa tjukurpa - Our stories', Port Melbourne Uniting Church, Melbourne
2003 'Ananguku Arts and Culture Aboriginal Corporation', Hogarth Galleries, Sydney
2003 'Desert Mob', Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs
2003 'Kapi Wala Nganampa - Our water holes', On Shore Art, Newtown, Geelong
2003 'PY on Paper; works on paper from Anangu Pitjantjatjara artists', Indigenart, Perth
2003 'Ananguku Arts and Culture', Arterial Gallery, Parkside, Adelaide
2003 'Nganampa Tjukula - Our rock holes', Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra
2002 'Mina Wala - fresh, like water from a spring', Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs
2002 'Desert Mob', Araluen Gallery, Alice Springs
2002 'The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Silks', Adelaide Fringe
2000 'Irititja Munu Kuwaritja Tjukurpa - Stories from the Past and Present', Tandanya, Adelaide
COLLECTIONS
National Gallery of Australia
Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory
Art Gallery of South Australia
Flinders University Museum
Adelaide Festival Centre
Lagerberg-Swift Collection
Araluen Art Centre Collection
National Gallery Victoria
Marshall Arts Collection
AWARDS
2002 Tandanya / Arts SA Aboriginal Artists' Fellowship Award
2009 Shortlisted, NATSIAA
BIBLIOGRAPHIES
2003 Sotherby's Marn Grook Auction of Australian Rules footballs painted by Indigenous Artists
