Gloria Petyarre was born in approximately 1945 in the region of Utopia, located 270kms northeast from Alice Springs. Her language is Anmatyerre and her country is Aknangkere. Gloria is one of seven sisters who are also artists, such as the well-known Kathleen Petyarre, Nancy Petyarre, Violet Petyarre and Ada Bird.
Gloria first gained recognition as an artist working in the medium of Batik, exhibiting with other Utopia women in shows around Australia and abroad from 1977 to 1987. In 1988 Gloria took up the medium of canvas and painted her first work for CAAMA (The Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association) in the exhibition titled – “Utopia Women’s Painting; The First Works of Canvas; a Summer Project 1988 – 1989.”
In 1991, Gloria had her first solo exhibition at Australian Galleries in New York and at Utopia Art, Sydney, where she had other solo shows from 1993 to 1995.
Gloria’s work has been included in major survey exhibitions including: –
1991 Art Gallery of New South Wales touring Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition
1992 “Flash Painting” – National Gallery of Australia.
1992 “The Body Paint Collection” at Bishop Museum, Hawaii, which also toured the United States.
1993 Gloria received a Tapestry Commission for the Victorian Tapestry Workshop and in 1994 for the Law Court in Brisbane
In 1995/96 Gloria received a Full Fellowship grant from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Board of the Australia Council, and in March 1999 was awarded the coveted Wynne prize. Gloria was the first Aboriginal artist to receive this prestigious award for landscape painting.
Gloria’s work is in the collection of almost every major Art Gallery in each Australian capital city and in the Holmes a Court collection. In 1998, a work on paper was acquired by the Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, a major canvas by the "Levi Collection" in Seattle, USA, and a Kansas City institution requested Gloria in conjunction with her husband, Ronnie Price, to design a mural which is now a highlighted main attraction.
She is featured on the cover of Michael Bolton’s “The Art of Utopia” and more recently in “Fire and Shadow” by Anna Voight and Nevill Drury and in “New Visions. New Perspectives” by Anna Voight. Also recently Gloria is featured in the book "Dreamings of The Desert" published by The Art Gallery of South Australia.
Gloria's main Dreamings are "Mountain Devil", "Bush Medicine" and "Atnangkere Growth”'. In "Mountain Devil Dreaming" Gloria uses a bold linear design accompanied with a small amount of dotwork to depict this small lizard like creature. Alternatively Gloria may cover the entire canvas using small intricate dots in various colours creating an almost three-dimensional effect. Both styles are indicative of Gloria's extraordinary talent for colour and pattern.
Gloria developed a series of works that are even more contemporary in style and are known as “Atnangkere Growth". In these paintings Gloria depicts her Country using lines & swirls of colour that run onto the canvas and are intermingled with a variety of dotwork. These paintings are rich in texture and are testament to Gloria’s artistic creativity.
By far her most popular style has been "Bush Medicine Dreaming". In these works, Gloria depicts the leaves of a particular type of shrub that has medicinal qualities that Gloria, as a healer, is well practiced in. Gloria uses a range of different brush strokes ranging from the large to the very fine using colours which represent the growth of the leaves at certain times of the year. The expert use of colour and movement displayed in these pieces confirm Gloria’s status as a sophisticated contemporary artist.
EXHIBITIONS
Mar 1988 Group exhibition, “Time Before Time”, Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA.
May 1989 Group Exhibition, “A Summer Project”, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
1990 Traveling group batik exhibition, “Utopia – A Picture Story”, the Holmes a Court Collection, Ireland, England, France, Thailand & India.
Jun 1990 Group Exhibition, “Tagari Lia: My Family”, Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, Ireland.
Nov 1990 Group exhibition, “Utopia Men and Dogs”, Austral Gallery, St Louis, USA.
Feb 1991 Group Exhibition, Australian Galleries, New York, USA.
Jun 1991 Group Exhibition, “Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition”, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, NSW.
Sept 1991 Group exhibition, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW.
Jun 1992 Group traveling exhibition, “Nangara”, Aboriginal Gallery of Dreamings, Melbourne, Australia and internationally.
Jul 1992 Group exhibition, “New Tracks Old Lands”, Boston and touring US.
Nov 1992 Group exhibition, “Aboriginal Art: Utopia in the Desert”,
Nogizaki Arthall , Tokyo, Japan.
Aug 1993 Solo exhibition, “Awelye”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW.
Jan 1994 Solo exhibition, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW.
Jan 1995 Combined exhibition, DACOU Gallery, Adelaide, SA.
May 1995 Solo exhibition, “Gloria Petyarre: On the Line”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW.
Mar 1996 Combined exhibition, Framed, Darwin, NT.
July 1996 Combined exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
Aug 1996 Solo exhibition, Fireworks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
Aug 1996 Combined exhibition, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
Jan 1997 Combined exhibition, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
Jan 1997 Combined exhibition, DACOU Gallery, Adelaide, SA.
Jan 1997 Participated in the artist in residence program at the Art Gallery of South Australia in the exhibition “Dreamings of the Desert”, SA.
Apr 1997 Solo exhibition, “Instant Pictures”, Utopia Art Sydney, NSW.
Jun 1997 Combined exhibition “Ten Years On”, Sutton Gallery, Melbourne, VIC.
Jul 1997 Combined exhibition, Quadrivium Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
Aug 1997 Selected entrant in the Telstra 14th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award for 1997, Darwin, NT.
Dec 1997 Solo exhibition, Flinders Lane Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
Dec 1997 Combined exhibition, FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
Feb 1998 Combined exhibition 'Women Painters of the Desert" FireWorks Gallery, Brisbane, QLD.
Apr 1998 Solo exhibition at Robert Steele Gallery- Adelaide, SA.
May 1998 Combined exhibition "Utopia IV" Quadrivium Gallery,
Sydney, NSW.
May 1998 Combined exhibition "The Ladies of Utopia", Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT.
Jun 1998 Solo exhibition, Utopia Art, Sydney, NSW.
Jun 1998 Combined exhibition- SCECGS Redlands – Sydney, NSW.
Sept 1998 Combined exhibition- Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne, VIC.
Nov 1998 Solo exhibition "The Aknangkere Growth Paintings"-First
Release - Chapman Gallery- Canberra, ACT.
Nov 1998 Solo exhibition, Gloria Tamerre Petyarre, Campbelltown Bicentennial Art Gallery, Campbelltown, NSW.
Dec 1998 Combined exhibition in The Adelaide Festival Theatre, SA.
1991-2001 Group exhibition, “Spirit Country”, San Francisco and touring USA.
Feb 1999 Combined exhibition "Utopia"- BMG art- Adelaide, SA.
Mar 1999 Recipient of the Wynne Landscape Prize, NSW.
Apr 1999 Self titled solo exhibition- Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne, VIC.
May 1999 "Bush Garden"- combined exhibition - Japingka Gallery- Fremantle, WA.
May 1999 Combined exhibition - "Quadrivium Gallery"- Sydney, NSW.
Jun 1999 Combined exhibition "Caring For Country"- Tandanya Cultural
Institute, Adelaide, SA.
Jul 1999 Solo Exhibition, Red Desert Gallery, Eumundi, Queensland.
Aug 1999 Combined exhibition "Flinders Lane Gallery"- Melbourne, VIC.
Aug 1999 Combined exhibition - Gallery Savah- Sydney, NSW.
Sept 1999 Combined exhibition- North Shore Fine Art- Sydney, NSW.
Oct 1999 Solo exhibition, “Gloria Petyarre: A Survey”, New England Regional Art Museum, Armidale, NSW.
Nov 1999 Solo exhibition, “Wildflowers”, Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, NT.
Dec 1999 Combined exhibition with Jack Britten- Chapman Gallery- Canberra, ACT.
Feb 2000 Combined Exhibition - "An Affair to Remember" - ArtSauce - Singapore.
May 2000 Combined exhibition- Quadrivium Gallery- Sydney, NSW.
May 2000 Combined exhibition- Tandanya Cultural Institute- Adelaide, SA.
Sept 2000 DACOU in association with AMP- an official sponsor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, held a mixed Utopia art exhibition in the AMP building, Sydney.
Sept 2000 Combined exhibition - Mary Place Gallery- Sydney, NSW.
Nov 2000 Combined exhibition -SCECGS Redlands Art Prize- Sydney, NSW.
May 2001 “Painting Country”- combined exhibition at Tandanya Cultural Institute, Adelaide SA.
May 2001 “Desert Colour, My Country”- combined exhibition at Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery, Darwin NT.
Jun 2001 “Two Women- Dreamings”- exhibited with Barbara Weir at Dreamtime Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA.
July 2001 “Women Artist of the Australian Desert”, combined exhibition At Gallery 2021, Auckland, New Zealand.
Sept 2001