Minnie Pwerle

Minnie Pwerle is of the Anmatyerre and Alyawarr language groups and was born in the Utopia region (some 290 kms north-east of Alice Springs) in approximately 1910. Her traditional country is known as Atnwengerrp.

As with many Aboriginal desert families, Minnie came from a large family, consisting of five sisters, Margie, Molly, Emily, Lois and Ally and two brothers called Louis and one other who along with Minnie's parents are now deceased. As a mother herself, Minnie continued the tradition of bearing a large family, giving birth to six daughters which included Eileen, Betty, June, Dora, Barbara Weir (a well-known painter) as well as a son Raymond.

As a painter, Minnie began her career in 1999 when requested to paint a series of linear works at DACOU gallery in Adelaide at which time Minnie was well into her 70's. Expressing a desire to paint, canvas upon canvas was presented to her and attacked with vigour reminiscent of the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye. The finished pieces were bright, vibrant, free flowing and very interesting and captured the attention of prominent gallery owners who purchased every canvas painted. This informal and completely unexpected workshop heralded Minnie's entrance into mainstream aboriginal art.

Minnie's main Dreamings include 'Awelye- Atnwengerrp", 'Bush Melon" and ' Bush Melon Seed", all of which convey this artist's love and respect for the land.

" Awelye- Atnwengerrp" is depicted by a series of lines painted in different widths, patterns and colours.

When Minnie first began to paint this Dreaming she only used vertical lines, but as Minnie's painting progressed she added circles, swirls, and breast designs. As a result, these paintings became very similar in appearance to 'Bush Melon', but are all titled 'Awelye- Atnwengerrp". This pattern represents the design painted on the top half of the women's' bodies during ceremonies in their country of Atnwengerrp.

'Bush Melon" is depicted using a linear design of curves, circles and breast designs in different colours creating a very loose and bold design while 'Bush Melon Seed" is big and small patches of colour strewn across the canvas. Both these Dreamings tell the story of this lovely sweet food that comes from a very small bush and is only found in Atnwengerrp. Once very abundant and fruiting in the summer season, the Bush Melon is now very hard to find.

Minnie and the other women used to collect this fruit (that was green in colour and then ripened to a brown colour) and scrape out the small black seeds. The women would then eat the fruit straight away or cut it into pieces and skewer them onto a piece of wood and dry them to be eaten in the coming months when bush tucker was scarce.

Both 'Bush Melon" and 'Bush Melon Seed" were part of the first series of paintings completed by Minnie in 1999. More recently, Minnie has concentrated on works depicting 'Awelye- Atnwengerrp", with 'Bush Melon" and 'Bush Melon Seed' now rarely depicted.

Minnie and her children currently live at Utopia at the Arlparra store but often visit her daughter Barbara and her grandson Fred in Adelaide. Due to continual demand for Minnie's paintings, Fred often conducts painting workshops at Utopia, where surrounded by family Minnie continues to paint works that are both captivating and profound.

Selected Exhibitions:

Year 2000 Minnie exhibited her paintings at various galleries throughout Australia including, Gallery Savah- Sydney, Flinders Lane Gallery- Melbourne and Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs.

Sept 2000 DACOU in association with AMP, an official sponsor of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, hosted an exhibition of mixed Utopia artists in the AMP building, Sydney.

Feb 2001 "Out of Utopia: - Chapman Gallery- Canberra. Exhibited with Barbara Weir.

Feb 2001 Combined exhibition in San Anselmo, Marin County, California USA

April 2001 'Minnie Pwerle", "Mary Pantjiti McLean- 'Tumaru Purlykumunu-small stories"- Japingka Gallery- Perth-May 2001 "Painting Country"- combined exhibition at Tandanya, Adelaide.

May 2001 "Desert Colour"- "My Country"- combined exhibition at Raintree Aboriginal Art Gallery- Darwin NT.

June 2001 Combined exhibition at Dreamtime Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA

July 2001 "Women Artists Of The Australian Desert"- combined exhibition At Gallery 2021- Auckland, New Zealand.

Selected Collections:

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne Art Gallery of Western Australia

Numerous private collections in Australia and overseas include:

The Holmes á Court Collection, Perth WA

Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth WA

Karl Hein Essl, Austria