Gloria Petyarre has been one of the most consistently creative artists at Utopia over the last fifteen years. Her leaf or "Bush Medicine" series, depicting the rushing movement of leaves with terse rhythmic brush strokes has been heralded as one of her most successful stylistic developments to date. Gloria utilizes close tonal values of color together with the rhythmic patterning of her brush strokes to imply the movement of a tree's leaves as seen blowing in the wind. The leaves of this tree are an important form of bush medicine, which are gathered by women.

Gloria and Auntie Emily sharing a laugh, early 90's

Gloria's work is featured on the cover of The Art of Utopia by Michael Boulter. In 1990 she traveled to Ireland, London and India as a representative of the Utopia Women for the 'Utopia - A picture Story' exhibition. Her work has been included in major survey exhibitions including "Flash Painting" at the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and the 1991 Art Gallery of New South Wales touring 'Aboriginal Women's Exhibition'. She had her first solo exhibition in 1991 at the Australia Gallery in New York. In 1993, she executed a Mural for Kansas City Zoo, and in 1999, she won the prestigious Wynne Landscape Prize at the Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney. This year Gloria was the runner up for the Wynne Landscape Prize with a painting remarkably similar to the one below. This page features one of her latest and her earliest in this evolving series.

All Gloria Petyarre paintings indicated with green dots are currently for sale. Prices and photos can be obtained by contacting Songlines Aboriginal Art Gallery via e-mail, please be specific and mention the name and inventory code of the paintings. We particularly welcome phone calls in the U.S. at (415-871-5901). -- David Betz, Curator