Biography - Jeannie Petyarre

Born:           c 1950, Boundary Bore, Utopia NT

Language:  Anmatyerre

Country:     Atnangkere, NT 

Jeannie Petyarre (pronounced pi-jar-ha) is the youngest of seven Petyarre sisters who are all successful artists (see About Petyarre Sisters below).  Jeannie’s Aunt, the late Emily Kame Kngwarreye is regarded as the most successful (and famous) of Australia’s Aboriginal artists. Jeannie experimented with painting batik works in the 1980’s as part of the Utopian movement, but did not seriously begin to paint until the mid 1990s.  She paints the medicine leaves dreaming like Gloria Petyarre, but also Bush Medicine Dreaming, Bush Peanut Dreaming, Mountain Devil Lizard (arnkerrthe) Dreaming, Yam Seed Dreaming. 

Jeannie is highly regarding for her use of vibrant colours and fine brushwork with which she picks up a subtle range of colours and then applies in flowing, confident strokes onto her background -- most often black.  She layers bright and muted colours into finished works that trick the eye with different shapes and patterns evident from every angle. 

About the Petyarre SistersThe seven Petyarre sisters of the Utopia area of Central Australia have, since the early 1990’s, all become painters of significance.  Some are full, and others are half-sisters, with four different mothers and a common father.  They are Ada Bird (b.1930 - d. July 2009), Myrtle (b. c.1932) Nancy(b. 1934 - d. Nov 2009), Violet (b. 1938), Gloria (b. 1945), Kathleen (b. 1940), Jean (b. c. 1950) and Rosemary Petyarre (b. 1965).  The Petyarre sisters share the same dreaming of the Mountain or Thorny Devil Lizard (arnkerrth) – the patterns and colours of which change as camouflage, depending on the background patterns of its environment.  The sisters are thus able to depict myriad designs, all under this dreaming which they interpret along with others based on awelye (women’s body design) and a large variety of bush foods and other subjects.  The works of all the sisters were shown together for the first time in Seven Sisters Petyarre, Brisbane City Gallery, 2002).” Source:  The New McCullochs Encyclopedia of Australian Art, Section Australian Abor

1990 A Picture Story exhibition of 88 works on silk from the Holmes a Court Collection by Utopian artists which toured Eire and Scotland

1993 Central Australian Aboriginal Art and Craft Exhibition, Araluen Centre,Alice Springs.

2002 Seven Sisters Petyarre, Brisbane City Gallery

2005 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Illayda, Istanbul, Turkey

2005 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Milan, Italy

2006 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

2006 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Annual Clear Lake Exhibition of Aboriginal Paintings, Houston, USA

2006 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Paris, France

2006 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Bahrain Art Society, the Kingdom of Bahrain

2006 Aboriginal Art Exhibition, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

Selected Collections: The Robert Holmes a Court Collection, WA 

Depicted in the book: Utopia – A Picture Story; National Gallery of Australia, Canberra. 

Return to Jeannie's art.