Australian Aboriginal Ceramic Artist Thanakupi

Queensland australia 1937 2011 female open 10am 5pm closed christmas day timed sessions commence at 10am with entry to final session at 4pm 2 hours per visit only 4pm session is 1 hour read more email us.

Australian aboriginal ceramic artist thanakupi. In 1971 after beginning her artistic career as a painter thanakupi travelled south from her coastal home in napranum weipa in far north queensland to study ceramics at east sydney technical college in sydney. We used it only for decoration of our bodies and special spears and woomerahs not to make things. Thancoupie grew up at the presbyterian napranum mission where she experienced the use of clay in a ceremonial context. The opportunity to handle clay inspired her to complete her studies.

The idea of having my hands in clay was somehow strange but exciting it was only much later i realised that clay would be my art and also my legends ceramic story pot 1982 thanakupi. Thancoupie was one of the first generation of. Thanakupi australia 1937 23 apr 2011. We only used it for ceremony and each colour had a meaning.

To study ceramics at east sydney technical college in sydney. During the third year of her degree thanakupi shared a house and studio known as volta with jennifer isaacs then head of the aboriginal arts unit at the australian council for the arts with whom she has maintained a close friendship photographer jon rhodes and dancer carole johnson in surry hills. Her art is a contemporary expression of her people s the thainakuith s ancestral narratives and law handed down from one generation to the next over. Here she began her training under the guidance of famed australian ceramicists and artists including peter rushforth peter travis derek smith joan grounds bernard sahm mollie douglas and the great japanese potter shiga shigeo.

In the history of modern indigenous art thanakupi is a pioneer. Red black yellow and white. The men used to keep the clay in a special storehouse and we kids were not allowed to touch it. She was among the first aboriginal artists to work in clay and has developed a virtuosity and originality all her own.