Ada Bird Petyarre

Born c: 1930
Area: Utopia
Country: Arnangkere

Ada Bird was born on the old Utopia station at Atnangkere.

Ada Bird is an Anmatyerre speaker, and one of the senior women at Utopia.

She paints the Angertla-Mountain Devil Lizard, Engcarma-Bean, Unyara-Emu, Annlara-Pencil Yam, Kadjera-Grass Seeds, and Elaitchurunga which is Small Brown Grass.

Dreamings which she shares with Gloria Petyarre, Emily Kngwarreye, Myrtle Petyarre, Nancy Kemarre, Kathleen Petyarre, Violet Petyarre and Jeanna Petyarre. She lives at Mulga Bore or Akaye Soakage and has been involved with the Utopia Women's Batik group since its inception in the late '70ws. Her batiks are held in major collections in Australia and overseas.

The German filmmaker Wim Wenders acquired on of her batiks and gave the artist a role in one of his films partially shot around Alice Springs in Central Australia. She began painting in 1988 with CAAMA's Summer Project. In late '89 the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra acquired a major canvas, and addition of her works to, many public and private collections followed. In 1990 Ada had her first solo exhibition at Utopia Art in Sydney and in 1995 at the Aboriginal Desert Art Gallery Melbourne. She incorporates both traditional designs and representational elements in her paintings and uses linear patterns, which are increasingly distinctive of her work.

Solo Exhibitions

1990      Utopia Art Sydney, Australian

1999      Ginninderra Galleries, Canberra, Australia

1999      Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, Australia

2000      Mbantua Gallery, Alice Springs, Australia

Group Exhibitions

1988                  Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Utopia Art Sydney, Australia

1988                  Time Before Time, Austral Gallery, St. Louis, USA

1989                  Utopia Art Sydney, Australian

1989                  Utopia Batik, Araluen Centre for the Arts, Alice Springs, Australian

1989                  Utopia Women’s Paintings. The First Works on Canvas. A Summer Project, 1988-89,         SH Ervin Gallery, Sydney, Australian

1989                  Utopia Women, Coventry Gallery, Sydney, Australian

1989-1991          Utopia - A Picture Story, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute, Adelaide, Australian; The Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Ireland; Meat Market Gallery, Melbourne, Australian

1990                  A Portfolio of Australian Women Artists, Macquarie Gallery, Sydney, Australian

1990                 Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes of Court Collection, Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, Harvard University; James Ford Bell Museum, University of Minnesota; Lakewook Center for the Arts, Lake