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Skin name: Pengarte
Language: Western Arrarnta
Date of birth: 21 April 1947
Community: Ntaria, NT
Judith Inkamala joined the Hermannsburg Potters group in 1993 and immediately displayed a great aptitude for working with clay and underglaze decoration. Her pots reflect a predisposition for balanced, symmetrical objects, and reveal an accomplished hand in the craftsmanship. Judith is a senior member of the Hermannsburg Potters, and is an inspiring and respected cultural leader for her enduring commitment to the group and her community.
In 1996, Inkamala was invited to participate in a cultural and pottery exchange with the Sasak Potters of Lombok, Indonesia. She displayed rapid progress following her trip, where she exchanged knowledge and techniques with the Indonesian Potters. There she learned to make large open neck storage jars in the style of the Sasak Potters.
Inkamala takes inspiration from her Western Aranda country and transforms these visions into wonderfully crafted terracotta pots and occasionally paintings on canvas. Her pots are beautifully crafted and show a great attention to detail. Her paintings seem to invite her pots into the landscape – as skillfully painted as the pot is constructed.
Judith Inkamala has had a long standing association with creative work and as a child was known to spend time at the Albert Namatjira household as she was great friends with his grand-daughter Gloria. As a child, Judith recalls watching the famous Albert Namatjira and his kinsmen painting in the camp near the Mission, going to the painters’ camp after school and watching the men paint. Her historical works on the Hermannsburg Mission and, as well as her works on the Namatjira story, are of particular interest to collectors both in Australia and internationally.
In 2010 Judith accompanied Rahel Ungwanaka to China to showcase their pottery to ceramic artists for the collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai, China
Exhibitions:
1993 Continuity, Boomalli Aboriginal Co-op, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1994 City Hall, Papeete, Tahiti, French Polynesia
1994 Institute of American Indian Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States of America
1994 Central Australian Aboriginal Art & Craft Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1994 11th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
1994 Ntaria – Our Country Our People, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1994 Birds in My Country, Museum & Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
1994 Watercolours of Namatjira’s Country – The Hermannsburg Artists 1938 to 1978, The Hahndorf Academy, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
1994 Power of the Land, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1994 The Art of Place Exhibition, Old Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
1994 Namatjira Ilakakeye, Tandanya Kaurna Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia 1995 The Hermannsburg Potters, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1995 Sidney Myer Fund Australia Day Invitation Ceramic Award, Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
1995 Aboriginal Ceramics from the Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia 1995 Central Australian Aboriginal Arts & Crafts Exhibition, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1995 ‘Experience Australia 95’, Traveling European Exhibition
1995 Pottery of the Hermannsburg Potters, St. Patrick’s Catholic Church, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1996 Sidney Myer Fund International Ceramics Award Shepparton Art Gallery, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
1996 Nurna Urrknga Arrkana Mpaaramalanga – We’re Having Fun Working With Clay, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1996 Ampinye – Place, Tandanya Kaurna Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
1996 Lyaarta Nurna Urrknga Mpaarama – Now We Are With Clay Retrospective, Museum & Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
1997 The Somatic Objects, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney, Australia and the National Museum of History Taipei, Taiwan
1997 The Hermannsburg Potters, Cairns Regional Gallery, Cairns, Queensland, Australia
1997 Arrenhe – That One Now, Tandanya Kaurna Gallery, Adelaide, South Australia
1997 Walkabout Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Joan Sutherland Performing Art Centre, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1997 Iltja Irrpuma Arna-ka – Hands in the Earth, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1997 The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1997 Circles About the Body, University of Tasmania Gallery – Touring regional galleries
1998 Fourth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award, Australian Heritage Commission, Old Parliament House, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
1998 Arnanjapera Nunaka – Our World, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1998 The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1998 Hermannsburg Potters, National Aboriginal Cultural Centre Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1999 The Desert Mob Art Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1999 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1999 Awelye, DESART Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Potters Aranda Artists of Central Australia, New Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
2000 Unveiling the QUT Art Collection, Queensland University of Technology of Art Museum, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2000 Women’s Work – Our Imagination in the Bowls, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2000 This Earth For Us, Commonwealth Institute, London, England.
2000 Hermannsburg Pots, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
2000 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia 2000 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Potters, Brisbane City Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Potters, Redback Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2000 Out of The Desert, DESART Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2000 Art From the Central Desert, Hogarth Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2001 Harmonic Visions, Tamworth City Gallery, Tamworth, New South Wales, Australia
2002 Nanah Etatha Nunaka – This is Our Life, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2002 Pmara Nunakana – Our Country, Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
2002 Pmara Nunakana, Bundaberg Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2002 Hermannsburg Potters, Thornquest Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2002 Seeing the Centre – The Art of Albert Namatjira, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
2003 Hermannsburg Potters in Paint, Thornquest Gallery, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
2003 Message Sticks, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2003 Indigenous Ceramic Art Survey, Ceramic Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2003 Namatjira Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2003 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2003 This is Our Country, Childers Regional Gallery, Childers, Queensland, Australia
2003 Namatjira Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2005 Aranda Landscapes 2005, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2006 Pmara Nurnaka Etata – Our Land is Alive, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2006 Iltja nurnaka Urrkaapuma-From Our Hands, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2006, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2006 Galerie Rosenhauer, Goettingen, Germany
2006 Senior Women of the Central Desert, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
2006 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 The Women’s Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2007 Classic Ceramics and Oil Paintings, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2007 24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 Indigenous Ceramics, SoFa Chicago, USA
2007 Indigenous Ceramic Art Award Shepparton Art Gallery Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
2008 Nanah Etatha Nuka – This is our Life, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2009 Iltja Nunaka Orkapurna Ntari – Hand-made from Hermannsburg, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2010 Themes of the Central Desert: New ceramics by the Hermannsburg Potters, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2011 Desert Mob 2011, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2011 Hermannsburg Potters 2011. Stories from Clay, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2012 Desert Mob 2012, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2012 Hermannsburg Potters 2012. All Things Clay, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2013 Air Born, McClelland Gallery and Sculpture Park, Langwarrin, Victoria, Australia
2013 The Hermannsburg Potters – New Hand-built Pots & Sculpture, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2014 Hermannsburg Potters – New Marks, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2015 Our Land is Alive – Hermannsburg Potters for Kids, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Provenance Does Matter – The Collectors’ Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Pmara – Country, Home, Map, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2016 Ltharta, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Birds: Flight Paths in Australian Art, Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery, Mornington, Victoria, Australia
2017 Clay Stories, Sabbia Gallery, Paddington, New South Wales, Australia.
2017 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, NT, Australia.
2017 Clay Stories, Jam Factory, Seppeltsfield, SA. Australia
2018 Clay Stories, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT. Australia
Awards:
1994 Finalist, 11th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
1995 Finalist, Sidney Myer Fund Australia Day Invitation Ceramic Award
1998 Highly Commended, Australian Heritage Commission Fourth National Indigenous Heritage Art Award
2007 Finalist, 24th National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award Major
Commissions:
1994 Glen Helen Dreaming Mural, Strehlow Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1994 Mural for the Taronga Park Zoo, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
1996 Relief tile murals for main entrance and throughout Alice Springs Desert Park, Northern Territory, Australia
2017 Bush Medicine Pot, University of Melbourne, Medical History Museum, Melbourne VIC.
Collections:
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
Australian Institute & Outback Centre, Darling Harbour, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Gordon Darling Collection, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, Western Australia,
Australia National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia Parliament House Collection, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
The University of New South Wales Art Collection, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Whitehorse City Council, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia Private collections
University of Melbourne, Medical History Museum, Melbourne VIC
Publications:
1997 Mellor, Dorothy and Ray Norman, Circles About the Body, University of Tasmania
1999 McCulloch, Susan. Contemporary Aboriginal Art, Allen & Unwin
2000 Isaacs, Jennifer., Potters: Aranda Artists of Central Australia, Craftsman House
2003 Newstead, Adrian. ‘A Survey of Australian Indigenous Ceramic Art’, Ceramic Art Gallery, Sydney
2007 Hermannsburg Life – Over Seventeen Years of Contemporary Art Exploration, Artisan Gallery, Queensland
2015 Buttler, Elisha., ‘Make – Hermannsburg Potters’, NGV Gallery Magazine, pp. 48-52.
2015 Davidson, Helen. ‘Aussie Rules and Aboriginal art: meet the Hermannsburg potters at work’, The Guardian
2015 Sibenaler, David. ‘Art of AFL’, The Herald Sun, 9 June, p. 8.
2016 Flanagan, Martin. ‘Possibilities – in black and white’, The Age, 5 March, p. 51.
2016 Stern, Melissa. ‘Aboriginal Women in Australia in Australia Celebrate Their Football Heroes with Pottery’, Hyperallergic: Sensitive to Art and Craft