My Artist Story — Deborah Bonar
WELCOME
Scribblebark Design is the ultimate showcase of the breathtaking works created by Perth-based Aboriginal artist, Deborah Bonar. Her exceptional talents and deep connection to her heritage are evident in her beautiful and culturally significant art pieces. Deborah's passion for Indigenous art radiates through her community canvas projects, school visits, and corporate art workshops. Discover the vibrancy and soul of Aboriginal art at Scribblebark.
Biography
Deborah Bonar is an award winning Western Australian Aboriginal artist who specialises in vibrant contemporary abstracts. Deborah has exhibited widely in WA. She has won the coveted Cossack Art Award (WA Indigenous Artist) and her works are held in many private and public collections. Deborah has completed numerous public art commissions for hospitals, parks and buildings in the Perth area. She has extensive experience working with corporations, schools and the public conducting interactive art workshops for WA schools and businesses. Deborah's primary identification is Aboriginal having Gija and Yamaji heritage but she also has English and Italian influences on her concept of identity, self, home and belonging which become incorporated into her art practice.
Deborah Bonar, Early Artistic Beginnings Summary
Deborah Bonar (nee Mills) has always had a keen interest in art, design and photography. She completed a Diploma of Arts in Graphic Design in 1997 and was employed in the printing and graphic design industry.
In 2003 Deborah established her own business, Scribblebark Design, combining family responsibilities with working freelance from home. The Aboriginal art and designs she created for a series of health promotional materials led to demand for her work and further commissions.
“At heart, I have always been an artist and working from home gave me the freedom to take up painting again”, says Deborah Bonar”.
Finding My Artistic Voice
In 2005 Deborah became a member of the Blend(er) Gallery in Joondalup allowing her the opportunity to mix and network with other artists. She presented an interactive workshop at the gallery to discuss Aboriginal art symbolism and the personal stories behind her work. Deborah Bonar had her first solo exhibition titled The Magic of Nature at the Blend(er) Gallery in July 2006.
For the exhibition, she produced vibrant acrylic paintings of Western Australian wildflowers, native plants and animals and organic materials such as bush nuts and seeds.
Deborah then started regularly submitting entries to art exhibitions. Her first entry for the 23rd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Lily’s Country, was accepted for the annual exhibition in Darwin in 2006. This entry, a digital print was sold at the exhibition.
In 2009, Deborah enrolled in the first accredited Aboriginal art course at the Kidogo Arthouse Institute in Fremantle, leading to a Certificate III in Visual Arts & Contemporary Craft. She learnt new painting techniques and started experimenting with different styles and different medium such as ochre, sent to her by family members in the East Kimberley.
As part of my art studies in 2009, their was a Assignment component to:Write about two artists that you are interested in or you can relate to.
I choose two Western Australian artists, one being a East Kimberley Aboriginal Artist that paints in a traditional style with ochres and the other a local Perth artist who is not Aboriginal that paints with western society medium such as acrylic or oil.
I wrote this essay below, that I would like to share.
ESSAY: Abstract Colourism in the European Style and Representation Cultural Mapping in Gija Style
Essay written by Deborah Bonar, December 2009
Please be aware that this essay contains names and images of deceased persons
Introduction
This essay compares and contrasts aspects of abstraction through the use of colour, different medium and materials by a local artist, Sean Conway and East Kimberley artist, Queenie McKenzie (c1915-1998). These artists are complete opposites in many respects, with regard to gender, culture, education, qualifications and upbringing. I interviewed Sean on 12 November 2009 to get information for this essay and obtained background information on abstract colourism from Arnason (1988). As Queenie passed away in 1998, I obtained information on her art and life from art publications (Crumlin 1991; National Galley of Victoria 2000; Vinnicombe 2000; Museum of Victoria 2002; Museum of Contemporary Art 2003; Thomas 2003; McCulloch and McCulloch Childs 2008; Field 2009).
The reason why I choose these two artists is because I believe that I have something in common with both of them. I have cultural links to both the Gija heritage and mainstream Australian heritage. Like Queenie, I am an Aboriginal woman of Gija descent, with non Aboriginal heritage also, including Italian. My father’s family come from the East Kimberley region and Queenie’s art portrays the landscapes, stories and times of my Gija grandmother Ivy Radimy (Ivy Mills). Like Sean, I have had a mainstream Australian education with formal training in Graphic Design. We are both members of the blend(er) Art gallery in Joondalup and produce vibrant artwork. I feel that I have a connection to both artists with a firm foot in both cultures.
Sean Conway – Art and Influences
Sean Conway was born in Williamstown in 1949 and raised in Melbourne, Victoria. He has formal qualifications in commercial layout and design following a three year advertising cadetship and he attended the Perth Technical College for training in sculpture. His main influences were the early abstract colourists and sculptors, including Klee, Kandinsky, Miro, Sonia and Robert Delaunay, Matisse, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso, Arp and Brancusi. (Arnason 1988)
Sean has experimented with acrylics, oils, inks, pencil, charcoal, mixed media, pastels, collage and watercolours, but his preferred medium is acrylic paint with its short drying time, because he likes to work quickly, with multiple colour use.
Sean describes himself as a colourist and adds that most of his work is symbolic in the way he uses shape, form and colour. He has spent most of his life studying symbols of all sorts throughout history. He is inspired by his “love of nature and its many wonders on various levels”. He usually works with music as an inspiration.
- Sean's artworks are bold and vibrant abstracts. They resonate with colour, energy and harmony. This is how his work is described in his Artist Statement:
- “The music we make together...”
- Sean Conway's work plays with the energy of life, light and colour – and the movement and music they make together. Abstract ideas about his love of beauty and balance in nature on various levels have been explored and have evolved over forty years of practice.
- His use of wave forms and “key lines” reflects the rhythm and order within the seeming chaos of “worlds within worlds”. Many of the shapes and forms are symbolic of what has been seen, sensed and experienced on different levels of reality. The harmonics of number, form, colour and sound are expressed in many pieces – in a continual search of finding some balance between our scientific and spiritual consciousness.
- The work is about feelings of wonder and joy that resonate, and help colour our lives. An effort to capture those special but transient moments of pleasure and transcendence; simply being in the moment of enjoyment, and having the freedom of spontaneity in expression – is behind everything he does.
- (Sean Conway 2009)
The features of Sean's work that appeal to me include his strong design layout, vibrant contrasting colours and rhythmic movement. This gives a strong sense of positive energy and good vibrations like musical harmony. The compositions are well balanced with geometric abstract forms, shapes, patterns and lines. His artwork symbolises his life experiences and his appreciation of the beauty and wonder of the natural world.
As a graphic designer and artist, I identify with Sean's strong design and use of colour. I also like to paint in vibrant colours and portray optimism, balance and harmony in my work. I have recently developed what I call my “prismatic style”, to capture the effect of sunlight on water using a multicoloured, multilinear abstract effect.
During Sean's interview I asked him, “What's the best advice you can give to an emerging artist?” The advice that he gave me was, “There are NO rules! Enjoy what you do. Your gift is unique.”
Queenie McKenzie – Art and Influences
Queenie was born around 1915 on land known as Old Texas Downs Station on the Ord River, to the south-east of Turkey Creek and raised there as a child by her mother Dinah under traditional Aboriginal Law. She grew up among Gija people and spoke Gija as her first language. Her father Roy was a gardiya (whitefella) horse breaker from Queensland. Queenie had no formal education and in her early years, she lived a traditional bush life.
During those early years on the cattle stations, the authorities began forcibly removing part Aboriginal children from their families. The Aboriginal people did not know the policeman with the big wagon had been sent by the government to take their children away. There were new laws that said all children of mixed blood – usually with white fathers and Aboriginal mothers – were taken away from their families, their County and culture, to be brought up far away. There was much confusion and crying as children were forcibly pulled from their mothers and pushed into the nearby wagon. The children were driven away quickly, leaving their mothers grieving. In most cases, they never saw those children again.
Some of Queenie's early life was very distressing. When she was still a baby, her father wanted to take her away but her mother refused and kept her on Old Texas Station. Having seen children taken away, Dinah became protective and vigilant when, as a young child, Queenie became a target of the same policy. The police came many times and attempted to take her away but she stayed on the station, being rubbed with charcoal and strongly defended by her mother on separate occasions. In later years, Queenie's gardiya father returned to try and remove Queenie from her mother. Queenie was one of the lucky few to remain in her mother’s care.
During 1922 great floods came and submerged the old station causing them to move by wagon and dray to New Texas Downs Station, located just east of Turkey Creek (Warmun). At New Texas Downs Station the homestead was rebuilt.
In 1933 Jimmy Klein became the head stockman, a much kinder manager, as a result violence on the station decreased. Queenie spent her childhood and much of her adult life working as a goatherder and, later, as a cook in the mustering camps for nearly forty years on Texas Downs. Queenie reminisced about her life on the station she often talked fondly of the role she and others played as workers and would not talk as much about the hard times with the tough managers. Queenie took pride in sharing her stories of how she and her mother Dinah would stay a week or more at each mustering camp to do the cooking. Queenie followed her mother throughout Old Texas and New Texas, learning about the land and its secrets.
During the mid 1970s, Queenie and her family, along with hundreds of mainly Gija people from stations such as Texas Downs, Mabel Downs, Bedford Downs, Lissadell, Ord River, Bow River and Turner River sought refuge at Turkey Creek (Warmun community) after they were forced off the stations by pastoralists. She used to watch the Warmun artists, such as Rover Thomas, painting and she decided that she would also like to try. She was around seventy years old when she began creating artwork.
She made pictures of her Country, mostly with coloured pencils and occasionally with ochre on canvas board. Some were made for use in the Mission in Warmun and the school and others were made for the commercial market. Queenie's earliest paintings were of the Dreamtime stories about the Eagle and Crow that were so important to the Warmun Community, and of her special places on Texas Downs. It was through Queenie's paintings that she told stories about historical events of her people, including the impact of colonialism, massacres, stolen generations and displacement from their traditional homelands.
Warmun paintings are notable for use of ochre in a great variety of colours, such as many shades of browns, pinks, yellows, grey-blue and green-black. The ochres were often applied thickly, giving the painting surface a unique and highly textural quality. Queenie preferred using natural pigments and included distinctive powdery pink and pale violet colours made from ochres that she mined herself. As she said, these colours appealed to her sense of beauty. In her compositions, she usually placed images of geographic features in rows against monochrome grounds. Soft pinks, her favourite and signature colour, as well as browns and yellows are used to great effect in her paintings but the subject matter is often far from gentle. A recurring theme in Queenie’s paintings depicted the horrific massacres in the East Kimberley in the 1920s.
Queenie McKenzie depicts the rugged hills, rivers, creeks and other features of the landscape of her traditional Country in the East Kimberley. She often portrays Aboriginal people hunting and gathering or major events that occurred in her lifetime to the Gija people. Queenie also combined traditional and Christian beliefs in her paintings. Her artwork also depicts the effects of alcohol and social issues impacting on her people. Although Queenie was non-literate, through her paintings she managed to record historical events of her era in a culturally significant way and transmit this to the younger generation. In her own culture Queenie was a woman of high standing. She inherited important women's law business and ownership of traditional Dreamtime stories and spiritual beliefs, cultural wisdom and knowledge.
Queenie passed away in November 1998, less than a month after she had been awarded the rare honour of being appointed as an official "Living Treasure".
The things I have in common with Queenie are that I too am an Aboriginal woman of Gija descent and non-Aboriginal heritage also. My father's side of the family come from the East Kimberley. My grandmother Ivy, and great-grandmother Ruby lived and worked on Mabel Downs Station around the same time as Queenie and they too were displaced from their traditional homeland and moved to the Warmun Community at Turkey Creek, before finally settling in Wyndham. Ivy's father was a gardiya (whitefella) policeman and both Ivy and her sister were forcibly removed from their mother, Ruby for a period of time.
The features of Queenie's paintings that appeal to me are her use of ochres and the fact that she collected her own ochres. Although Rover Thomas influenced her to begin painting she mixed and used a wider array of colours and developed her own style. Where Rover used a minimal colour palette, a flat perspective of the landscape from a bird's eye view and his paintings are highly symbolic, Queenie's paintings are representative of the landscape and events that occurred there. For example, both Rover's and Queenie's paintings depict massacres, however in his painting titled “Bedford Downs massacre” 1987, Rover has used only five earthy ochre colours to paint simple abstract shapes. The topography is flat with large areas of solid colour outlined with white dots, which is symbolic rather than representational.
Rover Thomas “Bedford Downs massacre” 1987 (Thomas 2003:11)
In Queenie's painting titled “Massacre and Rover Thomas Story – Texas Downs Country” c. 1990, she portrays two important events that occurred on Texas Downs Station. The figures on the top half of the painting show the massacre of Aboriginal men, women and children by whitefellas who are shown wearing white hats. The lower left of the painting shows Rover Thomas after being thrown by a horse which had stepped on his head. Queenie had to stitch his scalp back on. The story and the landscape are clearly represented by the painting. Although Queenie's colour palette for this particular painting is limited to five earthy ochre colours, many of her other paintings use her signature colours of pink, grey and green in addition to the more common earthy ochre pigments.
Queenie McKenzie “Massacre and Rover Thomas Story – Texas Downs Country” c. 1990 (Field 2008:171)
Until recently my preferred medium has been acrylic painting, however since my brother sent me ochres from my grandmother's Country in the East Kimberley I have enjoyed mixing and experimenting with a variety of ochre colours. Like Queenie, I have a connection to Gija Country and the surrounding landscape of the East Kimberley. Like Queenie, I also paint Purnululu (the Bungle Bungles). I feel that using ochres from my grandmother's Country to paint the landscape of her Country is really authentic. This is more meaningful and gives me a spiritual connection to those particular paintings. I imagine that Queenie felt that same spiritual connection when she painted Gija Country. Painting with locally mined ochres is a feature of the Warmun school of art and this has been described as “painting Country with Country” (Art Gallery NSW 2004).
Conclusions
There are many contrasts between Sean and Queenie’s paintings, but few similarities. Their choices of materials are different – Sean mainly uses acrylic, while Queenie used ochres. Sean is a colourist who uses a bold, abstract, style with a strong use of patterns and symbolism, while Queenie’s art represents the landscape, people, culture and environment where she lived, and the events and Dreamtime stories that took place within that landscape. Queenie’s paintings are firmly grounded in the East Kimberley region, while Sean’s are more universal, both on a grand scale and in the “worlds within worlds” that he refers to.
What both artists have in common is that they both play with organic shapes. The composition of elements in their painting is balanced and busy. Sean's artwork is busy with repeated symbols, circles, lines etc, while Queenie's is busy, sometimes crowded, with representations of the landscape. Both artists produce powerful paintings which engage the viewer.
The artwork produced by Sean and Queenie are strongly influenced by their cultures, upbringing, life experiences, gender, education, training, socio-economic backgrounds and their lifestyles. It is no surprise that Sean, an Australian male from Melbourne who has been heavily influenced by European artists and sculptors from 1890s, whose work featured post impressionism, expressionism, fauvism, cubism, orphism, dadaism, surrealism, geometric abstractionism, and who has had formal training in art, commercial design layout and sculpting should produce quite different work to Queenie, a remote East Kimberley Gija woman who had no formal education or training, was non-literate and did not commence painting until she was in her seventies. Like cultural mapping, Queenie’s paintings identify and record the cultural activities, Dreamtime stories and historical events of her community and her Country.
The influences on my life as an individual and as an artist have exposed me to a variety of artistic styles, including the European abstractionists that Sean has favoured, but in addition, I have been exposed to Aboriginal art and my heritage allows me to create art with ochres and pigments from the Kimberley and in styles distinctive to the Gija people. I can also draw on my Yamatji heritage, which again has a different style. I like to think that I can successfully bridge two cultures in creating art and I am privileged that I have the right to produce a range of artwork styles. I have a strong connection to both Sean and Queenie both through my art and on a personal level.
Maps sourced from National Gallery of Victoria (2000)
.gif "Map of places in Western Australia.")
Map of places in Western Australia
Sean Conway Exhibition “Recollections” November 2009
Queenie McKenzie in front of “Gnargooran Country” (Field 2008:185)
References
Arnason H (1988). A History of Modern Art. Thames and Hudson Ltd, London.
Art Gallery of NSW (2004). Rover Thomas; I want to Paint. Education Kit. Available: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au (10/12/2009).
Conway S (2002). Artist Statement, Sean Conway Painter Leaflet.
Crumlin R (1991). Aboriginal Art and Spirituality. HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, Victoria.
Field J (2008). Written in the Land: the Life of Queenie McKenzie. Melbourne Books, Melbourne.
McCulloch S and McCulloch Childs E (2008). McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide. McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, Fitzroy.
Museum of Contemporary Art Limited (2007). Paddy Bedford. Sydney
Museum Victoria (2002). Treasures. Available: www.museumvictoria.com.au (08/12/2009)
National Gallery of Victoria (2000). Rover & Queenie. Available: www.ngv.vic.au. (05/12/2009).
Thomas R (2003). Rover Thomas I want to paint. Heytesbury Pty Ltd, East Perth.
Vinnicombe P (2000). Artlink Magazine Vol 20 no 1 – Queenie McKenzie. Available: www.artlink.com.au. (08/12/2009).
Art Gallery of NSW (2004). Rover Thomas; I want to Paint. Education Kit. Available: www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au (10/12/2009).
Conway S (2002). Artist Statement, Sean Conway Painter Leaflet.
Crumlin R (1991). Aboriginal Art and Spirituality. HarperCollins Publishers (Australia) Pty Ltd, Victoria.
Field J (2008). Written in the Land: the Life of Queenie McKenzie. Melbourne Books, Melbourne.
McCulloch S and McCulloch Childs E (2008). McCulloch's Contemporary Aboriginal Art: the complete guide. McCulloch & McCulloch Australian Art Books, Fitzroy.
Museum of Contemporary Art Limited (2007). Paddy Bedford. Sydney
Museum Victoria (2002). Treasures. Available: www.museumvictoria.com.au (08/12/2009)
National Gallery of Victoria (2000). Rover & Queenie. Available: www.ngv.vic.au. (05/12/2009).
Thomas R (2003). Rover Thomas I want to paint. Heytesbury Pty Ltd, East Perth.
Vinnicombe P (2000). Artlink Magazine Vol 20 no 1 – Queenie McKenzie. Available: www.artlink.com.au. (08/12/2009).
Beautiful and Culturally Significant Art Pieces
The vibrancy and soul of Aboriginal art at Scribblebark with Aboriginal Artist Deborah Bonar's artworks and their stories.
Lily's Country
2006, digital print, 180 x 60cm
My Grandmother, Lily, was born near Perenjori in the Midwest region of Western Australia around 1920. She was the youngest of six children and her parents moved around various stations in the region. Lily spent time at the New Norcia Mission from the age of seven. When she was seventeen, Lily married an Italian migrant, Guiseppe, at Payne's Find. They moved to Fremantle and had six children. Lily died when she was only twenty-nine. Guiseppe took the children to the New Norcia Mission and he worked there as a stone mason. He later remarried and the family was reunited. They returned to Fremantle. The artwork represents the country around Mullewa, Perenjori and Payne's Find, where Lily's family came from and the stations where they lived and worked. New Norcia Mission, which influenced two generations of my family is represented in the background. The text from a mission document has been reproduced from the original, without the family surname. The Midwest region is famous for its spectacular displays of wildflowers. The wreath flowers at the font of the picture are unique to the region and they only grow in a very restricted area. NOTE: In 2006, this artwork titled Lily's Country was selected as a Finalist for the 23rd Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award where it was exhibited at the Museum and Art Gallery of NT, Darwin.
Mudflats, Mangroves and Mangoes
2011, acrylic & ochre on Belgian linen, 46 x 213cm
This is the wetlands of the East Kimberley. It has river floodplains, creeks, tidal mudflats and mangroves which nurture the local wildlife. The crocodile, barramundi and dancing brolga are set among the vibrant colours of the sea, the mudflats and the rich pindan earth, which grows an abundance of juicy tropical fruits. When I close my eyes I can smell the mangoes and taste their sweet golden flesh.
Floodplains
2011, ochre & acrylic on canvas, 200 x 143cm
In the Dreaming, the Rainbow Serpent burst from the earth and carved out the landscape, creating rivers, waterholes, freshwater springs, lakes, billabongs and wetlands. Where there was water, there was food. Water gave life to the people, the animals, birds, insects and plants. This painting portrays the wetlands of the East Kimberley near Wyndham. The freshwater of the river floodplains and creeks, and the saltwater of the tidal mudflats and mangroves which both nurture the local wildlife. The five rivers, the King, Forrest, Durack, Pentecost and the Ord, meet and flow into the ocean at Cambridge Gulf.
Dry Season
2011, ochre on canvas, 45 x 45cm
This painting shows the seeds and grains dormant in the earth during the dry season. They are waiting for the first wet season rains, so they can burst forward with new life. The gold dots represent dried spinifex, which the finches eat during the dry season when other grains are scarce. The ochres used capture the true colours of the east Kimberley dry season.
Everlasting!
2006, acrylic on canvas, 61 x 76cm
Everlasting - This one's for you Mum! My grandmother Lily's country is of the Midwest region of Western Australia where you find abundance of beautiful and delicate everlastings. These everlastings glisten in the sunlight with colours of pure white and pinks covering the landscape like a moving carpet. And I know my mother loved these wildflowers, the everlastings, for I still remember when she would always place some in a vase and pop them on the mantlepiece. I am fond of the everlastings too, I would purchase them from the wildflower festival when I could. Oh and my dear little daughter would spot the everlastings and say, “ Mummy can I have those pretty flowers?”. So I reply with a 'yes' and she would gently put them in a vase and place them beside her bed.
Climate Change
2013, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 41cm
Twenty thousand years ago, following the last ice age, the world became warmer and the ice melted. There was a great flood which drowned the earth and completely transformed the landscape. Aboriginal Dreamtime stories tell of the rainbow serpent, or water snake, who erupted from the earth and carved out the landscape, creating the hills and mountains, the rivers, creeks, lakes, billabongs, waterholes and wetlands. Parts of the mainland were submerged to form new islands. The water snake is known as Goolarbool to the Gija people and the Wagyl to the Noongar people.
Turtle & Barramundi
2009, ochre on canvas, 153 x 101cm
This painting tells the story of how the sea turtle and barramundi meet. The very old sea turtle giant comes ashore at night when the moon is shining right down on the water. It's the moon lighting up the beaches and pathways of activity on the coast – as mothers to be – turtles beach themselves and head towards the edge of the sand dunes, and begin digging a nest to lay their precious eggs. The turtle then covers the eggs with sand and heads back to the sea. Soon the eggs will hatch and little baby turtles will make the journey back to the sea. My father was born in Wyndham in the East Kimberley, he loves to go fishing. My father would say that my grandmother Ivy was keen to catch the barra. And what of the dear old barramundi? When the great floods come the barramundi must swim out from the freshwater into the salt-water. Barramundi must spawn in salt-water, for their eggs and larvae require salt-water to reproduce. When the wet season ends and the flood plains begin to dry, the barramundi swims up stream into freshwater billabongs.
Kimberley 2
2010, oil & ochre on canvas, 122 x 41cm
In the Dreamtime, the old women made a fishing net of spinifex. They trapped a barramundi in shallow water at the entrance to a cave, but she escaped by leaping over them, losing some of her scales on the way. The scales turned into Kimberley diamonds. I painted this in oils and in locally sourced ochres, to capture the warmth and beauty of the East Kimberley landscape, my great grandmother's country.
Teeming
2011, acrylic on canvas, 122 x 45cm
The Mooro people travelled the lakes and wetlands near the coast including Lake Joondalup. The lake was teeming with wildlife: wood ducks and other wild fowl, fish, freshwater crayfish, frogs, long necked turtles, kangaroos and other marsupials. The abundance of food in and around Lake Joondalup sustained the Mooro people who hunted and camped there. This painting captures the soft blue of the lake with the sunlight glittering on the surface. It captures the array of greens displayed by the reeds and the zamia palms and the eucalyptus trees swaying in the wind. It captures the brown, green and gold of the motorbike frog and the colours of the long necked turtle both of which inhabit the lake. It captures the fiery red of the grevillea. It captures the golden yellow of the pea flowers and the purple of the beautiful native wisteria both of which bloom in spring, the Noongar season of Djilba.
Nyawana and the golden sun moth journey to the waterhole
2011, acrylic & oil on Belgian linen, 112 x 112cm
This painting symbolises the collaboration between two artists from different cultural backgrounds, and with different perspectives on life, the world and art. The golden sun moth is a recurring motif in Jo Darvall's artwork, which embodies the spirits of travellers. Deborah Bonar's Gija totem is Nyawana, the water monitor. The moth and the water monitor, combined with Jo's love of the North West and Deborah's spiritual connection to the East Kimberley are the elements which provide a dynamic interface between the artists. The painting captures the warmth and vibrant beauty of the landscape and represents the sharing of skills, culture and artistic metaphors. This painting is a collaboration between two artists, Deborah Bonar and Jo Darvall, from different cultural backgrounds, and different perspectives on life, the world and art. Artwork from The Bronzewing and Heartlands Collection.
“I have enjoyed and created art all my life; I have studied many art forms including photography, art and design, ceramics, jewellery, glass fusing and slumping, printmaking, drawing and painting ”, say Deborah”.
