Artist: Charlene Carrington| Title: Horse Creek Tribute to Queenie | Year: 2008 | Medium: natural earth pigments on canvas | Dimensions: 60 x 90 cm
PROVENANCE
Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery Cat No. OLG11920/08
Cooee Art Gallery, NSW
ARTWORK STORY
The late Queenie McKenzie is hailed as undisputed Queen of the Kimberley Ochre Painters. She was from Texas Downs country, as is Charlene's family. Noted for her landscape works, Queenie was also a very clever figurative artist, this style being particularly difficult to execute in ochre medium. Queenie was instrumental in encouraging young artists, particularly Charlene who commenced painting at the age of 10. In this work, Charlene has painted a very famous artwork of Queenie's, depicting an incident which happened long ago on Texas Downs Station as a tribute to one of her mentors. Queenie McKenzie taught the young girls both culture and painting technique, hoping that the stories of her Kitja heritage would be carried on for generations.
EXHIBITED
Passing On Tradition - New and Old Kimberley, June 2010, Coo-ee Art Gallery
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Turkey Creek, WA
LANGUAGE
Gija
BIOGRAPHY
Charlene grew up at Warmun/Turkey Creek, Western Australia, and was exposed to ochre painting at an early age, being the daughter of well respected artists, Churchill Cann and Sade Carrington, both coming from the community on nearby Texas Downs cattle station. Texas has produced some wonderful painters, and having grown up in the environment of this art nursery, the young mother of five, now relishes the opportunity to paint her stories using the traditional techniques, no doubt benefiting from the mentoring from some of the finest of the Texas Downs/Turkey Creek ochre painting movement, Queenie McKenzie, Jack Britten, her grandfathers Beerbee Mungnari and Hector Jandany, Rover Thomas, and George Mung Mung.
Charlene's work frequently draws on the Dreaming stories from her Gija heritage and landscapes from her family's country, such as Texas Downs and Darrajayin (Springvale Station). She is unique among Warmun Art School artists for using traditional natural binders like garliwan and other pigments sourced from local eucalyptus leaves to bind ochres to canvas and board. This technique, passed down from artists such as Rover Thomas, Jack Britten, and Hector Jandany, predates the use of modern acrylic binders. While Charlene also uses acrylic binders, she continues to honour this traditional method.
PROVENANCE
Artlandish Aboriginal Art Gallery Cat No. OLG11920/08
Cooee Art Gallery, NSW
ARTWORK STORY
The late Queenie McKenzie is hailed as undisputed Queen of the Kimberley Ochre Painters. She was from Texas Downs country, as is Charlene's family. Noted for her landscape works, Queenie was also a very clever figurative artist, this style being particularly difficult to execute in ochre medium. Queenie was instrumental in encouraging young artists, particularly Charlene who commenced painting at the age of 10. In this work, Charlene has painted a very famous artwork of Queenie's, depicting an incident which happened long ago on Texas Downs Station as a tribute to one of her mentors. Queenie McKenzie taught the young girls both culture and painting technique, hoping that the stories of her Kitja heritage would be carried on for generations.
EXHIBITED
Passing On Tradition - New and Old Kimberley, June 2010, Coo-ee Art Gallery
Artist Profile
COMMUNITY/REGION
Turkey Creek, WA
LANGUAGE
Gija
BIOGRAPHY
Charlene grew up at Warmun/Turkey Creek, Western Australia, and was exposed to ochre painting at an early age, being the daughter of well respected artists, Churchill Cann and Sade Carrington, both coming from the community on nearby Texas Downs cattle station. Texas has produced some wonderful painters, and having grown up in the environment of this art nursery, the young mother of five, now relishes the opportunity to paint her stories using the traditional techniques, no doubt benefiting from the mentoring from some of the finest of the Texas Downs/Turkey Creek ochre painting movement, Queenie McKenzie, Jack Britten, her grandfathers Beerbee Mungnari and Hector Jandany, Rover Thomas, and George Mung Mung.
Charlene's work frequently draws on the Dreaming stories from her Gija heritage and landscapes from her family's country, such as Texas Downs and Darrajayin (Springvale Station). She is unique among Warmun Art School artists for using traditional natural binders like garliwan and other pigments sourced from local eucalyptus leaves to bind ochres to canvas and board. This technique, passed down from artists such as Rover Thomas, Jack Britten, and Hector Jandany, predates the use of modern acrylic binders. While Charlene also uses acrylic binders, she continues to honour this traditional method.
