Wednesday, 17 November - Saturday, 23 January 2011

Puuya Kuntha – Strong Heart: New Works by Aboriginal Artists from Australia's Lockhart River Art Gangu

Opening Reception:           6:00 – 8:00 p.m.
                                           Wednesday, 17 Nov 2010

                                           With special guests, Councillor
                                           Veronica Piva, member of the
                                           Lockhart River Aboriginal Shire
                                           Council, and Peter Neal,
                                           representative of the Lockhart River
                                           Art Centre

Please join us in welcoming Lockhart River community leader and basket weaver Veronica Piva, and Peter Neal, who have traveled more than 10,000 miles from remote northeast Queensland for the opening of our third exhibition of paintings by Lockhart River artists. The reception will be held at the gallery, 4623 Feagan Street, Houston, Texas.

Councillor Piva and Peter Neal will lead a gallery talk at 6:30 pm during the reception, and the City of Houston will present a proclamation declaring it "Australian Aboriginal Art Day" in Houston in honor of their visit.

The exhibition features new paintings by Patrick Butcher, Rosella Namok, Cheryl Accoom, Sue Pascoe, Queenie Giblet, Irene Namok, Doris Platt, Lawrence Omeenyo, Josiah Omeenyo, and Adrian King.

The Lockhart River painters dubbed themselves the "Art Gang" in 1995. They exploded onto the international art scene about ten years ago, and since then, a handful of the artists have become internationally-recognized, with their paintings earning major art awards and placement in leading museums and private collections. While their work is distinctively contemporary in style, it also references their ancient Aboriginal heritage.

Puuya Kuntha – Strong Heart is co-sponsored by the Australian Consulate/Texas.

In addition to the new Lockhart River works, Booker-Lowe stocks hundreds of paintings and prints from throughout Australia, and currently houses the largest gallery collection in the Americas.

Just in from Down Under . . .

Booker-Lowe has just received a small shipment from Australia of Susan McCulloch's latest edition of Contemporary Aboriginal Art: The Complete Guide, a lavishly-illustrated introduction to Australia's indigenous art world. The book is divided by region, and catalogues the growth of the art movement since its inception in the early 1970s. It is an easy and fascinating read as well as an excellent reference for the collector or anyone interested in Aboriginal art.

In addition, we stock Wally Caruana's Aboriginal Art, part of the well-respected Thames & Hudson World of Art series, and a select group of catalogues of major exhibitions by artists whose work we show.