Year of Birth: c.1940 
Birth Place: Spinifex country of Atnangker, Northern Terriotoy
Region: Utopia, Central Desert
Language: Anmatyerr and English as a second language.
 
Brief Biography: 

During childhood Kathleen Petyarre traveled around her vast homelands of some 200 square kilometers (125 square miles) with her father, mother, siblings and extended family, according to the seasonal availability of bush foods and water. From this early age, Petyarre learnt to understand land navigation and acquired the knowledge of the spatial history of her country. Kathleen Petyarre, her daughter Margaret, and her sisters later settled at Iylenty (Mosquito Bore) near Utopia Station and it was during this time that Kathleen Petyarre became one of the key women involved in the successful claim for the freehold title that lead to the 1979 formal hand-over of the Utopia lease back to its traditional custodians. Kathleen Petyarre, together with her brothers and sisters have custodial rights of the Arnkerrth Dreaming (Mountain Devil Lizard), together with Its associated narrative, which is referenced in all works of Kathleen Petyarre. Kathleen Petyarre’s Dreamtime ancestor Arnkerrth, Moloch horridus is a small timid agamid lizard that inhabits the desert plains and sand ridges around Atnangker country, changing colour according to its environment, like true chameleon.

In 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2002, Kathleen Petyarre was named as one of the 50 Australia's most collectable artists by the Australian Art Collector magazine.

 
Awards:
1998 Finalist, “1998 Seppelts Contemporary Art Award - Visual Art ”,Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW., Australia.
 
1998 Winner, People’s Choice Award, 1998 Seppelts Contemporary Art Award, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW., Australia.
 
1997 Overall Winner of the Visy Board Art Prize, the Barossa Vintage Festival Art Show, Nurioopta, SA., Australia.
 
1996 Joint Second Prize, Open Award Category - The Third National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Heritage Commission Art Award, Canberra, ACT., Australia.
 
1996 Overall winner of the Telstra 13th National Aborigional & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Darwin, N.T., Australia
 
 
Solo Exhibitions
2003 Ilyenty – Mosquito Bore, Recent Paintings, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
2001 Genius of Place: The work of Kathleen Petyarre, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW., Australia.
2001 New Paintings by Kathleen Petyarre, Gallerie Australis & Coo-ee Gallery, at Mary Place Gallery, Paddington, NSW, Australia.
2000 Landscape: Truth and Beauty, Recent Paintings by Kathleen Petyarre, Alcaston Gallery.
2000 Kurrunpa Marrka, “Strong Spirit, New Directions in Contemporary Aboriginal Painting, Songlines Gallery, San Francisco, Calif., USA
The Return of Beauty, Jam Factory, Adelaide, South Australia.
1999 Recent Paintings by Kathleen Petyarre, Cooee Gallery, Mary Place, Sydney, N.S.W. Australia.
1998 Arnkerrthe - My Dreaming, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
1996 “Kathleen Petyarre - Storm in Aknangkerre Country”, Alcaston House Gallery, Melbourne, Vic., Australia.
 
Selected Recent Group Exhibitions
2006 Prism, Contemporary Australian Art at the Bridgestone Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan,
        Recent Painting, Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy, Framed Gallery, Darwin, N.T.
        Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington    
        DC., USA
        Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy Kemarre, Bush Leaf & Other Dreaming's, Gadfly Gallery, Dalkeith, WA.,
        Abie Loy & Kathleen Petyarre, New Paintings, Maunsell Wickes Gallery, Paddington, NSW.
2005 Aboriginal Vision in Contemporary Australian Art, Levi - Kaplan Collection, The Wright Exhibition Centre, Seattle,   
         WA, USA
        Utopia Women, Maunsel Wicks, Paddington, NSW. Australia.
        New Paintings Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy, Utopia, Gadfly Gallery, Dalkeith WA. Australia
        l'Art Aboigene d’Australie, Australian Embassy, Paris, France.
2004 Spirit & Vision - Aboriginal Art, Sammlung Essl, Klosterneuburg, Austria.. Arnkerthe - New Paintings, Coo-ee    
         Gallery, Sydney, NSW.
2003 Kathleen Petyarre & Abie Loy, Recent Paintings, Fire-works Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland.
        All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Sydney. 
        Big Country: Masters Exhibition, Gallery Gondwana 
2002 Sisters/Yakkananna, Kahui Mareikura Exhibition, Tandanya, Adelaide,
        SALA Festival, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide
 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne
2001 Chapman Gallery, Canberra, ACT., All and About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic., 2000 Beyond The Pale, Art    
         Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, 
 The Collection, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, South Australia,
 Utopia, Framed Gallery, Darwin, Northern Territory
 The Return of Beauty, Object Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales,
 SALA Week, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, SA., Australia, 
         Chemistry, Art in South Australia 1990 – 2000, The Faulding Exhibition, Adelaide.
 Two Women Dreaming: The Emergence of International Style Indigenous Painting     
         (Kathleen Petyarre & Gloria Petyarre), Songlines Gallery, San Francisco, Calif., USA.
          Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide.
          All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne.
         Spirituality and Australian Aboriginal Art, Madrid and internal regional Galleries, Spain.
 
 
Commissions
1997 The John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic.,    
         Australia.
 
 
Selected Expositions
2003 Miami Contemporary Art Fair 2003, Miami, USA.
        ARCO Contemporary Art Fair 2003, Madrid, Spain.
2002 ARCO,2002, International Contemporary Art Fair, Madrid, Spain,
       . Presented in association with Alcaston Gallery,Melbourne, Vic.,
         Australian Contemporary Art Fair 8, Melbourne, Paintings by Kathleen Petyarrre, Exhibition    
         Hall, Melbourne, Vic. Presented in association with Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic.,
2001 SF4., San Francisco International Art Exposition 3, Fort Mason Centre, San Francisco,  
         USA. Presented by Songlines Gallery of Amsterdam, Netherlands and San Francisco,
          California, USA.
          Across, An exhibition of Indigenous Art & Culture, -Australian National Tour Exhibition.
 Blanc, Artspace, Adelaide Festival Centre, Adealide, SA.
2000 Art Chicago 2000, Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois, USA. Presented by Songlines Gallery of 
         Amsterdam, Netherlands and San Francisco, California, USA.
         SF3., San Francisco International Art Exposition 3, Fort Mason Centre, San Francisco,    
         USA., presented by Songlines Gallery of Amsterdam, Netherlands and San Francisco,    
         California, USA.
         Australian Contemporary Art Fair 7, Melbourne, Paintings by Kathleen Petyarrre, Exhibition 
         Hall, Melbourne, presented in association with Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Vic.,
 
Scholarships:
1998 Australian Delegate, “Belonging to Mother Earth” – Indigenous Wisdom and Healing Conference, Virginia Beach, Virginia, U.S.A.
 
Collections
Paintings
Collection of H. M. Queen Elizabeth II
National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia
The Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth, WA, Australia.
The Museum & Art Galleries of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT., Australia.
Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, S.A. Australia.
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, S.A. Australia
The Kluge-Rhue Collection, University of West Virginia, VA, USA.
The Kelton Foundation, Los Angeles, CA., USA.
The Levi-Kaplan Collection, Seattle, WA., USA
A.T.S.I.C. Collection, Adelaide, S.A. Australia.
National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Vic. Australia.
Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
University of South Australia Art Museum, Adelaide, S.A. Australia.
Riddoch Regional Art Gallery, Mount Gambier, S.A. Australia.
Edith Cowan University, Perth, W.A. Australia.
Collection de Musée des Arts d’Afrique et d’Oceanie, Paris, France.
Peabody – Essex Anthropology and Ethnology Museum, Harvard University,
Salem, Mass., USA.
Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Collection, Adelaide, South Australia.
Prints & Wood-blocks
The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
Museum & Art Galleries of the NT, Darwin, NT., Australia.
Batik
The Holmes a Court Collection, WA, Australia.
National Gallery of Victoria, Vic., Australia.
 
Works on Permanent Loan
Paintings
1996 Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA, USA.
1997 The Art Gallery of Western Australian, Perth, WA, Australia.
Artist-in-Residence
1997 Art Gallery of South Australia, Desert Artists-in-Residence, Adelaide, South Australia,  
         Australia, 
1997 Museum Puri Lukisan, Ubud, Bali, Indonesia.
 
Selected Bibliography:
1. Brody, Ann, Contemporary Aboriginal Art from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, 1990, Ann Brody, Plate 45, pp.67.
2. Utopia Women’s Paintings: The First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project 1989, Anne Brody, Catalogue No.7.
3. Utopia - A Picture Story, 88 Silks batiks from the Robert Holmes a Court Collection, 1990, Anne Brody, pp.50, 51, 34.
4. The Art of Utopia: A New Direction in Contemporary Aboriginal Art, 1991 Michael Boulter, plate 19, pp.83, plate 53, pp.157.
5. Dreamings of the Desert, Art Gallery of South Australia, 1996, pp.111.
6. Dreampower, Art of Contemporary Aboriginal Australia, 1997, David Cossey, Museum Art International, pp. 16 & 17.
7. Expanse: Aboriginalities, spatialities and the politics of ecstasy, an exhibition by Ian North. Art Museum University of South Australia, 1998, pp. 3, 5, 6, 8, 12, 22, 23.
8. Raiki Wara, Long Cloth from Aboriginal Australia and the Torres Strait, Judith Ryan, National Gallery of Victoria, 1998.
9. Art Monthly: Kathleen Petyarre and the Heroic Odyssey of Arnekerrth, pp 7 - 9, October 1998, Number 114.
10.Treasures, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, pp.145, 182. 1998.
11.Seppelt Contemporary Art Awards MCA 1998 Catalogue, pp.14-18, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, NSW.
12.Aboriginal Art, Howard Morphy, Arts & Ideas, Phaidon Press Limited, 1998, London, UK. pp. 309, 310, 442
13.The Times Higher Education Supplement, London, UK. March 3rd 1998, pg. 30, 31.
14.Telstra, 15th National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award Catalogue, 1998, Museum & Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, pg. 4, 38,39.
15.Recent Paintings by Kathleen Petyarre, catalogue, 1999, Gallerie Australis, Adelaide, South Australia.
16.Karra, a project of the Telstra Festival 2000 presented by the Visual Art Department, Adelaide Festival Centre, catalogue, 2000, pp., 18, 19, 27,30 31.
17.The Return of Beauty, Editor, Margot Osborne, Jam Factory Contemporary Craft & Design, Adelaide, South Australia, pp., 9,22,23,28,29,20.
18.Beyond The Pale, Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art 2000, Art Gallery of South Australia, curated by Brenda L. Croft, catalogue, Adelaide, 2000, pp., 14,65 - 69, 99, 105, 112.
19.Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia, Vol., 32 No’s., 1 & 2. pp. 1 - 32.
20.Across – An exhibition of indigenous Art and Culture, ANU Canberra School of Art Gallery, curated by Doreen Mellor, catalogue published ANU Canberra School of Art Gallery, 2000, pp., 3,4,11
21.Sritualidad y arte Aborigen Australiano, Comuidad de Madrid, Consejeria De Cultura, Madrid, Spain, 2001.
22.Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art & Culture, ed. Klienert & Neale, 2000, pp. 672 – 673, pl., 259.
23.Genius of Place, The Work of Kathleen Petyarre, exhibition catalogue, Museum of Contemporary Art, author Christine Nicholls.
24.Genius of Place, Kathleen Petyarre, monograph, published Wakefield Press, 2001, Essays by Christine Nicholls, Prof. Ian North.
25.Sisters/Yakkananna, Kahui Mareikura Exhibition, Tandanya, Adelaide, South Australia, 3 March – 28 April, 2002, published by National Aboriginal Cultural Institute – Tandanya, page 8,16,