Mt Gillen

Iltja Ntjarra (Many Hands) Art Centre is proudly Aboriginal owned and directed. It is the home of the Namatjira watercolour artists. The art centre has a special focus on supporting the ‘Hermannsburg School’ style watercolour artists, who continue to paint in the tradition of their grandfather and relative, Albert Namatjira, arguably one of Australia’s most famous artists of the 20^th century.

Iltja Ntjarra Art Centre was established by Ngurratjuta/Pmara Ntjarra Aboriginal Corporation and started operating in 2004. In June 2016, Iltja Ntjarra Aboriginal Corporation (ICN 8426) was newly incorporated by the Western Aranda Artists associated with the Art Centre. The centre is a not-for-profit organisation that provides a place for Western Aranda artists to come together to paint, share and learn new techniques and ideas. 

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION:

Artists from the lltja Ntjarra Art Centre have partnered with Canberra Glassworks to reinterpret the Hermannsburg School watercolour tradition through the medium of glass. Following a series of collaborative workshops in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), the Canberra Glassworks has created glass ‘blanks’ that were sent to Mparntwe for artists to work on, and these were then returned to CGW for engraving and hand finishing. The result is a spectacular series of blown glass vessels featuring the artists’ landscape paintings in a continuation of Albert Namatjira’s work. The collaboration follows an artist-led approach, focusing on stories and the curatorial rationale at Iltja Ntjarra Art Centre.

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