11594002175
Status: Stock
Cup Kuka Inthurra – Ura (Fire)
STORY
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This cup has travelled all the way from our pottery studio in the community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg), Western Aranda Country, to you.
Ura means fire in Western Aranda. Women sitting by the fire, making billy tea.
Hermannsburg Potters is an Aboriginal owned art centre located at the remote foothills of the MacDonnell Ranges, 130 kilometres west of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. Taking inspiration from Country, culture, history and day to day life activities the Potters depict family, birds, animals, bush tucker, mission days, stories of Country and current life in Ntaria (Hermannsburg).
Our new range of homewares was designed by the Potters in a series of workshops at Charles Darwin University in Alice Springs, then produced by hand out here at our pottery studio in Ntaria. Each form and painting was created by one of our artists – keep reading to find out more about the artists who made your cup.
ARTISTS
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FORM DESIGN: Stephanie Ratara Ngala
Stephanie was born in Hermannsburg and then spent her early years of childhood at MutiTjulu, Uluru. Stephanie returned to Hermannsburg with her family at age 9. Stepahnie is the niece of senior artist Anita Ratara and cousin to prominent artist Hayley Coulthard.
Stephanie draws on the landscape of Palm Valley, her fathers country. Stephanie is a strong emerging artist and dedicated member of Hermannsburg potters.
PAINTING DESIGN: Judith Inkamala Pungarta
Judith Inkamala is the former Chair and senior member of Hermannsburg Potters Aboriginal Corporation, having joined the founding group of artists in 1993. Judith is an is an inspiring and respected leader in her community of Ntaria (Hermannsburg), for her unwavering dedication and commitment to intergenerational sharing of cultural and ceramic knowledge. Judith is also a proud, former member of the renowned Hermannsburg Choir.
In her works, Judith depicts her lived histories and distinct Western Arranta Country. She sculpts and paints these visual histories and contemporary settings, speaking to her cultural beliefs, traditions and values. With near 30 years’ experience working with clay and underglazes, Judith’s work is a skilfully painted as the pot is constructed.
Like many Hermannsburg Potters and Western Arrarnta artists, Judith’s painting style was informed by the watercolours of Albert Namatjira and the artists working in Ntaria at this time. “I remember the old people painting on paper. Painting the watercolours. I was best friends with Gillian Namatjira. After school I went to her house. Albert, her grandfather, was painting watercolours. The ladies painted too.”
Since 1993, Judith has been a part of over 100 group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. Her work has been widely collected, held in public and private collections including Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery of Victoria and National Gallery of Australia. In 1996, Inkamala was invited to participate in a cultural and pottery exchange with the Sasak Potters of Lombok, Indonesia. She also travelled to China in 2010 to showcase her pottery to ceramic artists for the collaborative exhibition Meou Art: Exhibition of Australian Indigenous Art in Shanghai. Judith has been a finalist of the NATSIAA awards three times. Judith’s achievements should also be measured in terms of the significant social and cultural contributions she has made to her community, her audiences and to Australian contemporary art.
