Biography:
Rona Rubuntja was born in 1970 and is the niece of famous watercolourist and elder Wenten Rubuntja. She joined the Hermannsburg Potters in 1998, and has since established herself as one of the most prominent senior artists of the group, participating in exhibitions across Australia and internationally, including her first solo exhibition, Down the Road from Ntaria, which opened at Sabbia Gallery in Sydney in November 2022. Rona is represented by Sabbia Gallery in NSW.
Rubuntja's joyous style is distinctive, humorous and imaginative, and her storytelling ability comes across most strongly in her figurative work. She remains inspired by contemporary life in Ntaria, and her work often includes depictions of cattle and brumbies roaming country, heading out to the outstation in a Toyota, and collecting bush tucker with her extended family.
In January 2024 Rona was invited to exhibit, present and demonstrate her work at the Indian Ceramics Triennale in New Delhi, India.
Rona was a finalist in the 2023 King & Wood Malleson's First Nations Art Award for her collaboration with Top End artist Ray Mudjandi, Black Speed. Rona's work was shortlisted for the Telstra NATSIAA's in 2021. Her work was also shortlisted in The Design Files Awards for 2021.
Rona Rubuntja's work was selected for the prestigious Shepparton Art Museum Indigenous Ceramic Art Award three times, winning second place in 2008 for her work Palm Valley Muster. Rona exhibited in the highly acclaimed exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria Our Land is Alive: Hermannsburg Potters for Kids in 2015/2016.
Exhibitions:
1998 The Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
1998 Hermannsburg Potters, National Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Sydney, Australia 1999 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
1999 The Desert & The Sea, Raintree Aboriginal Art, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia 2000 Hermannsburg Potters: Aranda Artists of Central Australia, New Parliament House, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Pots, Helen Maxwell Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia 2000 The Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2000 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Potters, Brisbane City Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2000 Hermannsburg Potters, Redback Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2000 Out of the Desert, DESART Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2000 Art from the Central Desert, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2001 Pmara Nunakana Larkama – Our Sparkling Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2001 Nunaka Pmara Inthorra – Our Beautiful Country, DESART Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2001 All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2001 Pots, Prints and Paintings, Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
2002 Nanah Etatch Nunaka – This is Our Life, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2002 Pmara Nunakana – Our Country, Indigenart, Perth, Western Australia, Australia 2002 Pmara Nunaka, Bundaberg Regional Gallery, Queensland, Australia
2003 Hermannsburg Potters in Paint, Thornquest Gallery, Southport, Queensland, Australia
2003 Namatjira Country, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2004 Arnanjapera Nanaka Our World, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2004 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2004 All Fired Up, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 2005 Arna Wurtja Kwartja Laya – From the Desert to the Sea, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, Western Australia
2005 Aranda Landscapes 2005, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2005 Hermannsburg Pottery, Paintings Exhibition, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2005 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2005 Arrkutja Wurra, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2006 Pmara Nurnaka Etata – Our Land is Alive, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2006 Iltja nurnaka Urrkaapuma-From Our Hands, Woolloongabba Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
2006 Hermannsburg Potters 2006, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2006 Galerie Rosenhauer, Goettingen, Germany
2006 Senior Women of the Central Desert, Gadfly Gallery, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
2006 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 The Women’s Show, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2007 Classic Ceramics and Oil Paintings, Bandigan Art Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia 2007 Desert Mob Show, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 Indigenous Ceramics, SoFa Chicago, Illinois, USA
2008 Nanah Etatha Nuka – This is our Life, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2009 Iltja Nunaka Orkapurna Ntari – Hand-made from Hermannsburg, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2010 Themes of the Central Desert: New ceramics by the Hermannsburg Potters, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2011 Desert Mob 2011, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2011 Hermannsburg Potters 2011. Stories from Clay, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2012 Desert Mob 2012, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2012 Hermannsburg Potters 2012. All Things Clay, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 2013 The Hermannsburg Potters – New Hand-built Pots & Sculpture, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2014 Indigenous Ceramic Art Award, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
2014 Hermannsburg Potters – New Marks, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2015 Our Land is Alive – Hermannsburg Potters for Kids, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Provenance Does Matter - The Collectors' Exhibition, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Pmara – Country, Home, Map, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2016 Provenance Does Matter – Living with Contemporary Art II, Alcaston Gallery at Gallery 369, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
2016 Desert Mob, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2016 Ltharta, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
2017 Clay Stories, Sabbia Gallery, Paddington, New South Wales. Australia
2017 Time and Tide, Alcaston Gallery, Victoria. Australia
2017 Desert Mob, Alice Springs, Northern Territory. Australia.
2017 Irna :Trees, Alcaston Gallery, Paddington, New South Wales. Australia.
2017 Clay Stories, Seppeltsfield, South Australia. Australia.
2018 Clay Stories, (two year travelling exhibition) Araluen Arts Centre. Northern territory. Australia
2018 'Lurpa- Seasons' Bett Gallery, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
2018 Desert Mob, Araluen Alice Springs , Northern Territory, Australia
2018 Tarnanthi, Adelaide, South Australia
2018 Ramaramaka 'Generation Big Pot Project Alcaston Gallery, Fitzroy, Melbourne, Australia
2019 Pmare Nuka- Our Country' Turner Galleries, Perth, Western Australia
2019 Hermnannsburg Potters, Bett Gallery, Hobart Tasmania, Australia
2019 Desert Mob, Araluen, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2019 Looking Back Moving Forward' Alcaston Gallery, Fitzroy, Australia
2019 Christmas Exhibition' Tangentgyere Artists, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
Collections:
Art Gallery of New South Wales
Awards:
2008 First Runner-Up, Indigenous Ceramic Art Award, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
2011 Shortlisted, Indigenous Ceramic Art Award, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria, Australia
2014 Shortlisted, Indigenous Ceramic Art Award, Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria,
Australia Collections:
Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, Northern Territory,
Australia Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia,
Australia Ballarat Fine Art Gallery, Ballarat, Victoria,
Australia Beverly Hills Library, Beverly Hills, California, United States of America
Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide, South Australia,
Australia Parliament House Collection, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria,
Australia National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory,
Australia Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia
Queensland University of Technology Art Museum, Brisbane, Queensland,
Australia Shepparton Art Museum, Shepparton, Victoria,
Australia University of New South Wales Art Collection, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Gallery of New South Wales Collection, Sydney, Australia
Publications:
2000 Isaacs, Jennifer., Potters: Aranda Artists of Central Australia, Craftsman House
2006 The Jukurrpa Diary, IAD Press, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
2007 Hermannsburg Life – Over Seventeen Years of Contemporary Art Exploration, Artisan Gallery, Queensland
2013 Whinnett, Ellen., ‘Tiger Lady: The making of a Richmond President’, Herald Sun, 12 October, pp. 37-39.
2015 Buttler, Elisha., ‘Make – Hermannsburg Potters’, NGV Gallery Magazine, pp. 48-52.
2015 Davidson, Helen., ‘Aussie Rules and Aboriginal art: meet the Hermannsburg potters at work’, The Guardian
2015 Sibenaler, David., ‘Art of AFL’, The Herald Sun, 9 June, p. 8.
2016 Flanagan, Martin., ‘Possibilities – in black and white’, The Age, 5 March, p. 51.
2016 Stern, Melissa., ‘Aboriginal Women in Australia Celebrate Their Football Heroes with Pottery’, Hyperallergic: Sensitive to Art and its Discontents
