Gertie Huddleston facts for kids

Gertie Huddleston (born around 1916-1933, died 2013) was a talented Indigenous Australian artist. She lived and worked in the Ngukurr community.

Early Life and Influences

Gertie Huddleston's exact birth year is not known. She was likely born between 1916 and 1933. She grew up at the Roper River Mission, which is now the Ngukurr community. This mission was run by the Anglican Church in Southern Arnhem Land.

Her family background was very rich. Her father's family came from the Warndarrang and Mara peoples. Her mother's family was from the Ngandi and Yugul peoples. Growing up at the mission shaped her Christian faith. Her art often showed both her strong faith and her deep connection to Aboriginal culture.

Gertie also learned a lot about gardening and caring for the land at the mission. She loved working in the mission gardens with her family. These gardens often appeared in her paintings. They showed how people could work with nature to create beautiful, plentiful scenes.

Her father and her fiancé, Bill Huddleston, were soldiers in World War II. Gertie and Bill married soon after the war ended. They moved to the Roper Valley Cattle Station. This was about 60 kilometers from Ngukurr. Gertie worked there as a cook for nearly ten years. Then, in the late 1960s, they moved back to Ngukurr.

Artistic Career

In 1982, Gertie Huddleston moved to Darwin. She was there to be with her daughter, who was in the hospital. After this, Gertie traveled and explored many parts of Australia. She visited places like Gunbalanya, the Flinders Range, and the deserts of Central Australia.

These travels inspired some of her paintings. For example, her 1996 artwork Different Landscapes around Ngukurr shows scenes from these journeys. She once said that one part of this painting reminded her of traveling with her family when she was little. She thought about their traditional country, with its big waterholes and caves.

Gertie's art often explored several important ideas. These included landscapes and her traditional country. She also painted about her family history and the stories of her ancestors. Memory and imagination were big parts of her work too.

Christianity was another key theme in her paintings. Sometimes, this was clear from the title, like her 1999 piece Garden of Eden II. She spoke about the many trees and bushes in her art. She connected them to the biblical Garden of Eden. Her paintings showed a mix of traditional Aboriginal beliefs and Christian ideas.

Gertie explained that her art reflected her life. She said she was a Christian but also kept her traditional beliefs. Her paintings showed an Aboriginal view of the world. They also showed a Christian view. Her art truly reflected her experience of "walking between two worlds."

In the late 1980s, Gertie and her four sisters started using a new art style. They began painting with acrylic paints on canvas and paper. At first, her work was similar to other artists. But soon, she developed her own unique style.

Her style used many rich colors. She painted very detailed pictures of Australian flora (plants) and fauna (animals). She also used different types of brush strokes. These strokes were like the embroidery she learned as a young girl at the Roper River Mission. Her art techniques were quite modern compared to other Aboriginal artists. Her use of colors and storytelling made her paintings very popular with Western viewers.

In 1987, the Ngukurr Arts Centre began using acrylic paint on canvas. This happened with help from the Northern Territory Open College of TAFE. These new materials helped artists create many new and exciting artworks.

Gertie Huddleston started painting with the Ngukurr Arts Centre in 1993. She had attended art workshops six years earlier. Her work explored how natural and human-made colors and landscapes connect. Her early experience with embroidery greatly influenced her painting style. Brenda Croft, a senior curator, said that Gertie "embroiders the canvas with paint." This means her paintings looked like patchwork, tapestry, or quilting.

Karen Brown became Gertie's art dealer in 1993. Brown organized several art shows for Gertie. Her first show was at the Shades of Ochre Gallery. Later, she had three more shows in London at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery. In 1997, her art was shown at the Ngundungunya: Art For Everyone exhibition. This show at the National Gallery of Victoria brought her national attention. In 2000, she exhibited her work at the Adelaide Biennial of Australian Art.

Her painting Different Landscapes around Ngukurr was chosen for a major art award in 1997. In 1999, her work Garden of Eden II won the General Painting Prize. This was at the National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Awards (NATSIAA).

Art Collections

Gertie Huddleston's artworks are held in several important collections:

• Flinders University Art Museum
• National Gallery of Australia
• National Gallery of Victoria
• Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory

Main Exhibitions

• 1997: Ngundungunya: Art For Everyone. National Gallery of Victoria, Southbank, Australia.
• 2000: Adelaide Biennale: Beyond the Pale. Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia.
• 2006: Dreaming Their Way: Australian Aboriginal Women Painters. National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington DC and The Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.
• 2009-2010: Colour Country: Art from the Roper River. Wagga Wagga Art Gallery, Wagga Wagga; Flinders University Art Museum, Adelaide; Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra; Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin.