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Rainforest people: Napolean Oui

Artist Napolean Oui, a Djabugay man, is focussed on his research about his cultural heritage. It is from this research and its findings that Napolean has developed his contemporary art practice and distinctive style of art making.

Alick Tipoti: Mask story

We join Alick in Cairns, North Queensland as he makes a series of masks used in performance. Like so much of the Torres Strait Islander culture the atmosphere in the studio is powerful. Alick speaks in his language Kalaw Lagaw Ya.

The master at work

The master at work is an intimate portrait of artist, Peter Churcher, as he becomes an Australian war artist and contemplates a move to Spain. Filmed in 2005 in his studio in Prahran, Melbourne.

Djambawa Marawili: Rock of the fire

In this film we join the great Yolngu leader and artist Djambawa Marawili in his homeland of Baniyala, nestled so beautifully on the shores of Blue Mud Bay in East Arnhem Land.

Courage: The art of William Eicholtz

In this film we join sculptor William Eicholtz on a journey of creativity. The journey is contemporary but reflecting ancient techniques as William creates an important and complex work, full of skill and meaning.

space * time * performance

space time performance is a film about the inflatable sculpture, A Sac of Rooms All Day Long, which was exhibited at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in an exhibition called Sensate: Bodies and Design.

Unpacking a wood kiln and selecting pots: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Now comes the nerve racking process of unpacking the kiln. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott unpacks the wood kiln and selects the final compositions of her works. Here the results confirm the joy of making.

Packing and firing a wood kiln: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Pots glazed and dry, Gwyn Hanssen Pigott undertakes the delicate and time consuming task of preparing the wood kiln for the firing.

Throwing, turning and altering: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott demonstrates wheel throwing and turning and the altering of thrown forms.

Glazing: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

This is a complex and delicate task of selecting forms and colours. Gwyn Hanssen Pigott demonstrates the way in which the pots are glazed.

The art of making: Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

In this series of films Gwyn Hanssen Pigott demonstrates each stage of the making process as she creates a series of porcelain wood-fired groupings of pots that are so highly regarded by collectors around the world.

Within art and nature with John Wolseley

If we look closely at John Wolseley’s paintings, we will begin to understand how nature works. Here laid out before us on the arches paper is the intricate weave of nature.

Maasai: Birds sing and lions roar

Birds sing and lions roar explores the relationship between the Maasai and the environment. As the drought deepens the men travel further and further in search of pastures.

Maasai: Keeping knowledge

Keeping knowledge explores the ways in which Maasai believe they can preserve their precious cultural heritage while at the same time considering new ways of community development.

Maasai: Food and celebration

Goats and cattle are a source of wealth in Maasai society and the animals are looked after with care.

Maasai: Changing times

We visit the house of Amos and Lilian and talk about the changing relationships between younger Maasai men and women.

Maasai: Enkang life

The women prepare a donkey transport, the men light a fire and a Maasai bride leaves the village.

Maasai: Women at work and women at home

Maasai women describe their way of life and we visit a Maasai hut, a medical dispensary and go shopping in a Maasai market.

Billy Missi

Billy Missi was inspired by his culture and concern for the environment, the sea and islands of the Torres Strait. The art making of a new generation of Torres Strait Islander artists inspired Billy, who was determined to make art his career.

A portrait in Barcelona

What is it like to have your portrait painted and why do people commission these paintings? How is the portrait constructed and how does the artist capture a likeness? How does history influence the art of portraiture?

Nyapanyapa: The constant artist

Each and every day Nyapanyapa worked at Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Centre, the internationally famous art centre at Yirrkala in East Arnhem Land. The country, the land and sea, deep in long held knowledge, in culture, in law, in nature and in creativity.

The weavers of Langarra

We meet at the Milingimbi airport at 9 am for our charter to the small community of Langarra. This is a very special invitation from community elder Ruth Ngalmakarra to take us back to her homeland.

Masterpiece: The work

The chrysanthemum design is more traditional and that already existed in Kyoto, but this plum flower design pattern is my original idea.

Masterpiece: The artist

I am the third generation for this bamboo craft and I have been involved since the time of my grandfather.

Two old artists looking for food: Living forms of the landscape

We tour John’s painting and learn more about the plants that now come to life on its surface.

Two old artists looking for food: Painting as if through a veil

In this film we learn about the food plants of East Arnhem Land through the eyes, pen and brush of two great artists.

The smokers have taken the gold

We meet John Wolseley in a pub in a town called Rainbow and travelled back to his camp in the middle of Wyperfeld National Park.

Knowledge, painting and country

Knowledge, painting and country, the third film in this series about the culture of Western Arnhem Land, takes us on a journey to meet the region’s most respected elders.

Rock art and Yingana

Since deep time, Aboriginal people have painted images on the rock escarpments of the Stone Country.

The brush sings

In this film we meet the artists as they work at Injalak Arts and Crafts and we find out why art centres are so important to Aboriginal communities.

The artist's journey

Robert Jacks is recognised as one of Australia’s most significant abstract artists. During his early career, Robert was influenced by the pioneer of British abstract art, Ben Nicholson.

Gifu: A place in our hearts

The Japanese summer of 2019 and we take you on a journey around Gifu, the beautiful and mountainous prefecture in Central Honshu.

Bardangarrh-Bardangarrh

In this film Frankie Kelly and Bob Burruwal tell the stories of Bardangarrh-Bardangarrh and the message stick and the fire stick.

Bongolinjbongolinj

In this film Bob Burruwal and Lena Yarinkura tell us the story of Bongolinjbongolinj and the gift of a song.

Ngalbenbe

In this film Bob Burruwal and Lena Yarinkura tell us the story of Ngalbenbe, the sun story and the Djarngno sacred site.

Wurun fish spirit and the trapping story

My father taught me. He told me never to forget this story. He said do not lose my story, hold on to it.

Telling stories as art

Just like those old people, they used to tell us those stories, we used to listen to them. The older generations passed it on to us.

Mono

In this film Bob Burruwal and Lena Yarinkura tell us the story of Mono, the bones of two people and their dogs who die of thirst.

We walked on a carpet of stars

Julie Gough creates the work Locus for The Biennale of Sydney, the tension builds as deadlines approach.

Bush plum: The contemporary art of Angelina Pwerle

Central Australia is a place of extraordinary power and beauty, the art from this place is a mirror, a spiritual reflection of beliefs, of culture, of country, of its plants and animals.

Zugub, the mask, the spirits and the stars

In this documentary Alick Tipoti describes his culture, recalling the legends of his land through music and dance and art making. We travel to his home island of Badu in the Torres Strait.

Ian Waldron: My mother’s country

For the past twenty years Ian Waldron has been creating a visual record of life on the Gulf of Carpentaria, in particular the life of people on his traditional Kurtjar country.

Arahmaiani: Between the mountain and the sea

A performance work in 3 acts filmed in Indonesia and India. In these performances the physical and metaphysical meet.

Stephen Benwell: An Art Life

The second of two films about the Australian artist potter Stephen Benwell, this film was released in May 2019.

Stephen Benwell: A Still Life

We begin at the installation of Stephen's latest exhibition at Niagara Galleries in Melbourne - Stephen Benwell: Ceramics and Paintings 2019.

The sea, the feather and the dance machine: Arrival song

Ken Thaiday takes us on a remarkable and personal journey to Erub in the Torres Strait.

The sea, the feather and the dance machine: Leaving song

Erub is a place where music and dance are important foundations to cultural practice and creativity, once more on the rise through a revival in artistic activity.

a potters film

An award winning documentary about ceramic artist Gwyn Hanssen Pigott.

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Paul Bong: Fragments

Then the white man came along and he shot, bang, bang, bang. And he put in these bullet holes in these objects and what happened next is he tried to pull the culture to pieces. What I am doing now is to put the pieces back together again.

Wallace Rockhole

The flight from Darwin is descending, we bank and fly low over the MacDonnell Ranges. Alice Springs Airport is just ahead. Bags unloaded we jump into the car and head mostly west to Wallace Rockhole.

Joel Ngallametta: Saltwater

We take you back more than 400 years to 1606 and the Dutch East India Company vessel Duyfken as it dropped anchor at Cape Keerweer in the Gulf of Carpentaria all those centuries ago.

Twisted histories

In this film the founder of the Wallace Rockhole Community and Ilpurla Outstation in Central Australia, talks about what happened to the old people of the Finke River country.

Raymond Bulambula: The right colour

We join Raymond Bulambula to collect ochres which he will then use to create a new painting. Raymond, Zanette, Andrea and I head out of Milingimbi township in the morning light, along a small bush track and to a nearby coastal mangrove area.

Australian homelands are forever

We have always understood that it is a crime to remove Indigenous peoples from their land and that any such removal represents the worst kind of colonialism and exploitation.

Brian Robinson: men+GODS

Brian Robinson tells Peter Hylands about his men + GODS exhibition (KickArts, Cairns, North Queensland, 2012). Brian’s exhibition takes us on a visual journey through a world of mythology, a journey of tension between men and Gods.

And so to Xi’an

I want to take you to Xi’an, the home of the Chinese warriors. The discovery of the Chinese warriors by Mr Yang in 1974, while drilling for water and what Yang’s initial discovery will lead to, as excavations continue, are extraordinary.

Ching-Hui Chou: Animal farm

The Animal Farm series is composed of 36 complex tableaus and intimate portraits. The large works are just under two meters wide, the portraits just over a metre wide.

Hsu Yung-Hsu: Fine art

By any measure the ceramic sculptures created by Hsu Yung-Hsu are impressive. The works are very large in scale, hand built ceramic forms that are technically challenging to create.

Angela Yuen Ka Yee

Angela’s art practise focuses on urban culture as ‘a tangible expression of the disappearing city value and local cityscape’. Angela explores the correlation between urban development and city value via installation and photography.

An earlier portrait in Prahran (2005)

Traditional art school or studio practice is that you have a studio nude and you paint the figure quite anonymously and in a way that it does not really matter who the person is. They are just a body or a type that you are painting.

Courage

Australian sculptor William Eicholtz completes a major commission for the City of Yarra in Melbourne. The bronze casting techniques used here are similar to those of ancient Greece.

Memory of nature

A year or more has passed and we meet Arahmaiani again under a Javan sky to create the installation and performance once more, this time in a field on the banks of the Elo-Progo River in Central Java. Borobudur is close by this location.

Borobudur: Thinking Mandala

Borobudur lay hidden under volcanic ash and forest until Stamford Raffles, who was enthralled by Javanese history and collecting Java’s antiques, organised a dig to expose the long lost temple. The year was 1814. We are with Arahmaiani in Java.

Modernity and tradition

A journey through modernity and tradition from Tokyo to Kyoto on a Shinkansen to the heart of ancient Japanese culture and tradition.

Yamagata days: Ginzan Onsen

The snow is falling heavily as we arrive at Ginzan Onsen, there are metres of it everywhere. For me these are memories of an Alpine childhood all those years ago in Carinthia.

Yamagata days: Ceremony

This morning we are in Yamagata City and we have been invited to a tea ceremony at Seifuso, the Chashitsu (teahouse) yet another beautiful and purposeful building in its white snow landscape in a Maple park.

The art of Zen

Tokyo National Museum is a storehouse of treasures. The museum’s collection is made up of 114,000 items and includes 87 National Treasures and 634 Important Cultural Properties. Around 3,000 objects are exhibited at any one time.

Nara and Kyoto

First stop is Kyoto’s Nishiki Market 錦市場, a thriving shopping precinct, an undercover and narrow alley, which stretches for five blocks in the downtown district. Most of what is here is food related.

The National Museum of Art, Osaka

The National Museum of Art in Osaka was opened in late 1997 as the fourth national museum in Japan. The building was originally designed as the Exposition Museum of Fine Arts at Osaka’s Expo 70 and was then redeveloped to its current use.

Mino washi

It seems that all roads lead to Mino where the Nagara River flows. Mino steeped in ceramics, paper and light and some very beautiful Edo period houses.

Yamagata Days

In our lives there are days to remember. Our days in Yamagata will live long in our memories. We start our journey in a spiritual Shinto heartland as we visit Mount Haguro, the most accessible and one of three mountains.

Paper as art

Back in Mino and we work with traditional Japanese papermaker, Takeshi Kano. The creative cowboy films team clap when Takeshi-san finishes his morning’s work. You get the feeling he deserves the spontaneous applause.

Hermannsburg

Not that far from Wallace Rockhole in Tjoritja (the West MacDonnell Ranges country) is the community of Hermannsburg (the sacred site of Ntaria). The township is 130km to the west of Alice Springs.

The curious case of the Burrup Murujuga

The Burrup Peninsula, or in local language the Murujuga, in the remote North West of Western Australia, contains an extraordinary collection of ancient rock carvings created by many hundreds of generations of Aboriginal people across the millennia.

Media and the Murujuga

This extraordinarily significant site, the Murujuga, gives us vital insights into the pre-history of man, continues to be under significant pressure from even more commercial development in the form of industrial infrastructure.

Murujuga

Images which appear to depict mega fauna and other extinct species, such as the Thylacine (Tasmanian Tiger), fat-tailed macropod and Tasmanian Devil, are evident in the petroglyphs.

Murujuga gets short shrift

In 2007 I was asked to read a statement by the RT. Hon. Malcolm Fraser AC, CH, Prime Minister of Australia (1975-1983) at Melbourne’s Federation Square. The statement was in support of the preservation of the ancient rock art of the Murujuga.

Mick Kubarkku

Margie West AM writes about Mick Kubarkku. Mick Kubarkku was an artist from the rugged escarpment region of western Arnhem Land renowned for its extensive galleries of rock art.

Bardayal Nadjamerrek

Margie West AM writes about Bardayal Nadjamerrek AO. Kunwinjku language (Kundedjnjenghmi dialect). Wamud Namok was one of most respected and well-known artists working in the Western Arnhem Land painting tradition.

The art and the dragonfly

As the day fades across the waters of the Liverpool River, the reddening sky with its polished marbled patterns reflect golden in the gently undulating waves. On Mangrove shore where giant crocodiles sleep something remarkable is happening.

A kind and thoughtful man

Sid and I go to sit by the beach of a million bleached shells, piled high along the tide's edge for as far as the eye can see. This too is Saltwater Crocodile territory. The Crocodiles sleep in the morning sun. It is here we stop to talk.

Namatjira’s front door

To the south west of Alice Springs we stand in a place where a remarkable individual lived and worked. And we enter through Albert Namatjira’s front door. We have not been to this place before.

Irankarapte

Irankarapte is Ainu and it means hello, well much more than hello – allow me to touch your heart gently.

creative-i 1: Vanishing worlds

In the article Silent country Alick Tipoti makes us think about the importance of language in preserving culture, in The world we make we look at the impact of our own actions on Indigenous cultures and we visit our Maasai friends in the Rift Valley.

creative-i 2: Around the world

At home once more and in London we visit Christopher Green in the scholar’s room of the British Library. Christopher is the British Library's first artist in residence.

creative-i 3: The Survival Issue

We visit the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair and head further north to see Sid Bruce Short Joe in Pormpuraaw, Cape York.

creative-i 4: The Singapore Issue

The rise and rise of contemporary art in Indonesia is reflected by the Indonesian Pavilion at Art Stage Singapore where the work is compelling and a demonstration of how contemporary art can be a powerful reflection of society and meaning.

creative-i 5: The First Nations Issue

Not only did these visitors not leave, but they broke the law. They killed animals and did not eat their flesh, they killed fish during their breeding season, their animals trampled across our yam gardens and they blocked the rivers and the creeks.

Love and India in a time of Covid

So let’s step back and take a journey in pictures and stories through Southern India with the Creative cowboy films crew and think of our friends across this beautiful and incredibly complex country.

Qutb Minar

This time we visit the Mehrauli region, one of seven ancient cities that compose the State of Delhi, here we visit the Qutb complex. It is December and the days are still warm as the winter shadows lengthen.

Mahabalipuram: A temple by the sea

For more than one thousand years our temple by the sea, the Shore Temple, as it is known, has stood here resisting the lapping waves and the salty winds that have licked at and melted its precious masonry.

Brihadeeswarar Temple

It is mid January and we are in Tamil Nadu. The southern Indian light still bright, and its sun, still warm as we visit a favourite place for another story about the architecture and buildings of India.

A Taj Mahal Sunday

It is early on Sunday morning in New Delhi, the plan is to drive south to visit Agra and the Taj Mahal. The drive should take about four hours, so there is time to do the round trip in a day.

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum

Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum is a fine example of Japanese museum design. This place of culture was designed by architects Kengo Kuma and Nihon Sekkei.

Ainu weaving and embroidery

Ainu craft traditions continue and of the great skills handed down to the current generation of women is the art of Nibutani-attus weaving and embroidery.

Meet Takeshi San

We visit Japanese papermaker, Takeshi Kano, in his studio in Mino City. In this story Takeshi san demonstrates how the kozo fibres are beaten and then how the fibres are sieved to make the individual sheets of paper.

creative-i 6: The Art & Nature Issue

The Art and nature issue of creative-i takes us on a journey to Australia where we meet a very talented group of individuals, each making a significant contribution to art or science in Australia.

creative-i 7: The Bangladesh Issue

This is the seventh in the series of our international magazine creative-i. In this issue we travel to Bangladesh, to India and Tibet.

The art of Hina Ningyo

In Japan, sometimes it is a good idea to go and check out what your neighbours are up to. Mitsuko Ando is the third generation to make Bonbori lights or lanterns for the formal display of Hina dolls.

Gifu, our land of memories

There is the natural world in Gifu, butterflies flutter by on the soft warm air, the mountains soar to the sky and forests, dressed in shades of green, march on every hillside.

Snowflakes fall as beetles do

First of all this is a story about Hon-minoshi, the beautiful hand-made paper from Gifu Prefecture. A parcel arrives from Gifu and we discover that snowflakes fall as beetles do.

Land song: A poem for the missing

We take you to Lake Tyrrell in northern Victoria, the country of the Boorong people under the night sky.

Stars over Tyrrell: The night sky of the Boorong

One hundred and fifty five years ago, a Boorong family at Lake Tyrrell told William Stanbridge something of their stories relating to the night sky.

Family with egg: Collected works

This story is part of a series which provides students and collectors with an image of a work by Andrea Hylands in the collection of museums or private collectors around the world.

21st Century Museum of Art

We were last in Kanazawa in the heat of the summer when we drove here via the mountains to the north of Gifu.

Meet the Maasai

During this period of drought the journeys for the Maasai men grew ever longer, as they searched for pastures to feed their animals.

Peppimenarti

Heading out of Darwin we drive south on the Stuart Highway to the small township of Adelaide River. It is here the highway crosses the river.

Shoutou-an

The building was moved to Kanazawa in 1979 when it was renamed Shoutou-an.

Gifu: The art of the potter

Today is a very special day as we are visiting the Koubei-gama Studio in Tajimi, founded by Koubei Kato in 1804.

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott

Gwyn Hanssen Pigott was a central figure in the history of contemporary ceramics in the 20th century and she retained a remarkable presence in the 21st century ceramic movement.

The Boorong night sky

I started out in 1993, found most of the creatures and the people within two years but took until last year to find Kulkunbulla. One of the Brothers Berm still eludes me.

Stars over Tyrrell: John’s story

Andrea and I met John and Kirsty Morieson in 2014 through an introduction by Niagara Galleries director Bill Nuttall.