Art Communities

Mount Liebig community, 325 Kms west of Alice Springs, is close to the heart of the region where the modern Desert art movement began. The community is 75 Kms from Papunya where those first paintings of the movement were painted in 1971-72. It acts as a go-between community for families with connections to Haasts Bluff, Papunya and out west to Kintore and Kiwirrkura.

The art centre Watiyawanu Arts has been operating from Mt Liebig since 1990, although with restricted capacity. However, when artists began painting 15 years ago, they worked from home, with the support of community store manager Glenis Wilkins and Peter Malavesi. Early artists included Billy Stockman, Long Tom Tjapanangka and Mitjili Napurrula. Soon after, Lilly Kelly moved to Mt Liebig with her husband and family, and started painting her own canvases. Other women began to join the group, and it was the success in the late 1990’s of Lilly Kelly’s elegant and finely detailed Sandhills paintings that started to bring recognition to Watiyawanu and its artists.

In year 2003 a small group of Watiyawanu women artists were invited to exhibit and tour in Japan. Armed with emergency supplies of tinned bully beef and weetbix, the artists traveled to Japan and experienced traditional Japanese lifestyle, culture and art, visited special art/ healing centres and sampled traditional dishes. A film was made of their travels and experiences.

Watiyawanu artists have developed a distinctive stylistic approach in their work, often combining a detailed lacework of fine dotting along with strong iconography of Western Desert Dreaming sites. The work of senior artists is becoming highly prized in the market and younger emerging artists are coming forward to join them. With typical issues confronting the community- issues of youth employment and recreation, threats of petrol sniffing and alcohol abuse- the development of strong cultural models that reinforce the value of traditional knowledge and skills is a major advantage to desert communities like Mt Liebig. The artists of Watiyawanu are carrying forward that cultural model.

Bill Whiskey

Lily Kelly

Ngoia

Topsy Peterson

Wati Sunset

Wati Sky