TABLEWARE & LINEN

The purpose of the tea towel is not as it once was. Not just a gift for your great aunty overseas to sit in the third draw down, these amazing designs from esteemed Aboriginal artist such as Ruth Stewart deserve pride of place in our own lives, whether it's as wall art hanging as a focal centrepiece on your living room wall, used as a thoughtful and sustainable gift wrapping alternative, or to dry and shine up your delicate teacups or wine glasses.

Made in Australia
Dimensions: 45cm x 75cm (approx)

Ruth Napaljarri Stewart paints many different themes and stories that were passed down to her by her father. Ruth is the younger sister of the successful artist Paddy Japaljarri Stewart, a senior elder at Yuendumu. Her traditional country is in the Mount Allen region of the Northern Territory.

More about the artist: 

Ruth has painted with Warlukurlangu Artists since the 1980's, an Aboriginal owned and governed art centre located in Yuendumu. Her native language is Warlpiri. Her work has been exhibited far and wide and hold a permanent spot on the wall as at the Musée du quai Branly, Paris, France 

‘I listen and hear those words a hundred years away
That is my Grandmother’s Mother’s Country
it seeps down through blood and memory and soaks
into the ground’

Judy Watson

As the textiles renaissance takes place, the role of the tea towel begins to shift. Not just a gift for your great aunty overseas, these amazing designs from esteemed Aboriginal artist deserves pride of place in our own lives, whether it's hanging as a focal centrepiece on your living room wall, used as a sustainable gift wrapping alternative or to dry and shine up your delicate tea cups or wine glasses.

Judy Napangardi Watson was born at Yarungkanji, Mt. Doreen Station, at the time when many Warlpiri & other Central & Western Desert Peoples were living a traditional nomadic life. Judy was taught painting by her elder sister, Maggie Napangardi Watson. She painted alongside her at Warlukurlangu artists for a number of years, developing her own unique style.

Judy is at the forefront of a move towards more abstract rendering of Jukurrpa, or The Dreaming,  by Warlpiri artists, however her work retains strong kurruwarri, the details which tell of the sacredness of place and song in her culture. Judy Napangardi Watson has been exhibiting artwork since 1990 throughout Australia & around the world. Her works are featured in several major collections.

Made in Australia
Dimensions: 45cm x 75cm (approx)

Established in 1985, Warlukurlangu Artists Aboriginal Corporation is a not-for-profit organisation that is 100% Aboriginal-owned by its artists from the remote desert communities of Yuendumu and Nyirripi in Central Australia.  

Artwork/placement varies between tea towel. Each is unique and may differ slightly from image shown.

More about the artist:

It was this design that I saw hanging from a small gift store in the Northern New South Wales town of Brunswick Heads. It appealed to me so much and led me to Alperstein Designs and their collaboration with indigenous artists, something I had been searching for. Judy's work is eye-catching, the colours and shapes mesmerising, 

Judy Watson has described her experiences of travelling to her great-grandmother’s country in north-west Queensland, as ‘learning from the ground up’. It is a philosophy she has transplanted on her several journeys and residencies abroad. A distinguished artist, Judy represented Australia at the 1997 Venice Biennale,

Watson’s matrilineal link to the country of her ancestors has always been central to her printmaking and painting. The hidden histories of Indigenous experience on the colonial frontier – particularly those of women – continue to inspire her. Watson seeks the indelible impressions of past presence on the landscape – rubbings, engravings and incisions – and subtly inscribes them upon her work. 

Through her art, Watson repatriates the human artefacts and objects of collected cultures in museum storehouses, and reveals the ‘skeletons’ in colonial ‘closets’:

This magnificent artist interview by the Tate Gallery gives us an insight into Judy's work and inspiration. Along with her pieces, Judy's journey into understanding her grandmother's and great grandmother's stories,  also helps us to confront Aboriginal history in this country. Watch out for Judy's mum Joyce. She's a national treasure!

As the textiles renaissance takes place, the role of the tea towel begins to shift. Not just a gift for your great aunty overseas, these amazing designs from esteemed Aboriginal artist deserves pride of place in our own lives, whether wall art hanging as a focal centrepiece on your living room wall, used as a thoughtful and sustainable gift wrapping alternative, or to dry and shine up your delicate teacups or wine glasses.

Betty has been painting with Artists of Ampilatwatja since 2013. She draws her inspiration from the country where she goes hunting or looking for bush yams and bush bananas, “sometimes I just like to go out there to see country”.

Made in Australia
Dimensions: 45cm x 75cm (approx)

The Artists of Ampilatwatja community was established in 1999 near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory. The work produced by the artists is recognisably distinct from other Aboriginal artistic communities, due to the application of fine dots and the often bright, figurative depiction of the land. 

“This is my country. I paint because I enjoy painting. My Mother, Edie Holmes let us paint with her when we were young and now we paint all the time. We still paint and talk together in a family group with our kids.” – Alana Holmes

As the textiles renaissance takes place, the role of the tea towel begins to shift. Not just a gift for your great aunty overseas, these amazing designs from esteemed Aboriginal artist deserves pride of place in our own lives, whether it's hanging as a focal centrepiece on your living room wall, used as a thoughtful and sustainable gift wrapping alternative, or to dry and shine up your delicate teacups or wine glasses.

Made in Australia
Dimensions: 45cm x 75cm (approx)

The community of Ampilatwatja made a conscious decision not to paint altyerr dreaming stories. The artists paint their country where those stories sit.

Alana has painted her country after rain where the ground may seem dry but the flowers and trees are green and growing strong. 

Alana's mother Edie Holmes is a well known artist of Ampilatwatja, who taught Alana how to paint when she was a young child.

Like many mums, Alana is extremely busy with four children to look after and though she loves to paint she does not get the time to paint like she used to.

Based on the artwork by Alana Holmes.
Includes information about the artist and artwork.