Gracie Morton

Gracie is from the Eastern Anmatyerre group and her country is Alhalkere. She is daughter of traditional artist Myrtle Petyarre. She was born in Utopia, a community 230 km northeast of Alice Springs, NT. She has lived the central desert traditional lifestyle, collecting bush food and living off the land.  Gracie gained recognition as an artist working with batik, exhibiting her work with Utopia women in Australia and overseas. Her earlier works are quite typical of “Utopia Art” much line work depicting body-paint designs, with traditional symbols in dots.  

In 1988 Gracie started painting on canvas using acrylic paint. This allowed for progressive development of her skills as an artist. Gracie’s style evolved into the highly detailed spectrum as can be seen in this painting. The avid collector sees and notes the rigorous high quality standard of work she sets for herself. The end result to this mastery is transformation of visual feelings onto canvas making her paintings appear as if they are three-dimensional. Gracie specialises in painting the Bush Plum and Bush Medicine Leaves.  

Gracie’s perception of her desert world relates directly to the food her country offers, and to her role as a food gatherer. The women of Alhalkere believe that the spiritual powers give their country the strength and fertility to grow abundant bush food. The spiritual strength is also applied to the women who learn the social code that they must abide by the order to nurture herself and her off-springs into maturity.      

  Collections:

Gracie’s works have been exhibited throughout Australia and around the world. Collections in

• National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

• Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide

• Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane

• Museum and Art Gallery of Northern Territory, Darwin

• Art Bank, Sydney

• National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

• Art Gallery of Western Australia, Perth