24 May - 11 June 2007
about the exhibition
Anita McIntyre’s work for some thirty years has been informed by the Australian landscape, the local Brindabella Ranges, the open space of the central desert and the ancient north west Kimberley Ranges. Landscape constitutes the continuing narrative of journey, place and time that is the essence of Anita’s art. Observation and memory, combined with historical and topographic references provide the conceptual and perceptual material that allows Anita to visually express her own very personal relationship with the land. This relationship is always underpinned by a quiet acknowledgment of the deeply spiritual connection between the land and its indigenous owners. Recent work looks at places which have a particular resonance to Anita’s family history. A sixth generation Australian, Anita has always been intensely interested and inspired by stories of her colonial ancestors. Visual expressions of ownership, in the form of 19th. Century parish maps, provide a base for layered narratives, which speak of the experiences of the recently arrived, as they embrace their new home and the ancient stories of this land’s original inhabitants. Essential elements of place and time are reduced to symbolic mark making on flat wall tiles and simple forms, peculiarities of individual place are visualised through an abstract language that imbues universal rather than particular significance. The coalescence of the physical and the spiritual, the real and the imagined, underscore Anita’s work and continue to provide a rich and fertile ground for further exploration.
Anita McIntyre graduated from the Canberra School of Art in 1976. She is currently a visiting fellow at ANU and lecturer in Ceramics. She has been a long and active member of the Crafts Council of the ACT and the National Ceramics Conferences, chairing the Committee for the 8th conference, and is president of Strathnairn Arts Association. Anita has travelled extensively overseas, but in particular across outback Australia, finding inspiration in the spectacular landscapes of the inland. Anita’s work is represented in collections throughout Australia and overseas, including the Northern Territory Museum and Gallery and the Canberra Museum and Gallery.
