Thancoupie
World:
Thancoupie is an Indigenous Australian artist with a strong Thanaquith background. Born in the late 1930’s the world in which she spent her childhood was rich in traditional customs. One of these customs was to use clay for ceremonial purposes. When Thancoupie was a young girl she knew that clay was sacred, Thancoupie said that where she grew up, ‘The men used to keep the clay in a special storehouse and we kids were not allowed to touch it’.
The artist goes by her totemic name of Thancoupie which means “wattle flower”, this means that she was proud of her aboriginal heritage which reflects greatly in her artwork. After spending a childhood in a Christian mission and witnessing destructive assimilation policies, Thancoupie …show more content…
Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher James AO (most commonly known as Thancoupie) is regarded as North Queensland’s leading contemporary artist. She grew up in Napranum (Weipa) in far north Queensland. She was born in 1937 and died in 2011 in Weipa Base Hospital. She is considered Australia’s foremost aboriginal ceramicist and had a career spanning thirty years, she also designed fabrics, murals, and terrazzo works for public institutions.
After growing up in a Presbyterian Napranum mission she began painting, with her first exhibition in Cairns in 1968, it was during this time that she became interested in clay. In 1970, she thought of doing a course on painting at East Sydney Technical College, but decided to change to ceramics quickly. Three years later she graduated and became the first Aboriginal solo ceramic artist. As a solo artist she has shown many national and international exhibitions. In the early 1980’s she relocated to Cairns, Queensland and continued to produce ceramics from her home at Trinity Beach, committed to preserving her cultural …show more content…
It is made of hand built earthenware and has slip and oxide decorations on incised designs. It has a height of 37 cm. Like most of her designs it is detailed with animals that are anthropomorphised and are ‘story pots’ which tell the story of her indigenous heritage. They embody her relationship with her land, culture and natural world. The egg-shaped, spherical nature of the pots symbolise fertility, the earth and the circle of life.
Audience:
Thancoupie’s artworks have been well received by a wide audience. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and her life and work was the subject of a monograph published in 1982. Her work is of utmost cultural importance to modern Australia because it preserves and details stories of our Indigenous Australians.
By Max Boyle, 7VA3, Ms
World:
Thancoupie is an Indigenous Australian artist with a strong Thanaquith background. Born in the late 1930’s the world in which she spent her childhood was rich in traditional customs. One of these customs was to use clay for ceremonial purposes. When Thancoupie was a young girl she knew that clay was sacred, Thancoupie said that where she grew up, ‘The men used to keep the clay in a special storehouse and we kids were not allowed to touch it’.
The artist goes by her totemic name of Thancoupie which means “wattle flower”, this means that she was proud of her aboriginal heritage which reflects greatly in her artwork. After spending a childhood in a Christian mission and witnessing destructive assimilation policies, Thancoupie …show more content…
Thancoupie Gloria Fletcher James AO (most commonly known as Thancoupie) is regarded as North Queensland’s leading contemporary artist. She grew up in Napranum (Weipa) in far north Queensland. She was born in 1937 and died in 2011 in Weipa Base Hospital. She is considered Australia’s foremost aboriginal ceramicist and had a career spanning thirty years, she also designed fabrics, murals, and terrazzo works for public institutions.
After growing up in a Presbyterian Napranum mission she began painting, with her first exhibition in Cairns in 1968, it was during this time that she became interested in clay. In 1970, she thought of doing a course on painting at East Sydney Technical College, but decided to change to ceramics quickly. Three years later she graduated and became the first Aboriginal solo ceramic artist. As a solo artist she has shown many national and international exhibitions. In the early 1980’s she relocated to Cairns, Queensland and continued to produce ceramics from her home at Trinity Beach, committed to preserving her cultural …show more content…
It is made of hand built earthenware and has slip and oxide decorations on incised designs. It has a height of 37 cm. Like most of her designs it is detailed with animals that are anthropomorphised and are ‘story pots’ which tell the story of her indigenous heritage. They embody her relationship with her land, culture and natural world. The egg-shaped, spherical nature of the pots symbolise fertility, the earth and the circle of life.
Audience:
Thancoupie’s artworks have been well received by a wide audience. Her work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally and her life and work was the subject of a monograph published in 1982. Her work is of utmost cultural importance to modern Australia because it preserves and details stories of our Indigenous Australians.
By Max Boyle, 7VA3, Ms