Lucky Kngwarreye Morton

Skin: Kngwarreye (also spelt Ngwarrai)
Language Group: Alyawarr
Region: Rocket Range, Utopia, Northern Territory
Vendor: Eastern Desert Art
Dreaming: Honey Ant (Yerramp), Rainbow (Mpwelarr), Wild Flowers

Lucky Kngwarreye Morton was born in 1949 on MacDonald Downs. She is the daughter of artist and senior boss woman Mary Kemarre Morton and Billy Stockman Morton (deceased) the renowned sculptor. Lucky speaks Alyawarr and lives with her large family on the northern end of Utopia. Lucky spent her childhood years growing up at MacDonald Downs and around Kurrajong Camp at Utopia.
Lucky Kngwarreye’s career in painting began in the late 70s when the Utopia Women’s Batik Group was formed. Under the expert guidance of CAAMA and Rodney Gooch the first major communal project – a series of eighty eight works entitled Utopia – A Picture Story was launched onto the Australian and international stage. The Holmes a Court Collection sponsored these art projects from which toured Australia and worldwide. This was followed by the project with acrylic on canvas in the summer of 1988-9 as part of CAAMA’s The First works on Canvas, a Summer Project. This body of paintings was exhibited – and enthusiastically received – at the SH Ervin Gallery in Sydney. Lucky has continued to use this medium to express her Dreamings and has exhibited in Australia and overseas.

Collections:
  • Powerhouse Museum, Sydney
  • The National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
  • The Holmes a Court Collection, Perth
  • Mbantua Gallery Private Collection, Alice Springs
  • The Australian Queensland Art Gallery, Brisbane
  • Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin
  • Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy
  • Art Centre Meerzigt, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands
  • Gladstone Regional Art Gallery
  • Perc Tucker Regional Gallery;
  • Noosa Regional Gallery;
  • Art and Soul Gallery, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
  • The Cove Gallery, Portland, Oregon USA
Exhibitions:
  • 1989 - Utopia Women’s Paintings, the First Works on Canvas, A Summer Project, S.H. Ervin Gallery, Sydney
  • 1990 - Utopia- A Picture Story, an exhibition of 88 works on Silk from the Holmes a Court; Collection by Utopia artists that toured Eire and Scotland,
  • 1990 - Balance 1990: views, visions, influences, QAG, Brisbane,,
  • 1991 - The Eighth National Aboriginal Art Award Exhibition, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,
  • 1991 - Australian Perspecta, Art Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney,
  • 1998 - Dreamings, Spazio Pitti Arte, Florence, Italy and Vlaams Eurospeech, Conferentiecentrum, Brussels, Belgium,
  • 1998 - Exhibition in Art Centre Meerzigt, Zoetermeer, the Netherlands,
  • 1998 - Art Gallery 'Culture Store', Rotterdam, the Nerherlands,
  • 2002-05 - Regional Galleries Association of Queensland Tour
  • 2002-2005 - Native Title Business - Contemporary Indigenous Art, a national travelling exhibition
  • 2007 - Patterns of Power, Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay Gallery, Sydney
  • 2007 - Eastern Desert Dreaming, Artists from Utopia, GalleryG, Brisbane
  • 2007 - Desert Song, Brush with Art Festival, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, SA
  • 2008 - Power of Place, Paintings and Sculpture from the Eastern Desert, Tandanya: National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide.
  • 2008 - From the Desert to the Sea, Yurlunggar Art, Brisbane
  • 2010 - The Utopia Story, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
  • 2010 – June 11 - 13, London, UK
  • 2010 - Finalist in the 27th Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award
  • 2010 – Desert Icons, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
  • 2011 – Aboriginal Art from Utopia, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
  • 2013 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
  • 2014 – Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne

Artworks (4)

Related Artists (3)