Lorna Fencer Napurrula was one of the greatest Lajamanu Warlpiri artists. As a senior custodian for the Napurrula Dreamings, she provided special, and privileged, insights into her culture via her paintings. Lorna was a bold innovator,  especially in the use of color, and her late canvases moved to a new level where one  sees a brilliant palette of colors providing a new approach to the ancient Dreaming stories that were within her domain.

One of the last paintings by one of the greatest Lajamanu Warlpiri artists, "Caterpillar Dreaming" tells the story of women heading into the bush to collect bush tucker. The women often come across a caterpillar that they call the "Cheeky One", because it constantly bites the women while they are picking the fruit, causing itchiness. Stories and memories like the Caterpillar dreaming were part of Lorna Fencer Napurrula's extensive knowledge of her country and her culture.

Born: c.1920, or 1927

Died: December, 2006

Region: Tanami Desert

Community Centre: Lajamanu

Art Centre or Agency: Warnayaka Art Centre

Outstation or Country: Yumurrpa, near Yuendumu

Language Bloc: Ngarrkic

Language: Warlpiri

Social Affiliations: Napurrurla subsection

Medium/Form

Chromacryl students acrylic,

Reeves Liquicryl on pre-primed unstretched cotton duck,

on canvas pre-primed art board,

acrylic paint on Coolamons, Kudurru [fighting stick],

acrylic paint on quartz rock chunks and slate,

bean tree wood acrylic paint on canvas

Subjects and Themes

Yarla

Wapirti

Marlujarra

Sweet potato

"Ngalatji" little white flower

Bush tomato

Bush yam.

Awards

1997 Lorna was granted the Gold Coast City Art Award

Commissions

1997- John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria

Collections Held

Aboriginal Art Museum, The Netherlands

Christensen Collection, held by Museum of Victoria, Melbourne

National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

National Gallery of Australia, Canberra

Australian Heritage Commission Collection, Canberra

Holmes a Court Collection of Western Australia

Museum & Art Galleries of the NT, Darwin

Artbank, Sydney

Gold Coast City Art Gallery, Gold Coast, QLD

Laverty Collection, Sydney

Gantner Myer Collection of Aboriginal Art

Margaret Carnegie Collection

Kerry Stokes Collection, Perth

Leewuin Estate

Exhibitions

Individual Exhibitions

2005, Lorna Napurrula Fencer: Recent Paintings, Hogarth Galleries, Sydney

All About Yumarrpa, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne

Group Exhibitions

1988, People, Place and Art, Hilton International Hotel, Adelaide, South Australia

1991, Aboriginal Art, Australian Embassy, Washington USA

1991, Paint Up Big: Warlpiri Women's Art from Lajamanu, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1991, Aboriginal Art and Spirituality, High Court of Australia Canberra, ACT

1994, Yapakurlangu Wirrkardu, Batchelor College, Tennant Creek, Northern Territory

1996, All About Art, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

1997, Women's Body Paint, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1997, Recent Acquisitions, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1997, Me Warlpiri, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

1997/8, John McCaughey Memorial Art Prize, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

1998, Australian Heritage Commission, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

1998, Yulyulu, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

1998, 6th Australian Contemporary Art Fair, Exhibition Building, Melbourne

1998, Warnayaka Warlpiri, Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin

1998, Wild Warlpiri Women, Coo-ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney

1999, Australian Embassy in Washington D.C

1999, United Nations Building New York, USA

1999, Yapa, Alcaston Gallery, Melbourne

2000, Lajamanu, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia

2000, Opening of Yuwayi Art Centre, Yuwayi Gallery, Sydney, NSW

2001, Little Gems, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia

2002, Lorna Napurrula Fencer, Japingka Gallery, Fremantle, Western Australia

2002, Lorna Napurrula Fencer - The Big Picture, Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne

2002, Lorna Fencer - Inner Spring - New Works from the Tanami, Mary Place Gallery, Sydney

2003, 20th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

2004, The Dancers - Warlpiri Women, Art Mob, Hobart; Colour Power - Aboriginal Art Post 1984, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV Australia, Melbourne.21st Telstra National Aborigainal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin

2005, Decouvrir, Rever, Investir, Australian Embassy, Paris, France

Selected Bibliography

Glowczewski, B., 1991, Yapa, Peintres Aborigenes de Balgo et Lajamanu, Lebon Gallery, Paris

Johnson, V., 1994, The Dictionary of Western Desert Artists, Craftsman House, East Roseville, New South Wales. (C)

Ryan, Judith - Paint up Big Warlpiri Women's Art, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne

Isaacs, J - Spirit Country - Contemporary Australian Aboriginal Art, Hardie Grant Books, South Yarra, Victoria

Ryan, Judith. Colour Power - Aboriginal Art Post 1984, National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, 2004