Shows
Arts this Week CharlottesvilleMarch 24, 2025 - Spinifex Artist Exhibition at the Kluge-Ruhe with Katina DavidsonEpisode Notes
For more weekly highlights of Charlottesville’s Art scene, visit https://www.virginiaaudio.com/#/artsthisweek/
The opening reception for the exhibition will take place from 5 to 7 pm at the Kluge Ruhe on March 27th. More information and gallery hours can be found at kluge-ruhe.org
Thank you to the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College for sponsoring Arts This Week. Learn more about PVCC at https://www.pvcc.edu/2025-03-2406 min
The Art ShowNici Cumpston: Indigenous artist turned curator to lead overseas museumNici Cumpston has played a transformative role at the Art Gallery of South Australia. Over the past 16 years she has driven First Nations curatorial practice to new heights, shaping what began as a biennial exhibition into a festival of contemporary Indigenous art that surveys artmaking across the continent.As Tarnanthi reaches its tenth anniversary, Nici has accepted a new challenge overseas — becoming the first Indigenous director of one of the world's great collections of Aboriginal art housed at Kluge-Ruhe at the University of Virginia.2025-03-0525 minArts this Week CharlottesvilleJanuary 13, 2025 - Children's Printmaking at Kluge-RuheEpisode Notes
For more weekly highlights of Charlottesville’s Art scene, visit https://www.virginiaaudio.com/#/artsthisweek/
The Printmaking Workshop with Josef Beery will be held 11am - 1pm at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection for children aged 6-13 accompanied by an adult.
More information and registration can be found at https://kluge-ruhe.org/event/printmaking-workshop-with-josef-beery/
Thank you to the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College for sponsoring Arts This Week. Learn more about PVCC at https://www.pvcc.edu/2025-01-1308 minArts this Week CharlottesvilleOctober 28, 2024 - Our Unbroken Line: The Griffiths FamilyFor more weekly highlights of Charlottesville’s Art scene, visit https://www.virginiaaudio.com/#/artsthisweek/
This episode was recorded October 25th, 2024
Information about The Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection can be found here: https://kluge-ruhe.org/
The gift shop holiday sale is planned for December 3-8. Everyone receives 15% off and members receive 25% off items in the gift shop. Merchandise comes exclusively from Aboriginal-owned art centers and vendors that pay royalties directly to the artists and their communities.
Thank you to the UVA Arts Council and Piedmont Virginia Community College for sponsoring Arts Th...2024-10-2805 minArts this Week CharlottesvilleAugust 21, 2024 - Printmaking for Kids at Kluge-RuheEpisode Notes
For more weekly highlights of Charlottesville’s Art scene, visit
https://www.virginiaaudio.com/#/artsthisweek/
Find more information about Kluge-Ruhe at https://kluge-ruhe.org/
Thank you to Piedmont Virginia Community College for sponsoring Arts This Week. Learn more about PVCC at https://www.pvcc.edu/2024-08-2104 min
Free Range with Mike LivermoreS1E23. Henry Skerritt on Art and PoliticsOn this episode of Free Range, UVA Law Professor Mike Livermore speaks with Henry Skerritt, Curator of Indigenous Arts of Australia at the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection at the University of Virginia.
Skerritt begins by introducing the Kluge-Rhue and how this collection of over 3,000 works of Indigenous Australian Art ended up at the University of Virginia. He explains that while aboriginal Australian art is the longest continuous artistic tradition in the world, it is also a contemporary movement that was used for political representation in the 20th century (0:49 - 4:50).
They discuss the connection between art and politics, explaining how aboriginal...2022-09-0757 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaPast & Present Together: 50 Years of Papunya Tula ArtistsThis week we introduce a new project from the Kluge-Ruhe made in collaboration with UVA Press. Curator Henry Skerritt dives into the history of the Papunya Tula Artists — a movement started in Northern Australia that is now celebrating its 50th anniversary. The Kluge-Ruhe’s current exhibit and launch of their new project both serve as a tribute to the Papunya Tula Artists who changed the face of global contemporary art.
Learn more about Papunya Tula: https://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/irrititja-kuwarri-tjungu-past-present-together-50-years-papunya-tula-artists/2022-08-0205 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaMarrnyula Mununggurr's Puzzlework PaintingsArtist Marrnyula Mununggurr is well renowned in the Yonglu community for her warmth and creative genius. Her work will finally go on display in the United States this September with the the opening of “MAḎAYIN: Eight decades Aboriginial Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala.” Mary Garner McGehee spoke with Kluge-Ruhe curator Henry Skerritt to get an inside look on Marrnyula’s work and creative process.
Learn more about MAḎAYIN: https://madayin.kluge-ruhe.org2022-07-2806 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaDjambawa Marawili and an Exhibition Six Years in the MakingArtist Djambawa Marawili came up with the idea for the exhibition "MAḎAYIN, Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala" over six years ago. Soon his vision will become reality when MAḎAYIN opens at the Hood Museum at Dartmouth in September. In this episode, Kluge-Ruhe curator Henry Skerritt introduces us to Djambawa Marawili and tells us the story of the birth of MAḎAYIN.
Learn more about MAḎAYIN: https://madayin.kluge-ruhe.org2022-07-1907 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBoomalli and Self-Determined Identityhttps://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomalli-prints-paper-making-space-art-collective/2021-10-2103 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBoomalli on Paperhttps://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomalli-prints-paper-making-space-art-collective/2021-10-1402 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBoomalli and the Bicentennial of British Invasionhttps://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomalli-prints-paper-making-space-art-collective/2021-10-0706 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBoomalli Prints and Paper is Dedicated to Arone Meakshttps://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomalli-prints-paper-making-space-art-collective/2021-09-3004 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBoomalli Artists Refused to be Pigeon-HoledAs a collective, Boomalli helped to promote the idea of urban Aboriginal art. However, the ten artists had distinctive artistic and personal identities. The work in this exhibition cuts across multiple generations, sexual orientations, and language groups to defy both cultural and artistic expectations. The inclusive environment of Boomalli created a space for these identities to intersect. The spark lit by the founding members of Boomalli transformed what Aboriginal art could be, igniting a movement that spread across Australia.
Read more and make a free reservation: kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomal…e-art-collective/2021-08-2606 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaIntroducing: Boomalli Prints and PaperNew Series alert!
The next few episodes in your feed will feature the new exhibit “Boomalli Prints and Paper: Making Space as an Art Collective.” In this episode we introduce the collective and the exhibit.
Read more and make a free reservation: https://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/boomalli-prints-paper-making-space-art-collective2021-08-1905 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaNgurlmarrk - The Ubarr Ceremony by Thompson YulidjirriHuman figures, stenciled hands, and ancestral beings gather on the surface of this painting in a dynamic circle of ceremonial activity. Thompson Yulidjirri’s _Ngurlmarrk—The Ubarr Ceremony _is a work on paper crafted by the late artist as part of the John W. Kluge Commission of works on paper in 1991-1992 from Injalak Arts & Crafts Association. Yulidjirri's multimedia expertise across rock, bark, and paper is evident here in his depiction of the Ubarr Ceremony, as the patterned background resembles the rock walls of nearby Injalak Hill. Visualizing connections across media and time, Yulidjirri’s painting attests to the role art plays...2021-08-0502 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaPapunya Tula - Centering Early WorksWhen Aboriginal Art started to explode in popularity in the 1980s, galleries, collectors, and museums were most interested in the major works on huge canvases. However, now that the art movement has achieved so much acclaim, collections like the Kluge-Ruhe are focusing more on the earliest works from important art centers like Papunya Tula. Curator Henry Skerritt shares what we learn about contemporary Aboriginal Art by studying the often anonymous works from the early days of Papunya Tula.
https://kluge-ruhe.org/exhibition/irrititja-kuwarri-tjungu-past-present-together-50-years-papunya-tula-artists/2021-07-2204 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaPapunya Tula - Collaboration with ArtistsThe Kluge-Ruhe works very closely with Aboriginal artists and their descendants in designing their exhibitions. For this exhibit, Curator Henry Skerritt wasn't able to make his usual trip to Australia to meet with artists in person, so they solicited photos, stories, and input on the gallery from artists and descendants virtually. All which they've compiled for the accompanying exhibition catalog.2021-07-1504 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaPapunya Tula - The Women ArtistsThere aren't many female artists in the exhibit IRRITITJA KUWARRI TJUNGU: 50 YEARS OF PAPUNYA TULA ARTISTS. That's because when Papunya Tula was formed in the 1970s, there weren't many women working at Papunya Tula. Pansy Napangardi was an exception. She was one of the first women artists at Papunya Tula to get a great deal of international acclaim. We talk about her work and foreshadow the massive change that is to come when a new generation of female artists come to Papunya Tula in the 1990s and breathe new life into the art center.2021-07-0803 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaIntroducing: 50 Years of Papunya Tula ArtistsThe Kluge-Ruhe is opening a new exhibition! It's called Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past & Present Together): 50 Years of Papunya Tula Artists.
Papunya Tula is a collective of Aboriginal artists in The Australian Western Desert. In this episode, we get a sneak peak of the new exhibit and Henry Skerritt tells us why these paintings are so important to the history of Aboriginal Art.
And stay tuned! Over the coming weeks, we're going to share a lot more about this very special exhibit and the artworks on display.
Bush Tucker Dreaming, 1988
William Sandy
Acrylic on...2021-07-0106 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaMen's Ceremony by Dinny Nolan JampitjinpaRecently, the team at Kluge-Ruhe unrolled a canvas that had been sitting unseen in their collection for a long time. When they finally saw it, it got the team thinking about medium and the creativity that artists unleashed when they started to experiment with painting on canvas.
Dinny Nolan Tjampitjinpa
Men's Ceremony c.1974
Synthetic polymer paints on canvas
65 x 19 in. (165.1 x 48.26 cm)
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia
Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997
1991.0021.0132021-06-2405 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaGabriel MaralngurraGabriel Maralngurra is an Aboriginal Australian artist from Gunbalayna in Western Arnhem Land. Gabriel enjoys speaking with others and sharing his own knowledge about painting and Aboriginal traditions so that his culture lives on. He maintains great relations with the curator of the Kluge-Ruhe Art Collection, Henry Skerritt, and virtually joined Skerritt's class in March of 2021 to share his wisdom with students at the University of Virginia.
Gabriel Maralngurra
Indigenous Australian, b. 1968
Episode produced by Sydney Pulliam.2021-06-1703 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaThe Waterbird Dance by David Malangi DaymirringuThe Waterbird Dance brings death to life. Aboriginal artist David Malangi Daymirringu’s work honors Yolngu ceremony; more specifically, that of the Manharngu clan. A well-known senior artist, Malangi painted and travelled internationally to represent his community and share his art until his death in 1999. In typical fashion of the art of Arnhem Land, Waterbird Dance is a painting of ochre, charcoal and white clay on bark. Malangi depicts Manharngu clan totems engaged in a transitional ceremony in a vibrant, packed composition to grab the attention of international audiences and celebrate and preserve the traditions of his country.
...2021-06-0302 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaMäṉa by Wilson Manydjarri GanambarrWilson Manydjarri sees the patterns laid down in the landscape and conveys them through his art. In this episode, Henry Skerritt tells the story of how some of those patterns were laid down and the role that art like Manydjarri’s play in the most important moments of life for members of his indigenous group.2021-05-2707 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaMy Country by Emily Kame KngwarreyeEmily Kame Kngwarreye was one of the first celebrated female Aboriginal Australian Desert Painters. Entering the national art market well into her seventies, Kngwarreye paved the way for female Aboriginal artists to express women's specific cultural relationship to the Dreaming and their ancestral lands. In My County, Kngwarreye uses a vibrantly colored dotting technique, popularized in Papunya. While only she knows the true stories and secrets that lay hidden within the canvas, all viewers can appreciate My Country for its immensely beautiful and imposing presence.
My Country
1994
Emily Kame Kngwarreye, Indigenous Australian, b. 1910
Acrylic on canvas, 150.5 x 485...2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaNullius in Verba III by Steaphan PatonStanding at six feet tall, the sculpture “Nullius in Verba III” is intentionally the same height and weight as its sculptor, Steaphan Paton. The metal, diamond-shaped shield, mounted on a long pole, confronts the viewer. The shield’s surface is scratched, evoking the centuries of violence and dispossession faced by Paton’s ancestors. Among closer inspection, however, the sculpture is made from modern materials, asserting that this violence against Indigenous Australians is not an historic anecdote but a contemporary issue.
Steaphan Paton
Gunai and Monaro-Ngarigo language groups, Indigenous Australian, b. 1985
Nullius in Verba III, 2019
Etched steel, acrylic paint, nanotech clear seal...2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaAwely by Emily Kame KngwarreyeIn deep reds, pinks, and yellows, Emily Kame Kngwarreye's "Awely" is an embodiment of her connection with her Country. Kngwarreye began painting late in her life, when she was already an elder in her community, Utopia, in Australia’s Northern Territory. The artwork’s title refers to women’s ceremonial knowledge of song, dance, medicine, and designs painted on the body. As Kngwarreye applied heavy blotches of paint to her canvases, she would sing ceremonial songs, replicating the act of painting on skin. In this way, “Awely” is both a painting of Kngwarreye’s homeplace and a conversation with it.
E...2021-05-2502 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaUnwritten by Vernon Ah KeeA solitary figure emerges from an urgent flurry of charcoal lines. Vernon Ah Kee’s “Unwritten” is a potent metaphor for the struggle of indigenous artists to control their identities amid the continuing pressures of racism and colonial oppression. In 2004, Ah Kee began a series of large scale photorealistic charcoal portraits of his family members. These works were based upon ethnographic photos taken by the anthropologist Norman Tyndale on Palm Island during the 1930s. In enlarging these images to an imposing scale, Ah Kee returns power to their gaze, reclaiming the ethnographic photography for those who are once its subjec...2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaYellow Rushes Fish Basket by Jenni Kemarre MartinielloFreshwater Saltwater Weave is a series of glass works by contemporary urban-based Arrernte artist Jenni Kemarre Martiniello. Her works in hot blown glass, coldworked glass and canes are inspired by the aesthetics of Aboriginal woven forms. The works in this exhibition span the last five years and are inspired by dilly bags, eel traps, fish traps, fish baskets, and bicornual baskets.
Yellow Rushes Fish Basket
2017
Jenni Kemarre Martiniello
Hot blown and cold worked glass with canes
Purchased with funds provided by Maria T. Kluge, 2019.Notes go here2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaJack Kelly's Rockhole by Queenie McKenzieJack Kelly's Rockhole
1997
90 x 120 cm
Queenie McKenzie, indigenous Australian, b. 1915
Natural pigments on canvas
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
Gift of Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter, 2019.Notes go here2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaNgarralja Tommy MayNgarralja Tommy May has been making art for over 30 years and this year his painting, Wirrkanja, won the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award. Henry Skerritt introduces us to the artist and reminisces about his 2016 visit to the Kluge-Ruhe.2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaNganampa Ngura, Our Country By Tjala ArtsNganampa Ngura, Our Country (2013) is a work of grand ambition and stunning color, it shows the ways in which these senior women see the world, connected by kin and country. From the tiny flowers of the bush plum to an epic painting on canvas, all actions are interrelated. In our globally connected world, these artworks remind us that every “little thing” is part of the grand tapestry of existence. The thirteen artists who made this work are: Wawiriya Burton, Ruby Williamson, Barbara Moore, Mary Katajuka Pan, Nyurpaya Kaika Burton, Naomi Kantjuriny, Iluwanti Ken, Mona Mitakiki Shepard, Tjungkara Ken, Sylvia Ken, Kata...2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaMilniyawuy - River of Stars by Naminapu Maymuru-WhiteNaminapu Maymuru-White is a Mangalili artist who paints the Milky Way and its earthly mirror, the Milniyawuy River.2021-05-2503 min
Aboriginal Art in AmericaBrothers Moving Targets By Tony Albert
Tony Albert’s “Brothers” engages with issues of race, police violence, discrimination and identity. This single installation features twenty-six portraits of young Aboriginal men with targets painted onto their chests, as well as designs and symbols that Albert associates with strength and resistance. Albert was inspired by events that took place in Sydney in 2012, when two teenage Aboriginal joyriders were shot and injured at the hands of police. Following this, a protest was held at Sydney’s Town Hall, and friends of the victims appeared with targets drawn on their chests. For Albert, the target symbolizes the daily ex...2021-05-2502 min
Museum MinuteMy Country by Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Emily Kame Kngwarreye was one of the first celebrated female Aboriginal Australian Desert Painters. Entering the national art market well into her seventies, Kngwarreye paved the way for female Aboriginal artists to express women's specific cultural relationship to the Dreaming and their ancestral lands. In My County, Kngwarreye uses a vibrantly colored dotting technique, popularized in Papunya. While only she knows the true stories and secrets that lay hidden within the canvas, all viewers can appreciate My Country for its immensely beautiful and imposing presence.
Emily Kame Kngwarreye
Indigenous Australian, b. 1910
My Country, 1994
Acrylic on...2021-05-2002 min
Museum MinuteJack Kelly's Rockhole by Queenie McKenzieJack Kelly's Rockhole
1997
90 x 120 cm
Queenie McKenzie, indigenous Australian, b. 1915
Natural pigments on canvas
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia.
Gift of Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter, 2019.2020-09-0902 min