Outback and Bay Gallery Home News

Image is from ABC News website see link below.

Sitting in my gallery, immersed in the rich beauty that has been generated by a community of Aboriginal artists far away in the Central Australian Desert I’ve received news from the other side of the world that the area where my artists live has been cut off by flooding. The sudden and often brutal monsoons that strike at this time of year are expected - it’s the wet season there - but this one has been more severe than usual.

Although I have made many trips to the Outback, the challenges these incredibly talented people have to overcome to make their work is never far from my mind.

This region has been left completely cut off for a week now. The dirt roads are under too much water for even the most robust vehicles to use, leaving those living there with dwindling supplies including food and, in the midst of their first Covid cases, vital medical supplies. The current situation has been described by local officials as “absolutely dire”.

At the community health clinic, there are just five medical staff to treat 600 patients. In recent days, they have had to handle three emergencies, including a birth, without access to Royal Flying Doctor Service support as the airstrip is completely inundated with water - it looks like a river.

From our gallery 12,000 miles away in Tetbury, we help support the Aboriginal art communities, as do many galleries across Australia and around the world, through the sale of the paintings, our ‘My Country’ interiors collection, homewares and accessories. This week we are excited to share our fabulous new rectangular cushions that have landed oh-so-softly in the gallery.

The limited run of locally-made soft furnishings, featuring the work of major art prize-winning Betty Pula Morton, Rosie Ngwarraye Ross, Melita Pitjara Morton (already sold out), Ruth Nungarrayi Spencer are plumped up and ready to go. You can see the collection on our Cushion page.

Over the weekend drop by our gallery and see what our artists are achieving in often very difficult circumstances. You’ll be as awestruck as I am every day.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-31/utopia-region-battles-covid-19-outbreaks-floods-no-phones/100790440

Christmas Gift ideas - 'My Country' Aboriginal art cushions!

At Bay Gallery Home our gorgeous ‘My Country’ cushions are flying out the door with Christmas orders for them flying in.

Infused with 70,000 years of ancient culture our cushions bring you back to a place where our connection to earths natural beauty is freshly appreciated. Our cushions designs are translations of Aboriginal creation myths, law, topographical mapping, bush medicine and bush tucker. As each one is translated from Aboriginal paintings you are, in essence, buying an artwork while supporting the Central Desert artists and communities we represent.

The fabric collection comes in 12 different designs seven of which match our wallpapers. You can choose between cotton velvet, poly velvet, avanti linen and cotton fabrics in any of the designs. They are available ready made in 50x50cm, 40x40cm and various sized bolsters all with hidden zippers and feather or poly infills. Or you can order bespoke cushions.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be sharing more Christmas ideas with you including our wonderful upside down umbrellas which are perfect gifts for the people with everything!

Please get in touch with alexandra@baygalleryhome.com or call 077776 157 066 for more information regarding our cushions or making service.

Congratulations Betty!

My Country and Bush Medicine, Betty Pula Morton, 2016

Huge congratulations to Betty Pula Morton winner of First Nations category in the inaugural annual National Capital Art Prize.

Betty is immensely talented and this prize is well deserved. As this prize attests, Betty’s body of work and reputation as an artist is going from strength to strength.

We are lucky enough to represent Betty’s work in the UK. In addition to selling her original paintings we created fabrics and wallpapers from one of her canvases selected on a trip to the Central Desert art centre in 2017. You can see these and the original artwork in our Tetbury, Cotswolds art gallery.

When buying anything from Bay Gallery Home you are supporting artists like Betty, their family and wider community, including the art centre who make it possible for the Aboriginal artists to bloom.

Betty Pula Morton’s My Country and Bush Medicine painting has been translated onto fabrics and wallpapers as part of Bay Gallery Home ‘My Country’ Aboriginal interiors collection.

Bay Gallery Home collaborates with Sample Library at Decorex International 2021

Bay Gallery Home is excited to announce we will be presenting our ‘My Country’ Aboriginal interiors collection in collaboration with Sample Library at Decorex International 10-13 October 2021.

Over the course of the show our samples will be available to view on the Sample Library stand G140.

On Monday from 11am we will be doing a two hour presentation where you will learn more about the origins of ‘My Country’, the Aboriginal artists we represent, the process of bringing the collection from painting to translation’s onto fabric, wallpaper, tiles and rugs. You’ll also see some of the original artworks!

Sample Library are holding a prize draw for people who sign up for an account with them during Decorex. Our Lilly Green cushion (from an artwork by Lilly Kemarre Morton) is among the prizes and usually retails for £60. Prizes will be drawn on Friday October 15th.

Gorgeous new paintings arrived in our Tetbury, Cotswolds Aboriginal art gallery

I love all the paintings I curate for Bay Gallery Home but this consignment is going to be particularly hard to let go. Each painting is simply stunning. From the celestial masterpieces depicting Seven Sisters Dreaming by rising star Athena Nangala Granites to the coloured-concentric circles drawing you into the deep pools of Peggy Napurrurla Granites “Dogwood Tree Bean Dreaming” and the emerging talent of young artist Kurshiah Nakamarra Robinson becoming more evident with each of his Water Dreaming’s, you are completely, utterly spoilt for choice.

We are open this weekend from 1030-1730 Saturday and 1200-1500 on Sunday when you can buy these paintings before they snapped up and go to new homes. They are currently unstretched but are sold ready to hang.

Bay Gallery Home has reopened!

Bay Gallery Home is very excited to welcome people back into our gallery now the lockdown has finally ended for non-essential retail.

This lockdown was harder than previous ones as we barely recovered from the Summer one before being thrust into the next two so it’s with great relief we can reopen giving you the opportunity to see the beautiful paintings we have imported during lockdown in the flesh.

We’ve also used the time we’ve been shut to make more velvet cushions and pouffes. You are going to love them! They feel and look amazing.

Come and feast your eyes on artwork by the oldest continuous race in the world. Indigenous communities across the world were particularly under threat from Covid but as the communities closed, very early on in the pandemic, across Australia they remained safe and in good health. The art centres are cautiously reopening so we’ll have more work arriving over the next couple of months.

Wishing you all the best and look forward to seeing old and new faces in our Tetbury, Cotswolds gallery.

Keep your eyes peeled for fabulous New Art as we are listing paintings

Shorty Jangala Robertson, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) this magnificent Shorty has hit the market and we are in the enviable position of having secured it to sell through our gallery.

In preparation for our reopening we have many new paintings winging their way from the Central Australia Desert to our Tetbury Aboriginal art gallery. If you like what you see online don’t miss out as on our last reopening the paintings were snapped up! We send our works ready to hang all over the world via Parcelforce and DHL .

There’s more going up each day on the website. Some will also feature on our Twitter and Instagram feed.

We can’t tell you how excited about having lovely clients back in Bay Gallery Home on 12 April.

'My Country' wallpapers bring Spring to your home

In the UK Spring has arrived with lambs tripping across daffodiled fields. To bring some of that beautiful outside spirit in your home our Joycie Yellow is the perfect choice. Joycie Yellow is often used to brighten bathrooms and kitchens. The many colours artist Joycie Pitjara Morton used in the original painting have translated splendidly onto the wallpaper. The oranges and greens pop depending on the light and angle its viewed at so there’s endless choices of fabric colours for blinds or other soft furnishings you can pair it with - including our own fabric collection. Or you can opt for one of our other ‘My Country’ wallpapers which are equally as endearing with their depictions of sacred outback Australian land.

Our wallpapers suit many residential and commercial projects and have been used across the world in English period homes, French chateus , and contemporary houses who’ve opted for minimalism but needing a pop of colour and design with soul.

What’s your favourite?

Stock is held in Australia so if you’re an Australian customer please be assured your ordered will be sent from there. If you contact us and you don’t get a reply please check your Spam. We always reply immediately.

Bay Gallery Home introduces our 'My Country: design with origin' Pouffes

Lilly Green cotton velvet pouf in The Ormond Hotel, Tetbury

Bay Gallery Home introduces our luxurious velvet poufs.

Our pouffes are a simple way to complete the appeal of your living space by creating alternative seating immediately enveloping you in comfort. Simple and elegant design with origin.

The pouffe can be paired with our Lilly Green wallpaper to complete your room scheme or you could choose another wallpaper from our collection to create statement design.

The Aboriginal botanical design is taken from an original painting by Lilly Kemarre Morton. It depicts the sacred plants and trees of the Australian outback used by the Aboriginals for the last 60,000 years. Lilly receives a royalty from all the products we make using her design.

If you are in Australia you can purchase our fabrics from our distributor Elliott Clarke under their boutique artisanal EC Collective.

Made to order in the UK from any of our fabrics found on this link:

https://www.baygalleryhome.com/fabric

Lockdown 0.3 - here we go again!

Our Ruth Red Goanna Dreaming velvet cushion on one of the amazing sofas you can find at Treacle George in Tetbury, the Cotswolds.

Sadly we have had to close our doors again but we’re still trading online and by appointment during this winter lockdown. If you follow the gallery safety protocols you can pick up any purchases safely or we can send them to you via Royal Mail, Parcelforce or DHL.

Please keep an eye for new paintings on the website and Instagram, you’ll also be able to see new developments in the ‘My Country’ collection. Our made in Britain new cushion collection is online and we’ve uploaded photos of our made to order ottomans. Fabric is available by the metre so if you want to practice your upholstery or sewing skills we have beautiful fabrics in the gallery you can’t get anywhere else.

Don’t forget Tetbury’s small independent shops during this lockdown. We’re all working so hard to bring you things of beauty you can’t get anywhere else.

We watched with horror as the queue snaked down the road from the post office as people returned lockdown purchases to Amazon. Please shop locally and/or from independents across the UK.

Merry Christmas and New Year 2021

Our new Rosie Blue and Rosie Pink Cushions from artwork by Central Desert artists, Rosie Ngwarraye Ross. These cushion are also on sale at Cotswold Trading, Broadway.

Wishing all our clients, collaborators and especially our wonderful Artists and all the Art Centre staff a happy festive period. The last couple of years have brought Australia many challenges with the fires and now the pandemic. Despite the distances we’re all working hard to bring you beautiful art and new ‘My Country’ interior offerings. We hope you love our work and continue to support the Gallery and everyone we work with.

Bay Gallery Home is open with limited opening hours between 28 December to 31 December 2020. We are open between 1100-1500 (give or take) and open by appointment so please call 07776 157 066 or email alexandra@baygalleryhome.com to arrange a visit.

We have many new exciting developments to share with you so keep an eye on our website.

Home interiors inspiration

Cotswolds clients bought “his” and “her” paintings for their new extension bringing warm hues to the grey wall creating a warm, cosy space for the winter months.

Since we’ve reopened Bay Gallery Home has been blessed with many visitors who are looking to buy from our Art and ‘My Country’ interiors collection. Simply put many of them were bored of looking at blank walls and wanted something to stimulate them visually while spending extended periods at home. Our Aboriginal art & interiors are steeped in sacred stories and 60, 000 years of history. Clients comment it gives them a sense of peace, grounding them in an ancient world where people lived with their Country rather than dominating it. While some (or most) of us are feeling lost and bewildered separated from family and friends we can immerse ourselves in this incredible culture and seek solace in its beauty and spirituality.

Our gallery’s products suite maximalist room schemes as well as catering to those who like the simplicity of minimalism. You can opt for a carnival of pattern and colour or stump for simple lines using traditional colours depicting desert forms. Over the next few weeks we will be sharing mood board ideas. We also have some exciting new fabrics to share with you and are busy making for a House & Garden shoot.

When buying from Bay Gallery Home you are supporting the Central Desert Aboriginal communities we represent as well as British designers and manufacturers.

For more information about the featured artists please contact alexandra@baygalleryhome.com

Bay Gallery Home reopening Monday 15 June 2020

Joycie Pitjara Morton cotton blind. Design taken from painting by Joycie.

Bay Gallery Home is reopening Monday 15 June and we can’t wait to welcome old and new faces to our unique Aboriginal art gallery in Tetbury, the Cotswolds.

The Gallery is designed in such a way that it is easy to keep 2m social distance. If you would like to buy from us but you’re uncomfortable coming inside we’re happy to bring paintings, products from our ‘My Country’ interiors collections and our range of home wares outside.

We also have a remote payment system which works outside.

Inside the gallery we have a sink where you can wash your hands or use the gel hand sanitizer provided. Sanitizing wet wipes will also be provided. We ask that if you would like to look at something more closely you let us handle it for you. All products are sold in boxes only handled when unpacked - we do not sell the display items (unless it is the last one).

If you have recently travelled from overseas please make sure you’ve quarantined for two weeks as per our Governments guidance. Tetbury has largely been spared the ravages of Covid-19 by carefully adhering to the Public Health Guidelines. Please help us maintain the health of everyone here and our NHS staff.

Tetbury has a plethora of incredibly interesting independent shops and we are all looking forward to welcoming you to our beautiful Cotswold town.

Black Lives Matter

Geraldine Napangardi Granites, Snake Vine Dreaming

It hardly bares thinking Black Lives Matter even has to be stated.

In Australia our indigenous population have endured, and continue to endure widespread racism, discrimination, segregation and brutality. In November last year a young Walpiri man, Kumanjayi Walker, was shot in Yuendumu for breaches of his suspended sentence. He subsequently died while in police custody with a Northern Territory police officer later being charged with his murder. Kumanjayi is from a community represented through our art gallery.

Shocking, avoidable and in no way justifiable.

Reconciliation Week in Australian ends tomorrow so let’s hope people reflect on the events in America and at home by moving forward in a positive manner whereby it’s accepted all have equal human rights.

In the UK we see young black men ripping into each other with knives and increasingly using guns to inflict revenge in their postcode wars. So much was taken away from our young, particularly our black youths, during austerity. If Black Lives Matter(ed) to those in power community centres would reopen and youth programmes reinstated. Police funding could go towards supporting the young rather than installing multiple cameras on every street corner.

Black Lives Matter. Stop the Killing.

Brands To Love: A Stunning Home Collection by Aboriginal Artists by Patricia Martin

Patricia Martin is an American author, speaker, and analyst who tracks changes in the culture who recently featured Bay Gallery Home in her blog: Brands To Love.

Posted by  Patricia Martin 

http://patricia-martin.com

Good art is redemptive; just looking at it lights the lamp from within. When a brand meets that standard, it deserves a good long look.

Founded in 2008, Bay Gallery Home was started by former journalist, Alexandra O’Brien. She emigrated from the UK to Australia when she was four, before returning to England 20 years later. The gallery is nestled in the English Cotswolds in Gloucestershire and represents a range of artists from the communities of Australia’s Northern Territory. Featuring a breadth of works by emerging talent, as well as established artists, prices reflect that range from just over $200 to $5,000 US.

The award-winning My Country home collection, provides revenue streams for indigenous artists while expanding global awareness for their art. And oh, the art translated onto these wallpapers and fabrics is alive with flora and wild animals. Bold, beautiful abstracts drawn from Aboriginal mythology and culture explode with colors and patterns from the Australian outback, a place that stubbornly sits on my bucket list. Ms. O’Brien’s passionate approach is living proof that a visionary brand can deliver meaningful value to artists and their communities and everyone prospers. Sublime!

Take a look at Bay Gallery Home’s Australian Aboriginal art, ceramics, wallpaper here: baygalleryhome.com

Artist’s work featured in photo: Daisy Kemarre Turner

Photo Credit: Adam Carter Photography

EC Collective - Australian Distributors

EC Collective, part of Elliott Clarke, have added Bay Gallery Home to its stable of beautiful artisanal fabric & wallpaper houses from around the world.

Australian’s can now source our ‘My Country’: design with origin Aboriginal Interiors collection through the Elliot Clarke showrooms in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and their agents in Perth and Adelaide.

Thank you for all those who have patiently waited for Bay Gallery Home to get ‘My Country’ to Australia. We have made it. Our Central Desert artists benefit from the sale of our collection via royalties thereby supporting their career and their communities. We thank them for the amazing opportunity to translate their work from paintings onto the fabrics and wallpapers you can now purchase through the EC Collective.

For more information you can reach Elliott Clarke on:

www.elliottclarke.com.au email: info@elliottclarke.com.au or call: +61 (3) 9510 0722

Covid-19 update

Bay Gallery Home wants to reassure you that over the coming months, while the world deals with this dreadful pandemic that our gallery will stay open until the authorities tell us otherwise. Online orders will be fulfilled while the post office remains open. DHL has assured us that they will maintaining their delivery service for the foreseeable future. If circumstances change will let you know via the Blog, Instagram and Twitter feeds.

Sadly one our art centres has been forced to close so there will be no new works from them until the danger of infection has passed. We will post images of our latest shipment from them on our Instagram and Twitter accounts @baygalleryhome .

We hope that you all stay in good health and wish those affected a speedy recovery. If you have elderly relatives in the Gloucestershire area who need anything from the shops and you can’t get to your relatives please get in touch and we will try to help.

Wishing you all the best

Bay Gallery Home

Vinterior Magazine - Art Edit

Vinterior the worldwide online vintage, antique and unique ethnic resale behemoth has published their first magazine. One of Bay Gallery Homes paintings by Flora Nakamarra Brown, Mina Mina Dreaming was curated by Louise McKinney for the magazines first Art Edit.

Louise McKinney of A-I-R, a collective of leading cultural advisers from around the world, previously lead development programmes for world class galleries: the Lisson, Serpentine and Whitechapel. To read more about Louise and see the other curated works for the Interior Art Edit please go to vinterior.co.

Rubbish Art - beware buying fake, appropriated or sweatshop Aboriginal art

Athena Nangala Granites, Yanjirlpirri or Napaljarri-Warnu Jukurrpa, (Star or Seven Sisters Dreaming)

Bay Gallery Home often gets approached with people wanting to us to sell Aboriginal paintings they’ve bought. Sadly time and time again we have to inform them that the paintings, despite having [questionable] certificates of authenticity, are from disreputable sources. Most likely they are fake or they have been acquired under sweatshop conditions. Aboriginal artists are particularly vulnerable if they are not working within the protection of an Aboriginal owned art centre.

Bay Gallery Home won’t deal on the secondary market as we only work with art centres ensuring the artists are renumerated for the paintings we sell. We’ve been wanting to write this blog for sometime as it’s evident questionable works are making it into the UK market. There are several reputable dealers in the UK so if you want an authentic work please approach any of us so we can ensure you have a work you can be confident is genuine, you can resell and that you are assured the artist will be compensated for their work.

To help you work out how to buy good Aboriginal art not “rubbish art”:

1. Look up address of gallery and thoroughly go through their website. Many of the questionable paintings or “rubbish art” we are offered are for sale with only a PO Box as the address. Sometimes the sellers name alerts me that something is up. In the 15 years I’ve been dealing Aboriginal art I’ve never come across a gallery operating under the name or the dealers name appearing on the certificates I’ve been shown. Look carefully at the photo of the artist on the certificate. Does the artist look happy? I’ve been shown certificates where the artist clearly looks distressed, others where the artists head doesn’t even appear in the picture. Sometimes the background itself is distressing - a dirty bit of carpet they’ve been sitting on for hours painting an artwork surrounded by shopping trolleys out the back of a building. These should all ring alarm bells.

2. You may be offered paintings by carpetbaggers. Carpetbaggers are people who approach artists and offer them very little money for the paintings then go on to sell them for a large profit. Often these people were professionals who came into contact with Aboriginal communities through their work. The prevalence of carpetbagging is one of the reasons art centres were established.

3. The works should be on good quality linen. If the work is painted black to the edge and the “canvas” feels plastic then it’s best avoided. Art centres do not offer paintings like that. In the past we have been offered paintings like this and could not authentic where or by who they were painted.

4. Beware of sheer bulk of work offered. If you are offered a choice of hundreds of paintings (remember the ones on a plastic feeling canvas) approach with care. Many of the Aboriginal communities are small with 30-150 artists painting at any one time. These works are then chosen by established galleries around the world.

5. If you want an Aboriginal painting try to buy one from a gallery with bricks and mortar not just an online presence. You should be able to see and feel the painting. Ask lots of questions about the stories behind the painting, the artist and the community. A legitimate Aboriginal art dealer will be able to answer all your questions as well as offer you anecdotal stories because they have been to the art centres and met the bulk of artists they represent.

6. Ochre paintings have employed “chemical fingerprints” so as to identify works produced by Aboriginal artists (ochres are mainly used by artists in the Kimberly region). The chemical is mixed with the paint so as to distinguish authentic art from imported art done by non-Aborignal artists.

7. Sometimes people comment that our paintings aren’t perfect. Funnily enough imperfections are what you are looking for in Aboriginal art. Many of our paintings will have bits of the desert in them, human or dog hair and we’ve even had one with tomato seeds! Dogs are central to Aboriginal communities and form an important part of art centre life so are often sitting close to the artists so it’s no surprise their hair makes it into some of the work. While the artists are incredibly gifted with geometric patterns if you have a work that’s gone slightly awry then it’s more likely authentic.

8. Steer clear of sites like eBay where a lot of fakes or paintings done under duress are offered.

9. Cultural appropriation is a major threat to the authentic Aboriginal art industry. Moves have been taken to curtail this, like the Australian Government initiative  ‘Fake Art Harms Culture’, but we ask you to be mindful when buying didgeridoos, boomerangs, digging sticks etc. A lot of these are imported from Indonesia and China. A shocking example of this in the UK was a fake work used in Ricky Gervais’s tv show After Life. The painting used was a copy of a painting by Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri, Tingarri Dreaming (1987). Derek Productions, Gervais’s production company has since paid compensation to the artist and obtained a retrospective license to use the painting. Timna Woollard, the artist commissioned to copy the original art work has said to was among those commissioned for a UK television and prop company in 1989.

Bay Gallery Home wishes our Customers, Artists & Collaborators a Very Happy Christmas

Painting by Steven Jupurrurla Nelson, Janganpa Jukurrpa (common brush-tail possum Dreaming

Happy Christmas!

And we hope you have a wonderful New Year/New Decade in 2020.

Thank you to all those who have bought from us over the last year and given us the encouragement to continue to grow our ‘My Country’ collection. We also thank you for supporting the Artists we represent by buying through Bay Gallery Home. And to all those who have Collaborated with us: photographers, makers, graphic designers, our suppliers a huge thank you for your hard work over 2019.

The work of our hugely talented, dedicated artists in the Central Desert means we can bring something beautiful, unique and steeped in ancient iconography to the the UK.

We look forward to seeing you again in 2020.

We are closed 25th-28th December.

Bay Gallery Home x