Design and Art Australia Online

Nyree Reynolds (also known as Ngari Reynolds), painter, muralist and community artist is a Gamillaroi woman, who was born in Wollongong on the 7th May 1948. She began drawing as a child and went on to study art at the St George Technical College in Kogarah NSW in 1964 and 1965.

In 1999 Reynolds furthered her art training with a life drawing course at Orange TAFE and in 2002 participated in further life drawing classes at the Bathurst campus of Charles Sturt University with lecturer Tim Miller. After completing the St George TAFE course Reynolds was employed for a couple of years as a draftsman’s tracer. She then married and began a family and while she drew pictures for her children, she did not paint professionally until her children were grown. A turning point came in 1998 when Reynolds was commissioned to paint a portrait of a dog from one of the many dog shows she attends. Reynolds’ love of all animals in general and family pets in particular (in 2008 Reynolds shared her life with 18 pets including dogs, horses, cats and a sheep) is the driving force behind her animal portraits of pastels on pastel paper which are created on a commission basis.

Reynolds joined Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Cooperative in 2000 as an artist member and regularly exhibits with Boomalli, showing work that is based on the stories and experiences of the people of the Stolen Generations, in particular the women who were the former inmates of the Cootamundra Girls Home. When talking with some of these women Reynolds learned that as young girls in the Home they would often cry for and dream of being back on their own traditional lands. Her 'Stolen Generation’ paintings of acrylic and ochres on canvas often depict transparent female figures within a red-earthed landscape.

Reynolds is also an artist member of the Blayney Shire Arts Council and the Cowra Art Group. Reynolds participated in “First Showing”, the first exhibition at Cowra Art Gallery in 2001and in 2005 and 2006 Reynolds was employed to create murals with the local communities on some of the buildings in Orange and Blayney.

Reynold’s work is on permanent display at Café 40 in Katoomba and at Neila restaurant in Cowra. She has also exhibited at the Bathurst Regional Gallery, Orange Regional Gallery, Blayney Tourism Centre and Kalari Winery in Cowra. Reynolds has had three solo exhibitions at The Cobblers Garden & Coffee House in Millthorpe in 2001, in 2003 as part of the Bathurst Pet Archies and in 2006 at the Bathurst Women’s Health Centre. She has participated in the annual Art Sydney art fair since 2005 and her work is held in private collections in Australia, the USA, Hong Kong, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In 2007 Reynolds was a finalist in the Parliament of NSW Indigenous Art Prize held at NSW Parliament House, Sydney and was also a finalist in the Drawing Together Art Prize, organised by the Australian Public Service Commission with an exhibition of the finalists work held at the National Archives of Australia in the ACT.

Of her work, Reynolds says that she gains great happiness in teaching others to recognise their own artistic abilities. In April 2001 Reynolds formed the Blayney Shire Youth Arts Council, and in December 2001 she was an artist tutor for youth workshops in Cowra as part of the Youth ArtStart Festival. In 2003 she taught visual art to Aboriginal art students at Bathurst and Orange TAFE campuses and organised an end of year exhibition of their work. In 2007 Reynolds was the Artistic Director of “CreatAbility” which is a program funded through Regional Arts Fund that conducts workshops for disabled people in the central western regions of NSW. The exhibition at “The Awakenings Festival” in Horsham, Victoria in October, 2006 was one of the outcomes of these workshops. Reynolds has been awarded a Seniors Week Ambassadorship for NSW in 2005 and 2006 in recognition of her work with disabled artists. She also received the Blayney Shire Australia Day Award in 2006 for recognition of her work in coordinating and mounting an exhibition of disabled artists work for the International Day of People With a Disability.

Writers:

Allas, Tess Note:

Date written:

2007

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed