Thanakupi b. 1937

Also known as Thancoupie, Gloria James Fletcher
  • Artist (Sculptor),
  • Artist (Ceramist)
Ceramicist whose pottery was informed by the artist's sense of clay's sacred purpose within traditional ceremonial life at the artist's home in Weipa. Her pots were etched and painted with linear animal and human forms drawn from Thaynakwith stories. Thanakupi passed away in 2011.

Citations

  • Powerhouse Museum, 'A10976 Pot, 'Guiree (Nggwiighi) fighting stick and fire’, hand built stoneware, carved, oxide decoration, Thancoupie, Trinity Bay, Queensland, Australia, 1984’, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, NSW.

    http://from.ph/172281

  • Powerhouse Museum, 'A10979 Pot, 'Kembal and Po’o, Crocodile and Blue Tongue Lizard exchange teeth’, handbuilt stoneware, carved, oxide decoration, Thancoupie, Trinity Bay, Queensland, Australia, [1984]’, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, NSW.

    http://from.ph/172284

  • Johnson, Trish (2003), 'Story place: Indigenous Art of Cape York and the Rainforest’, Queensland Art Gallery, South Brisbane, Qld, p. 72.

  • Wright, Simon (2006), 'Thanakupi: Firsthand’, Art Monthly, Issue 196, Summer.

  • (2008), Email correspondence with Isaacs, Jennifer and Thanakupi.

  • Thompson, Liz (1990), '“Aboriginal Voices”’, pp.164, 167.

  • Isaacs, Jennifer (1982), '“Thancoupie the Potter”’, Aboriginal Artists Agency, Sydney, NSW pp.29, 43, 66.

  • Fletcher, Thancoupie Gloria (2007), 'Thanakupi’s Guide to Language and Culture: A Thaynakwith Dictionary’, Jennifer Isaacs Arts & Publishing Pty Ltd, Sydney, NSW.

  • Brook, Natasha (2004), 'Tradition Today: Indigenous Art in Australia, Art Gallery of NSW’, Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney, pp.134-5.

  • Tamou, Rima (Producer) (2004), 'Thancoupie: ABC Message Sticks Story’, Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

    http://www.abc.net.au/message/tv/ms/s1175226.htm

Initial data sources

  • Storylines Project, COFA, UNSW