Auntie Dulcie Greeno, Tasmanian Aboriginal shell necklace maker, was born on Cape Barren Island in 1923. Auntie Dulcie spent her childhood on the beaches of the Furneaux Island Group (of which Cape Barren Island is a part) off the north eastern Tasmanian coast. Her father, husband and sons have all been fishermen, and the collection of shells to create necklaces has been a long family tradition. Since the late 1960s Greeno has been developing a distinctive approach to this tradition, constructing subtle variations of gull shells, rice shells, crow shells and the rare blue and green mother-of-pearl maireener shells which are all collected, washed and strung by hand.
Auntie Dulcie regularly visits the beaches of the Furneaux Island to collect shells. As she says on the 'found and made in Tasmania’ website: 'We still walk for miles on the beach to get the shells. There are lots of places that you can’t get to by car. I don’t mind walking because I’ve been used to it. On the beach you don’t think of anything else. We take our lunch and crawl along on our hands and knees to get the shells. But I love it.’
Auntie Dulcie has participated in a number of group exhibitions, including the two touring exhibitions 'Talking Together’ (2000), initiated by the University Gallery in Launceston, and 'The Place Where Three Dreams Cross’, initiated by the Mosman Art Gallery, Sydney. Auntie Dulcie’s work is also included in the permanent exhibition 'Strings Across Time’ at the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery in Launceston.
- Writers:
- Fisher, Laura
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2011
