Vera Mbitjana Williams b. 1966

  • Artist (Painter),
  • Artist (Printmaker)
Pitjantjatjara speaker also fluent in five other Central Australian languages. A dedicated artist in the media of screenprint and fabric design, and more recently, canvas lithography and etching. She was the "Best Developing Artist in SA" in 1989 and, since then, her work has been widely exhibited in Australia and overseas.
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Name
Vera Mbitjana Williams
Gender
Female
Roles
  • Artist (Painter)
  • Artist (Printmaker)
Birth date
1966
Birth place
Alice Springs, NT
Active Period
  • c.1984 - c.1994
  • 1988-
  • 1984
Residence
  • 1987- Ernabella, SA
  • Alice Springs, NT
  • Hermannsburg, NT
  • Amoongana (Amoonguna), NT
Training
  • July 1993 University of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT
  • Ernabella Arts, Ernabella, SA
  • Alice Springs, NT
Indigenous Australian
 
Languages
  • English
Initial Record Data Source
  • Aboriginal Artists of the Western Desert: A Biographical Dictionary

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Biography <p>Born in Alice Springs on 6 August 1966, her language group Pitjantjatjara. Her mother is a Warlpiri woman from Yuendumu. Her father is a Pitjantjatjara man who grew up at Hermannsburg. Vera grew up at Amoongana, Hermannsburg and Alice Springs, receiving her secondary schooling in Alice Springs. In 1984 she designed a stained glass window for the Araluen Art Centre in Alice Springs as part of a college project. Today she speaks six Central Australian languages. Since 1987, she has been living at Ernabella with her husband. In 1988 she began working in the print workshop at Ernabella Arts. The following year, she exhibited her screen printed and handpainted designs in the Australian Conservation Foundation's <i>_Desert Impressions</i>_ exhibition in Melbourne and Ernabella Arts exhibition <i>_Look at us Now</i>_ at Tandanya in Adelaide. Vera was awarded the 'Best Developing Artist in SA' in 1989. Her screenprints for fabrics have been exhibited in Adelaide, Alice Springs, Sydney and Melbourne. Vera also works on canvas, and at the time of writing had just begun to work with lithographs and etchings. Her screenprint <i>_Cattle Dogs and Snakes</i>_ was included in an exhibition of Contemporary Australian Textiles in Krefeld, Germany. In July 1993 Vera attended a print workshop at the University of the Northern Territory in Darwin to further her studies in this medium.</p>