Skin: Pitjara (also know as Petyarre)
Language Group: Alyawarr
Region: Irrultja, Utopia, Northern Territory
Dreaming: Caterpillar (Atlerlayt), Bush Tucker Seeds
Born in 1953 on MacDonald Downs into the Alyawarr tribe, Sandy Pitjara Hunter is greatly admired for his fine and precise dotwork and masterful use of colour. His Dreaming is Caterpillar (Atlerlayt) which was passed down to him from his father. His paintings depict an aerial view of his country as created by the Caterpillar Ancestor. He maintains the classical men’s tradition of meticulously laid out geometric lines and circles representing the tracks and marks of the Ancestral journeys. His distinctive work consists of hundreds of thousands of carefully executed minute dots in a broad harmony of colour.
Sandy is also a fine sculptor and carves animals such as echidna, birds, iguanas from the wood of the native Bean Tree.
These beautifully detailed works which stand on their own black pedestals have been hand-carved from the wood of the local native Bean Tree (erythrina vespertilio). Sandy Pitjara Hunter works from a large section of the tree-trunk and uses various chisels to shape it. He then applies feathery strokes to the head and dotting to the torso in various shades of polymer acrylic paint.
2007 - Patterns of Power- Art from the Eastern Desert, Simmer on the Bay, Sydney
2007 - Eastern Desert Dreaming, GalleryG, Brisbane
2008 - Power of Place, Tandanya, National Aboriginal Cultural Institute Inc., Adelaide
2009: East-West, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2009: Aboriginal art in Korea, Gong Pyeong Art Space, Seoul, Korea
2010: The Utopia Story, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2010: Desert Icons, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2010: Aboriginal Artists in London June 11 - 13, London, UK
2012: Belongings, Australasian Arts Projects, Singapore
2013: Brush with Art Festival, Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2014: Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2015 –Wimbledon Fine Art Exhibition, Wimbledon Village, London, UK
2017 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
2018 - Indigenous Group Show, Without Pier Art Gallery, Melbourne
2018/19 - Prairie Hotel, Parachilna, South Australia
