DESIGNER ABORIGINALS

Biography

Bronwyn Bancroft is an Aboriginal artist and designer whose artworks have been collected by galleries and museums throughout Australia, in the USA and Germany. Exhibitions of her art have been shown in Australia as well as in Indonesia, New Zealand, the USA, France and Germany. A descendant of the Bundjalung people of New South Wales Bronwyn grew up in the small country town of Tenterfield. She now lives in Sydney with her three children.

Designer Aboriginals is a privately owned company which has been established since 1985. Founded by Bronwyn Bancroft, she specialises in creating unique paintings, hand printed fabrics, illustrations for children's books as well as reproduction rights for publishing and printing of work.

Bronwyn writes: "This business is unique, vital and interesting. The work that I do challenges people to accept Indigenous peoples as equals. My target is just about anyone who has an interest in art and wants to buy or introduce art into their lives, in a personal or public manner."

Bronwyn's art is suitable for commercial adaptation and she has undertaken many projects for goverment agencies, museums, arts' organisations and private enterprise. Among her latest corporate commissions is IBM for the 2000 Olympics. Bronwyn was appointed as a Theme Designer by the NSW Centenary of Federation Committee for 'Journey of a Nation - The Federation Parade'.

Some of Bronwyn's major clients include the national and state galleries, and the Federal Government.

Bronwyn's biography, by Ken Watson, appears in the Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia. Editor - Horton. Aboriginal Studies Press for the Australian Institute A & TSI Studies ISBN: 0 85575 234 3

Selected Exhibitions
2004	Memory Matrix - Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne (solo) Women’s Exhibition - Vivien Anderson Gallery,Melbourne (group) Writer’s Festival Sydney - Children’s Book Illustrations (group) Stand up and be Counted – NSW Artists Exhibition : Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative. Sydney
2003	My DNA - Gallery Teneleven, Melbourne (solo) Ned Kelly Framed - SH Erwin Gallery , Sydney (group) Urban Myth - Members Exhibition : Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative. Sydney
2002 - 2005	Native Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art – Regional Galleries of QLD and touring Australia
2002	My DNA - BBA Gallery, Sydney (solo) With and Without You: Re-visitationsof Art in the Age of AIDS - Ivan Dougherty Gallery, Sydney Melbourne Art Fair - Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne Bringing it Home - Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Members exhibition, Sydney Native Title Business Contemporary Indigenous Art, Regional Galleries of QLD and touring Australia
2001	Back to Back, Black to Black – Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative with Euphemia Bostock Inner Voices – BBA Gallery, Chippendale, Sydney Solo
2000	Selected Works – Australian Museum Solo, Sydney
1999	Great Australian Amnesia – Coventry Gallery, Sydney
1998	RAKA Award, Ian Potter Gallery, Melbourne University Birth Rights, Luke Close, Aboriginal Cultural Keeping Place, Armidale, NSW My Life as a Fish, Solo Show, Coventry Gallery, Sydney White Man Can’t Dance, Boomalli Group Show in conjunction with Bangarra, The Wharf, Sydney Raiki Wara, Longcloth from Aboriginal Australia, Fabric Exhibition, National Gallery of Victoria
1997	Traditions in Transition: The Art of Aboriginal Australia – Tremaine Gallery, USA
1996	A Test of the Heart (with Sally Morgan) – Hogarth Gallery, Sydney Through a Jarjum’s Eyes – Grafton Regional Gallery and Touring Coventry Diary Show – Coventry Gallery, Sydney, NSW Australia Touring Exhibition – Copyright: Aboriginal Art in the Age of Reproductive Technologies
1995	Australia Art 1940 – 1990 from the collection of the National Gallery of Australia – The Museum of Fine Arts, Gifu, Japan Women’s Views – Art Science and the Environment – Australian Museum, Sydney
1994-1995	Group Exhibition, Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena California USA – The Evolving Dreamtime, Richard Kelton Foundation
1994	Pace University Gallery, Pleasantville, New York USA Roland Gibson Gallery, State University of New York, Potsdam USA Dalhousie Gallery, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada Ben Shahn Galleries, William Paterson College, Wayne, New Jersey USA Solo Exhibition, Coventry Gallery, Sydney NSW National Museum of Indonesia, Jakarta – Family Tradition and Diversity – Jun/Jul 94 Australian Embassy, New York – The Urban Aboriginal Urban Focus, National Gallery of Australia – Canberra
1993-1994	Jan Weiss Gallery, New York USA – The Urban Aboriginal – Nov 93 to Jan 94
1993	Te Taumata Gallery, Auckland New Zealand – Toi Te Ao – Aotearoa World Celebration of Indigenous Art and History
1992	Craftspace Gallery, Sydney NSW – Journey in Colour – Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-operative – Solo Palais des papes, Avignon France – Group Exhibition with Sonja Brooke and Dorothy Galaledba La Recoleta Cultural Centre, Buenos Aires Argentina – Cultural Exchange Exh. with Banduk Marika
1991	Museum fur Volkerkunde, Hamberg Germany – Der 5 Markt der Volker – Australian Aboriginality National Gallery of Australia, ACT – Flash Pictures by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Artists – Touring Australia in 1993/94 Australian Museum, Sydney NSW - Aboriginal Artists Speak Art Gallery of NSW, Sydney NSW – Aboriginal Women’s Exhibition
1990	National Museum of Australia, ACT – More than meets the eye Aboriginal Artist Gallery, Sydney NSW – One Country – Two Views with Jimmy Pike Third Eye Centre, Glasgow, Scotland; Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Museum, Swansea England; Cornerhouse Gallery Manchester, UK – Contemporary Aboriginal Australian Art Melbourne Meat Market Craft Centre, VIC – The Fabric of Australian Society touring Tokyo, Japan and regional galleries of Victoria and South Australia in 1991 Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW – Lineage Landscapes – Solo Exhibition Coo-Ee Aboriginal Art Gallery, Sydney NSW - Aboriginality
1989	Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW – Boomalli Breaking Boundaries Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW – Women’s Show Artspace, Sydney NSW – Australian Perspecta – A Koori Perspective touring New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia regional galleries 1991

Agent Mr Colin Golvan, Owen Dixon Chambers, 205 William St, Melbourne VIC 3000 ph: 613 9608 8599 Gallery Sydney : Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative Location: 55-59 Flood St , Leichhardt, NSW. 2040 Australia Postal Address : P.O. Box 176 , Westgate NSW 2048 Ph: +61 02 9560 5046 Fax: +61 02 9560 2566 Web: www.boomalli.org.au Email: tduncan@boomalli.org.au Melbourne : Vivien Anderson Gallery Location: 470 Dandenong, Caulfield North , Victoria . 3161 Australia Ph: +61 03 9509 0255 Fax: +61 03 9509 3138 Web: www.vivienandersongallery.com Email: vivien@vivienandersongallery.com Education
2004	MASTER OF ARTS IN PAINTING, Sydney University (current studies)
2003	MASTER OF STUDIO PRACTICE, Sydney University, Fine Arts Dept.
1976-1980	DIPLOMA VISUAL ARTS, Canberra School of Arts, ACT
1975	HSC, Tenterfield High School, NSW

Work Experience
2004	GUEST SPEAKER- Indigenous Australian Health Seminar. Sydney University , Faculty of Nursing. GUEST SPEAKER- Kids Night Out; Sydney Writers Festival LECTURER- My Art, My Business; Grafton Regional Gallery Workshop
2000-04	MEMBER- Viscopy; National Copyright Collection Agency
1998-04	MEMBER- Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative Sydney NSW
1985-04	DESIGNER/ARTIST- Designer Aboriginals, Sydney NSW
2003	ARTIST IN RESIDENCE- Waverly College, Bondi GUEST SPEAKER- Native Title Business Forum; National Museum of Australia LECTURER- Reflections of Identity- Art Linkages: Series of workshops on cultural identity; NSW Dept Education GUEST LECTURER- College of Fine Art: UNSW
2001-03	GUEST LECTURER- Koori Centre: Sydney University
2002	GUEST SPEAKER- Sydney Writers Festival LECTURER- You Don't Even Look Australian. Identity Based art Workshops: NSW Dept Education LECTURER- Aboriginal Awareness and Public Art Workshops. Willoughby Primary School . NSW Dept Education
2001	GUEST SPEAKER – The Word Festival – Canberra GUEST SPEAKER – Sydney Writers Festival GUEST SPEAKER – Mothers of Federation – Jessie St National Library
2000-2001	PROJECT CO-ORDINATOR - Mum Shirl Tribute Exhibition - Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW
1998-2000	DIRECTOR – Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-operative
1998	TRAINER – Dubbo TAFE TRAINER (Mural) – Walcha NSW
1997	KEYNOTE SPEAKER – Language, Learning, Culture Unsettling Certainties, Darwin
1992-1997	BOARD MEMBER – Council of the National Gallery of Australia
1993-1996	CHAIRPERSON – National Indigenous Arts & Advocacy Assn (NIAA) (formally AAMA)
1996	TUTOR – Aboriginal Artists Workshop, Lakes Entrance (Victoria) Skillshare, Graphic Design Course GUEST SPEAKER – Children’s Book Council Conference, Brisbane CHAIRPERSON – Visual Arts and Crafts, NSW Ministry of the Arts CHAIRPERSON - Indigenous Advisory Committee, NSW Ministry of the Arts JUDGE – Northern Territory Art Gallery, Telstra Aboriginal Art Award MEMBER – Arts Advisory Committee, NSW Ministry of the Arts MEMBER – International Promotions Committee, Australia Council MEMBER - Review Committee, Visions of Australia
1995-1996	CHAIRPERSON – Visual Arts & Crafts Committee CHAIRPERSON – Indigenous Arts Committee CHAIRPERSON – National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association
1995	EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – National Indigenous Arts Advocacy Association (NIAAA) MEMBER – International Promotions Assessment Committee (Australia Council)
1993-1995	MEMBER – Visual Arts and Crafts, NSW Ministry of the Arts
1985-1993	MEMBER – Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW
1993	PARTICIPANT – Dreamspeakers Conference, Edmonton Alberta Canada
1990-1991	TUTOR – Creative Arts Programme – with Yurundali artists – Moree Plains Gallery, NSW CHAIRPERSON – Boomalli Aboriginal Artist Co-op, Sydney NSW CO-ORDINATOR – Dept of Fine Arts – John Power Institute Public Education Programme Aboriginal Art in Australian Society, Sydney University, NSW
1990	TUTOR – Creative Arts Programme – in conjunction with Moree Art Gallery, NSW TUTOR – Creative Arts Programme – in conjunction with Arrilla, Dubbo and Port Macquarie NSW
1985-1990	PROPRIETOR – Designer Aboriginals, Rozelle, Sydney NSW
1989	LECTURER – to Aboriginal children – Outreach Project, Lake Cargelligo NSW
1988-1989	TREASURER – Boomalli Aboriginal Artists Co-op, Sydney NSW
1987	LECTUREER – Aboriginal Spectrum – Canberra School of Art, ACT
1980-1987	DESIGNER (Freelance)
1985	DESIGNER – Balmain Markets – original hand painted garments – Sydney NSW
1982-1983	RESTAURATEUR – The Palisade Restaurant, The Rocks, Sydney NSW
1980	PHOTOGRAPHIC TUTOR, Canberra School of Art, ACT
1978-1980	DESIGN ARTIST – Pink Panther Print, Canberra ACT
1976	LAYOUT/PASTE-UP ARTIST – Press Type, Fishwyck ACT

Representation/Collections (Selected)
Center for the Study of Political Graphics, Santa Monica California, USA New York Public Library Print Collection Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Australia Newark Museum, Newark, America Queensland Art Gallery Prime Ministers Dept and Cabinet The Kelton Foundation, USA Art Gallery of New South Wales National Museum of Australia, ACT	Australian Museum, NSW National Gallery of Australia, ACT Wollongong University, NSW Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander Commission,ACT The Governor of Tokyo, His Excellency Mr Suzuki Volkerkunde Museum, Frankfurt Germany Westpac, New York USA Art Gallery of Western Australia Artbank Maritime Museum Sydney

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