Awards and
Recognition
2017 Mosman Art Prize, Sydney, Margaret Olley Art Award Winner
2017 Paddington Art Prize, Finalist and Highly Commended
2017 Georges River Art Prize – Finalist
2008 25th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist
2007 24th NATSIAA, Darwin – Finalist and People’s Choice Award Winner
Collections
The Henderson
Family Collection, Sydney
Awards and Recognition
2017 Mosman Art
Prize, Sydney, Margaret Olley Art Award Winner
2017 Paddington
Art Prize, Finalist and Highly Commended
2017 Georges River
Art Prize – Finalist
2008 25th NATSIAA,
Darwin – Finalist
2007 24th NATSIAA,
Darwin – Finalist and People’s Choice Award Winner
Solo Exhibitions
2016 New
Inspiration, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Back from
Bulgul and Artist in Residence, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2011 Stories of
Bulgul, Wentworth Galleries, Sydney
2010 Helen
McCarthy Tyalmuty, Japingka Gallery, Perth
2009 Helen
McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Melbourne
2007 Helen
McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Sydney
2006 Helen
McCarthy Tyalmuty, Agathon Galleries, Sydney
Group Exhibitions
2017 Gems from the
Stockroom, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Vast
Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2016 Spoilt for
Choice; a Director’s Choice Exhibition, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2014 Vast
Interiors, Kate Owen Gallery, Sydney
2011 Out Bulgul
Way, Flinders Lane Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Colours of
the Desert, Ochre Gallery, Melbourne
2009 Australia
Now, COMODAA, London
2008 True Colours,
Ladner and Fell, Melbourne
2008 Colour,
United Galleries, Sydney
2006 Agathon
Gallery, Singapore
Notes
Helen
McCarthy Tyalmuty creates multi layered canvases that can sing with colour and
complex structures, or can be very restrained, sombre and occasionally
foreboding. She is a very versatile and skilled artist, a young generation
artist (born 1972) seeking new ways to express her ideas and experiences
through the painted canvas. Helen McCarthy Tyalmuty has travelled widely in
Australia – born in Tennant Creek, growing up in Daly River and Darwin,
educated in Queensland and Victoria. After spending
most of her childhood at Nauiyu Nambiyu Community (Daly River), Helen completed
her education at Mount St Bernard College at Herberton on the Atherton
Tablelands in Far North Queensland. Helen studied teaching, initially at
Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Education in the N.T. and completing her
degree at Deakin University in 1994. Her paintings
express the stories of the traditional ways of life at Daly River – life by the
sea, kinship ties, land management, rituals and ceremonies.
Helen
McCarthy has worked as a teacher in remote schools while continuing to develop
her art and her career. In 1993 she participated in her first art festival and
in 2006 held her first solo exhibition. In 2007 Helen was selected in the 24th
Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award with her
painting of Grandpa Harry’s Canoe, and was awarded the People’s Choice Award
for her work. She says of her grandfather “In his
day he was the best canoe maker in his country. It’s a sad story and a good
story at the same time. It’s the last canoe that he ever made.” Helen was
also a finalist at the 2008 Telstra Awards. In 2011, Helen was commissioned to
paint the artwork used as the stage backdrop for the Oprah Winfrey show that
was filmed in Australia.
Helen has a relentless passion to learn all she can
about culture and country from her elders, as well as the ability to
effectively communicate through her art using an array of styles, intricate
dotting and delicate brushwork techniques, abstract imagery, bold colour use
and intuitive interplays with space and form. Her art can be multi-layered,
complex and colorful, or it can be restrained, solemn and occasionally ominous.
She finds inspiration all around her; in her deep connection to country, in the
traditional practices associated with a life living bush and in her incredible
family stories. Helen’s connection to country and culture combined with her
non-indigenous education are the foundations she uses to express her ideas and
experiences in her own unique manner.
