Ikuntji Artists

Ikuntji Artists is an art centre located in the community of Haasts Bluff in the Western Desert of the Northern Territory. This relatively small centre has been kicking many goals creatively, culturally, socially and economically in the last 10+ years. They’ve won major business awards and art prizes, exhibited around the world and sent collections down runways in Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney, Paris and New York.

We’ve been delighted to collaborate with them on a number of fabric related projects including Frock On 2021 and Frock On 2022, supporting and developing textiles and making products.

Ikuntji Artists was the first art centre established by women in the Western Desert Art Movement. Already in the 1980s women began painting in Haasts Bluff in the aged care facility. They had been instructed by their husbands and fathers, and they had often assisted them in completing their paintings. By the early 1990s these women artists decided to pursue setting up their own art centre.

www.ikuntji.com.au

Ikuntji Artists recommenced fabric design, painting and printing around 8 years ago. Read about their story here in the article Developing Fabric Designs at Ikuntji Artists written by art centre manger Dr Chrischona Schmidt in 2018. Since that date there have been even more significant developments in the Ikuntji Artists story, especially in relation to fabric design, printing and production. Due to a lack of space Ikuntji is now having fabric lengths printed offsite by Publisher Textiles and have found huge market appreciation of their designs.

Ikuntji Textiles – the book

In 2021 the art centre published a book Ikuntji Textiles – and we’re delighted that a chapter features the collaboration between Ikuntji Artists and Flying Fox Fabrics. Another chapter celebrates the Frock On collaborations in 2021 and 2022. We stock the book in our online store (link above) and you can also get it from good booksellers.

Frock On 2021 & 2022

Ikuntji Products

Since 2019 we have produced a number of different bags, purses and cushion covers from Ikuntji’s hand printed fabrics. They look stunning! Some have been produced on order exclusively for Ikuntji Artists and available directly from them. From time to time we stock Ikuntji fabrics online. If you’d like to browse their full fabric range it’s available directly from the art centre HERE.