Artistic Profile

Background

Born Adelaide, South Australia, 1949, of Aboriginal, Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent. Traditional affiliation Southern Arrernte, Kemarre skin.  Father, Richard (Dick) Longmore (born Chong), Perrule skin, born Hookey’s Waterhole near Oodnadatta, SA. Grandmother, Mini Bell, Peltharre skin, born Charlotte Waters, NT, first language Alyerntarrpe, second language Pertame.

Qualifications

Batchelor of Arts (Visual Arts), Canberra School of Art (now Canberra Institute of the Arts, ANU), Canberra, 1985.

Certificate IV, Indigenous Fashion and Art, Canberra Institute of Technology, Canberra, 2003.

Certificate IV, Indigenous Art – Printmaking, Charles Darwin University, Darwin, 2005. 

Recent Exhibitions

Selected works from the Mother-Skin Series, screen-prints, acrylics, pigment inks, hand inscribed poetry on textiles, Tuggeranong Community Arts Centre Gallery, Tuggeranong, ACT, July, 2006.

Weereewa: Earth Songs I-IV (from the Mother-Skin Series), , screen-prints, acrylics, hand inscribed poetry on textiles, Footprints on the Lake Exhibition, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW, March – April, 2006.

Mother-Skin Series, 5 works, screen-prints, wool, fabric collage, acrylics, pigment inks, hand inscribed poetry on textiles , in Creative Council, Australia Council for the Arts, Sydney, July-Aug., 2005.

Quilted Textiles, Photo-collage on Textiles, screen-printed, pigment inks, acrylics and hand inscribed poetry on textiles, Waterworks Exhibition, Goulburn Regional Gallery, NSW, July 2005.

Poetry Cape Series, screen-prints, stencils, inks, poetry on taffeta, DFAT Foyer Gallery, Canberra, July, 2005.

Poetry Silks and Selected Textile Works, screen-prints, pigment inks, acrylics, hand inscribed poetry on silk, Tuggeranong Community Arts Centre Gallery, Tuggeranong, ACT; Belconnen Community Centre Gallery, Bruce, ACT; Health Industry Commission Gallery, Tuggeranong, ACT, July, 2005.

Poetry Silks, Fashion Design and Textile Works, screen-prints, pigment inks, acrylics, hand inscribed poetry on silk, Winyu Exhibition Space, National Folk Festival, Canberra, ACT, Easter, 2004 and 2005.

Re(a)d Map for a Terrain, 6 textile wall pieces and 3 installation works, The Arts of Conversation Exhibition, Goulburn Regional Art Gallery, NSW, June/July 2004.

Total of 27 Exhibitions, 1999 – 2006, and illustrations for 5 books, 1999 – 2006.

Recent Commissions

National Indigenous Forestry Strategy, 9 x A3 panels, acrylic on canvas, with Lyndy Delian, 2005, http://www.daff.gov.au/corporate_docs/publications/pdf/forestry/nifs_snapshot.pdf

ACT Health, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health corporate image artwork, 3 x large panels, acrylics on canvas, 2006.

Collections

Selected sculpture, drawings, fashion design, poetry silks, textile works, glass works and paintings held in multiple public and private collections, 1981 – 2006.

Visit Artist's Portfolio ! Artist's Statement

Browse through the Gallery ! ACT Indigenous Textile Artists Group

Professional & Community Development Profile

Director of Kemarre Arts, Jennifer A Kemarre Martiniello, has over 20 years experience working in the arts, and professional and community development. She developed and taught Contemporary Indigenous Social Issues at the University of Canberra, taught Cultural Studies and Indigenous Art History I and II in the Indigenous Fashion and Art Course, and Writing Us Mob Indigenous Creative Writing at the Yurauna Centre for Indigenous Education at the Canberra Institute of Technology. She is a founding member, and Public Officer of the ACT Indigenous Writers Group, and the ACT Indigenous Textile Artists Group.

Jennifer has worked extensively with Indigenous and mainstream individuals, groups, organizations and communities in regional and metropolitan New South Wales, Victoria, ACT, Northern Territory and the Torres Strait, conducting workshops on arts development, arts education, cross-cultural awareness, creative arts practices, oral story projects, academic studies, Indigenous Mental Health, arts enterprise, copyright and intellectual property rights, and youth programs. She developed and facilitated the successful Strong identity, Strong Life: Indigenous Kids at Risk Project, Writing Us Mob Oral Story Project, and Voices and Spaces: Indigenous and Multicultural Writers in the New Millennium conference, among others. Jennifer has been an invited and key speaker at numerous Indigenous and mainstream arts, tertiary and vocational education conferences, and has facilitated cross-cultural awareness workshops for government departments, community and trade organizations, and at universities.

Jennifer currently sits on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, the Publishing Advisory Committee of Australian Studies Press, AIATSIS, and the Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, ANU. She has also served on the Advisory Committees of Canberra Museum and Gallery, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Australia (ACT Chapter), the ACT Writers Centre, and the Australia Council Multicultural Arts Advisory Committee.

Jennifer was also Acting Executive Director of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts for the Australia Council for the Arts during an interim transition period, 2004-5. She holds a BA (Hons), ANU, a BA (Vis), CITA, and has completed postgraduate qualifications in Professional and Community Education (HRD) at the University of Canberra.

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Contribution to Indigenous community development, education and the arts

Literary Profile

Jennifer Martiniello is an award winning poet, writer, visual artist and academic of Arrernte, Chinese and Anglo-Celtic descent. Jennifer was awarded the Canberra Critics Circle Award 2000 for Literature, and was an ACT Creative Arts Fellow for 2003. Her poetry, prose and essays have been published nationally and internationally, and her work is studied by literature students at both the Australian National University and the University of Canberra.

Jennifer’s literary prizes include the 1999 Grenfell Henry Lawson Short Story Award and Statuette, and the Banjo Paterson Prize for Poetry, 2002; as well as multiple shortlistings, commendations and placings in major national and international literary awards, including the Ian St James International Short Story Award (2000), David Unaipon Award (1996-98), Marwarrgning Award (2002), ANUTECH Literary Award (1998), ACT Poetry Prize (2003-04), Banjo Paterson Short Story Prize (2002), Ginninderra Short Story Competition (2003), and the CJ Dennis Poetry Award (2002), to name a few.

Jennifer has published four books, The Imprint of Infinity (Tidbinbilla Press, 1999), black lives, rainbow visions: indigenous sitings in the creative arts (Aberrant Genotype Press,1999), Writing Us Mob: New Indigenous Voices (Aberrant Genotype Press, 2000) and Talking Ink from Ochre (Aberrant Genotype Press, 2002). She was managing editor for New Dreamings Indigenous Youth magazine, 2002 and Contributing Indigenous Arts Editor for Muse Magazine, 2000-2001. Her first novel Blossoms of the Mulga is due to be completed in 2007.

Jennifer currently sits on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Arts Board of the Australia Council for the Arts, the Publishing Advisory Committee of Australian Studies Press, AIATSIS, and the Advisory Board of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, ANU. She has also served on the Advisory Committees of Canberra Museum and Gallery, the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Australia (ACT Chapter), the ACT Writers Centre, and the Australia Council Multicultural Arts Advisory Committee. She is a founding member of both the ACT Indigenous Textile Artists Group and the ACT Indigenous Writers Group.

Jennifer holds a BA in Visual Arts, CITA; a BA (Hons) in Philosophy, ANU; and has completed postgraduate qualifications in HRD at University of Canberra. She has lectured in Professional and Community Education and Teacher Education at the University of Canberra. She has also taught Writing Us Mob Creative Writing Course for Indigenous Australians at the Yurauna Centre, Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT), and Cultural Studies and Indigenous Art History in the Indigenous Art and Fashion Course also at CIT.

Jennifer lectures regularly on Indigenous Creative Writing and works extensively with Indigenous Australian communities and youth in regional NSW and Victoria. In recent years Jennifer has also been a judge for both the NSW Premier's Literary Awards and the Queensland Premier's Literary Awards.

She has four children and five grandchildren and lives in Canberra.

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