The Western Australian Museum has been awarded a $555,000 grant by the Foundation for the WA Museum to fund its acquisition of a significant East Kimberley art collection.
The Western Australian Museum has been awarded a $555,000 grant by the Foundation for the WA Museum to fund its acquisition of a significant East Kimberley art collection.
The Foundation for the WA Museum has launched a new large-scale grant distribution program for the museum after confirming its Discovery Endowment Fund had reached $30 million.
The new program has been bolstered by contribution of founding partners Minderoo Foundation, Rio Tinto, Stan Perron Charitable Foundation, Tianqi Lithium, Wesfarmers and Woodside Energy.
The $555,000 grant awarded to the WA Museum today marked the first round of funding from this program and would support the museum’s acquisition of the majority of the Red Rock Art Collection and Archive.
The collection was created in Kununurra in the 1990s and 2000s by Kevin and Jenny Kelly and sought to reflect their personal involvement with Indigenous artists working in the East Kimberley.
Through its purchase of the Red Rock Art Collection and Archive, the WA Museum will acquire 31 canvas paintings, 12 wooden boards, 54 limited edition prints, 21 artefacts and cultural objects, five dance boards and a collection of archival items such as videos and photographs.
A 2001 Roslyn Karadada painting titled Wanjina is part of the Red Rock Art Collection and Archive.
WA Museum chief executive Alec Coles said the acquisition was one of the most significant in the museum's history.
“The Red Rock Art Collection and Archive is imbued with immense cultural and spiritual significance and is of major historical and artistic importance,” he said.
“It forms a rare and unique record of an art movement, and of artists and art related events in the East Kimberley at the turn of the 21st century and is highly representative of the art practices of the region.
“The collection will become a centrepiece of the museum’s First Peoples collection and a valuable resource for public programs, research and community engagement.”
Mr Coles said he could not thank the Foundation for the WA Museum enough for its funding support.
“The Red Rock Art Collection and Archive represent the landscapes and cultures of the far northern part of our state and reflect the WA Museum’s commitment to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” he said.
“The collection and archive will provide future display, outreach and research opportunities, and will generate new interest in our collection and exhibition activities.”
An artwork by Peter Skipper painted in 2003 is part of the Red Rock Art Collection and Archive.
Foundation for the WA Museum chief executive Coralie Bishop said the organisation would continue to raise funds for the museum to strengthen its cultural, social and scientific impact into the future.
“We are proud to be supporting a WA Museum acquisition of such national and international significance and look forward to seeing the Red Rock Art Collection and Archive become part of the museum’s research and community engagement activities,” she said.
“This milestone could not have been achieved without the support of the foundation’s founding partners for the Discovery Endowment Fund.”
Artists featured in the Red Rock Collection and Archive include Rover Thomas, Queenie McKenzie, Jack Britten, Peggy Griffiths, Paddy Carlton, Sonia Kurarra, Jock Mosquito, Freddie Timms, Eubena Nampitjin and Billy Thomas.
The Foundation for the WA Museum was founded in 2017 as an independent organisation working to build endowment capital and secure funding support for the WA Museum.
