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Cheryl Craig Wiradjuri Artist
Cheryl Craig is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people of Australia. Her paintings tell the stories of how her people once lived, how they live today, and of her own dreaming.
Cheryl was born and still lives on the Wiradjuri lands of NSW. As a child she would listen to the stories of her Elders. Now she uses her art to continue the traditions and culture of her people.
Cheryl's early life
Cheryl was born in a small south western NSW town called Jerilderie, where her father was a stockman in charge of a large Sheep station, Bungaw. The Youngest of 6 siblings. Her art started very young as her family traveled quite a lot, mainly around small NSW towns. She was a shy child, often preferring to stay at home where she could create her own world through her art.
Emu Dreaming
Cheryl's school years
During her school years she was encouraged to paint by her teachers and won a prize in a contest held by the Cowra art gallery. Her mother taught her that she had a gift for colours and that she should use her paintings to tell the stories of her people.She would learn the stories from her family and the elders from the Erambie mission. Her mother would call it "yarn time"
Want to know more about Australian Aboriginal Art and Culture?
Contemporary Aboriginal Art: A Guide to the Rebirth of an Ancient Culture
Amazon Price: (as of 12/28/2009)
Since the renaissance of traditional Aboriginal art began at the small central Australian desert community of Papunya in 1971, Aboriginal art has become the most dynamic of Australia's visual arts. The crosshatched bark paintings from Arnhem Land, the multi-layered "dot" paintings from central Australia, the ochre paintings of Western Australia's west Kimberley painters, the bright "naif" watercolours of the Fitzroy Crossing artists from the east Kimberley and the widely divergent individual expressions of urban artists are only some of the prolific expression of this rich, evolving tradition. But how has this art come about? What is the cultural wellspring from which it originates? Does "traditional" Aboriginal art still exist? How is the relationship between people and their land expressed in images? Why do some Aboriginal artists use only modern materials and others traditional media such as bark and ochre? This book, heavily illustrated with examples of much of the finest Aboriginal art of the recent past, answers these and many other questions through its exploration of the vastly different Australian landscapes and the historic circumstances of the growth of this vibrant movement.
Cheryl's Adult Years
Cheryl now has children and a grandchild of her own and lives with her family in the town of Young NSW, not far from her mother's birthplace on the Erambie Mission at Cowra.She paints to tell the stories of her people and of her own dreaming. Many of her paintings are in the contemporary urban aboriginal style, combining traditional aboriginal forms with modern mediums and techniques. She also paints in the abstract style, exploring her own ideas and stories.
Walkabout
What it means to be aboriginal
This is what it means to Cheryl, in her own words.
To be Aboriginal goes a lot deeper than you may think.... Being Aboriginal is not something learned from a book or even a religion learned from a church ...BUT a way of life. We MUST be kept free to be what we are, and will come to know and feel it sooner or later...it's not in our heart, brain, skin or any other part of the body...it's in our spirit, and it's that which pushes us to learn the ways of our Ancestors and to be one with the land, as the land is born in every fibre of our being.
This is a topic that has been around for a long time, especially with the aboriginal in custody. No Aboriginal should ever put themselves in a situation where they will be put behind bars and locked away from the land...it's like cutting off our own feet.
I am often asked why I am so passionate and proud to be an aboriginal, and what about my white herritage? I tell them this simple thing " Yes I have white blood too...BUT my spirit/soul is Aboriginal"...
NO...Being aboriginal is not a religion in any sense of the word...it's the way we are born.
Written by Wiradjuri Artist Cheryl Craig
November 2004
Art by Cheryl Craig on eBay
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Links to Cheryl's Art
- Cheryl's Website
- View her online gallery and more information about Cheryl and her art.
- Cheryl's "About Me" page on eBay
- See more examples of her art and her current eBay listings.
Guest comments
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- artbyjehf artbyjehf Jan 7, 2009 @ 2:34 pm
- Wow - very beautiful work! And wonderful expressions on keeping your culture alive.
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- inkserotica inkserotica Nov 2, 2008 @ 12:58 pm
- Some beautiful artwork :) and I've learnt about something new today, thank you! Thanks, also, for joining my Add one LensGroup
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- lakeerieartists lakeerieartists Oct 22, 2008 @ 11:21 am
- Very interesting. Welcome to Artists Selling Online.
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- Stazjia Stazjia Oct 20, 2008 @ 6:43 am
- Fascinating insight into this Aboriginal artist with lovely examples of her work. Welcome to the Art & Design group.
by StevenCousley
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