Angelina George

Angelina was born about 5 miles from Nut Wood Downs Station on 25 November 1937. Angelina's mother worked at the Roper River Mission, sewing clothes for the children, including her own five daughters, the Joshua Sisters (all since married); Dinah Garadji, Gertrude Huddleston, Eva Rogers, Betty Roberts and the youngest Angelina George. Angelina and her sisters attended mission school (Mr. Palmer and Mr. Lesky - from the Anglican Church) and worked in the Mission Gardens, although Angelina tried to avoid it as much as possible. Eva Rogers was a schoolteacher too and Dinah Garadji helped in school and the gardens. "I was the naughtiest girl! I used to run down to the river when I should be at school, and go fishing with the old people. One time they saw me and started paddling away in a canoe. I sung out to them to "stop!" but they kept going, so I jumped in and swam after them. Not many crocodiles then like now." Angelina is the youngest of the Joshua sisters. Her work often features moody, undulating landscapes of rivers and hills, or bright bold bush flowers and birds. Angelina enjoys painting and spending time with her grandchildren. Angelina's people are called Ngyameratjara, fresh water people, and one of her favorite things is to go fishing in the rivers and billabongs, especially Yellow Waters Billabong, or Boomerang Lagoon - both featured in many of her paintings. "In the mission days we planted short beans, green beans, pawpaw, bananas, cabbage, rock melon, carrot and beetroot...big bean garden down the riverside...irrigation was put in with a pump water ran through the trench... peanuts had another farm. After gardening helped little bit in the school kitchen work in the kitchen real early set yeast every night for making bread: Miss Rendall was the cook. (She died now in Sydney or Melbourne)" Angelina is a contemporary artist whose paintings are explorations of the landscape: reflecting and imagining the space and structure of the country. The distinctive feature of her work is her attention to detail in capturing moody, undulating aerial perspectives of place. Dry creek beds, burnt trees, sandy river systems, swollen billabongs, sweeping birds, veins of fresh flora on the rocks, walking tracks and camp sites give evidence to the intimate relationship Angelina enjoys with her past and her land. These journeys are magnified in bright bold paintings of layered bush flowers and birds. Angelina enjoys painting and is producing works that are the result of patience, a serious interest in her own profile and increasing confidence in her own unique style.

2007 - General Painting Prize, in the Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin,NT

2024 - Wurrdha Marra - Many Mobs, featuring Eva Rogers, GInger Riley Munduwalawala, Gertie Huddleston, Angelina George, Dinah Garradji, Maureen Morrangulu Thompson, The Ian Potter Centre, NGV, Australia
2022 Ngukurr - Artist's of the Rock Country ,Mitchell Fine Art ,Brisbane, Australia
2018 Ever - Present ,SAM, Shepparton Art Museum ,Shepparton, Australia
2016 Country & Western: Landscape re - imagined ,Museums and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory ,Darwin, Australia
2016 Country & Western: Landscape Re - imagined ,Cairns Art Gallery ,Cairns, Australia
2010 - Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, finalists exhibition
2009 - Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin NT Rising Stars Modern Classics - August 2008 Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin NT Joshua Sisters
2008 - Melbourne Art Fair, Melbourne Vic
2008 - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
2008 - Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, finalists exhibition
2007 - Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, finalists exhibition
2007 - Viviene Anderson Gallery, Melbourne Vic Women's Show
2006 - Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, finalists exhibition
2000 - Telstra National Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Art Award, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin, NT, finalists exhibition
1999 - Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 16th Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award
1998 - Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin NT Recent works - Joshua Sister's Dinah Garadji, Gertie Huddleston, Betty Roberts, Eva Rogers and Angelina George
1997 - Karen Brown Gallery, Darwin NT Recent works - Joshua Sister's Dinah Garadji, Gertie Huddleston, Betty Roberts, Eva Rogers and Angelina George
1995 - Chapman Gallery, Canberra Group Exhibition 1995 Shades of Ochre, Darwin NT Joshua Sister's Exhibition
1994 - Shades of Ochre, Darwin NT Workshops - Joshua Sister's Dinah Garadji, Gertie Huddleston, Betty Roberts, Eva Rogers and Angelina Georg

Angelina George is yet to record the 20 auction records that will prevent her AIAM100 rating being discounted by a factor (access About AIAM100 from home page).In fact, prior to 2012, her works had only appeared 9 times at auction and only 5 of these had sold. In fact her highest price was just $2,160. In 2012 Mossgreen held the sale of the Ross and Rona Clarke collection which included 6 works by this artist. The Clarke's were devotees of Karen Brown Gallery in Darwin which represented Angelina as well as Regina Wilson (who had 4 works enter her top ten results in 2012 as a consiquence). Only one of Angelina's paintings failed to sell in this sale amongst the six on offer. In fact, the five works that did sell became her 5 highest results to date at public sale. Her new record was set by two works, Limmen Gorge, 2006, and My Imagined Country, 2005, which both achieved $17,080 against presale estimates of $12,000 - $15,000. Further sales were recorded at $11,590, $9,760 and $9,150 giving her an average price for the year of $12,932 and an 83% success rate. In spite of the fact that Angelina George is yet to be listed in the top 200 artists, she was the 27th best - performing artist in 2012. Her works have performed well in the primary market. Angelina creates strong and highly desirable works of art. She has had no less than 10 solo exhibitions,and been included in dozens of group shows through her primary agent. In 2007 she won the General Painting Prize, at the Telstra NATSIAA Art Awards. She won the highly prestigious TOGA Art Award in 2009 and was a finalist, in the WA Indigenous Art Award, in 2011. With a cultural cache of this standing, once Angelina's auction records exceed the 20 - work threshold, she is set to have a far stronger presence in the list of the most important artists of the movement.