William Sandy, Bush Bean Dreaming

WILLIAM SANDY (Australian, b. c. 1944 ) Bush Bean Dreaming, 2001 Screenprint ed 6/50 62.5cm x 49cm Acquired December 2002 #Inventory/Catalogue No. 109642

Biography:

William Sandy is a Pitjantjatjara man who was born near Ernabella, in the far north of South Australia, is a senior elder and a knowledgeable traditional medicine man.

During his childhood and with his family, William traversed the country south of Ernabella and north around Hermannsburg, Areyonga and Haasts Bluff, with eventually settling at Ernabella, where William attended the local mission school.

Williams first started painting in 1975, teaching himself after having observed the other artists at work. In the early ’80s he began painting regularly for Papunya Tula Artists.

His work has attracted interest across the globe, having been a finalist in a number of art awards, and included in selected curated museum exhibitions, notably, the Dreamings* exhibition commencing at the Asia Society in New York, and then travelling to four other museums based the United States (1988-9), and in the subsequent show of Papunya Tula Artists at the John Weber Gallery in New York.

Since the early 1990s, William has concentrated on his painting full time and his subjects are Dingo, Emu, Woman, Green Bean and other Dreaming stories for his father and grandfather’s country.

Bibliography

Perkins, Hetti, Fink, Hannah (eds.), Papunya Tula: Genesis and Genius, Art Gallery of New South Wales in association with Papunya Tula Artists, exhibition catalogue, 2000.

Sutton, P., (ed.), Dreamings: The Art of Aboriginal Australia, *exhibition catalogue, Viking, 1989