Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection

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Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection the only museum in the U.S. dedicated to the exhibition and study of Australian Aboriginal Art. Admission and parking are free.

We are excited to be traveling to The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma alongside artist Marlen...
10/13/2026

We are excited to be traveling to The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art at the University of Oklahoma alongside artist Marlene Nampitjinpa for the exhibition "From the Australian Desert: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting" opening on October 16!

Marlene Nampitjinpa is an artist, interpreter and health advocate from Walungurru (Kintore), Australia. She began painting in 2014 for Papunya Tula Artists. She is an active and visible spokesperson for Indigenous health, having served as Chair and Board Member of the Purple House, the Western Desert dialysis service, Western Desert Nganampa Walytja Palyantjaku Tjutaku Aboriginal Corporation and the Kintore Clinic.

Marlene Nampitjinpa’s travel to The Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art is supported by The Ferra Group, the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection, and the Australian Government through the Australian Consulate in Houston, Texas.

The exhibition is a presentation of the landmark touring exhibition "IRRITITJA KUWARRI TJUNGU | Past & Present Together: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert" organized by Kluge-Ruhe in partnership with Papunya Tula Artists.

Image: Marlene Nampitjinpa. Photo by Tom Cogill. Courtesy of Papunya Tula Artists.

University of Virginia UVA Arts UVA Department of Art Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art The University of Oklahoma

"Woven Together: International First Nations Weaving Forum" took place this past week at Kluge-Ruhe and at UVA's Morven ...
10/08/2026

"Woven Together: International First Nations Weaving Forum" took place this past week at Kluge-Ruhe and at UVA's Morven Sustainability Lab. The forum was organized in partnership with Siera Hyte, curator of Indigenous American art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and held in conjunction with Sonja Carmichael’s artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe with the aim to provide a platform for cross-cultural engagement among First Nations artists, as well as an opportunity for members of the University and Charlottesville communities to engage with participating artists through a public program.

Images:
1. On Saturday, the public program took place at Morven, with presentations and contributions by: Siera Hyte (Cherokee), Sonja Carmichael (Ngugi), Nici Cumpston (Barkandji), Yvonne Goad (Pamunkey), Nokomis Custalow (Mattaponi & Rappahannock), Desmond Ellsworth (Nansemond), Yvonne Goad (Pamunkey), Brad Hatch (Patawomeck), Rebecca Hill (Pamunkey), Debra Martin (Pamunkey), and Denise Lowe Walters (Nottoway).
2. Desmond Ellsworth led participants in a community basket activity.
3-5. Sonja Carmichael led participants in a workshop to create small baskets or bunbi using ghost nets, discarded fishing nets that she brought with her from Australia.
6-7. Nokomis Custalow shared her practice of working with yucca fibers.
8. Denise Lowe Walters presented her story quilt practice.
9. Brad Hatch shared his knowledge of traditional eel pot weaving.

Forum sponsored by the Arts Endowment through UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts. Photos by Tom Cogill.

University of Virginia UVA Arts Sonja Carmichael Creative Australia Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

"Woven Together: International First Nations Weaving Forum" took place this past week at Kluge-Ruhe and at UVA's Morven ...
10/07/2026

"Woven Together: International First Nations Weaving Forum" took place this past week at Kluge-Ruhe and at UVA's Morven Sustainability Lab. The forum was organized in partnership with Siera Hyte, curator of Indigenous American art at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and held in conjunction with Sonja Carmichael’s artist residency at Kluge-Ruhe with the aim to provide a platform for cross-cultural engagement among First Nations artists, as well as an opportunity for members of the University and Charlottesville communities to engage with participating artists through a public program.

On Friday, invited artists spent time together at Kluge-Ruhe. Pamunkey artist Yvonne Goad led the group in a gourd weaving workshop while Rebecca Hill, also a citizen of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe, taught a cyanotype workshop. Hill is also a founding member and executive director of the Virginia Native Arts Alliance, working to preserve and elevate Virginia Native culture, art, and artists.

Forum sponsored by the Arts Endowment through UVA Arts & the Office of the Provost and the Vice Provost for the Arts. Photos by Tom Cogill.

University of Virginia UVA Arts Sonja Carmichael Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Creative Australia

The Tali | Sandhills: Prints from Ikuntji Artists exhibition is presented by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of...
10/04/2026

The Tali | Sandhills: Prints from Ikuntji Artists exhibition is presented by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in collaboration with Ikuntji Artists. It is co-curated by Roseranna Larry (Chairperson, Ikuntji Artists) and Ainsley McGowan (fourth-year art history major, the University of Virginia). Through the support of the UVA Arts Council, Ainsley McGowan had the opportunity to travel to Ikuntji Artists in the summer of 2025 and learn from Chairperson Roseranna Larry and Manager Dr. Chrischona Schmidt. McGowan’s Distinguished Majors Program project was advised by Assistant Professor Henry Skerritt and Professor Douglas Fordham.

The Exhibition brings together the work of eight artists from Ikuntji Artists, the first Aboriginal art center established for women, by women in Central Australia. Located at Ikuntji/Haasts Bluff, 230 km (143 miles) west of Mparntwe/Alice Springs, the art center has a long history of being a source of cultural strength, creativity, and connection to Ngura (Country).

Since its beginnings as a women’s center in 1992, Ikuntji Artists has supported artists to share their stories, knowledge, and lived experiences through painting and printmaking, grounded in deep cultural traditions. This exhibition reflects that history. It brings together works by eight artists, each hailing from distinct Countries, to show a shared connection through the land—especially the red sand.

Tali | Sandhills refers to the landscapes of the red desert, and encompasses the land, the roads, the food, and the journeys people take across it. Co-curator of the exhibition Roseranna Larry explains: “We chose the topic of the Tali because they remind us of where we come from and where we are living now. They hold our history—how the old people traveled across the land for hunting and for lookout, moving through the red sand from the west all the way to Ikuntji/Haasts Bluff. When we paint these stories, we think of the old people, the land they came from, the journeys they traveled.”

https://kluge-ruhe.org/all-exhibitions/tali-sandhills/?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05.07.26(late)&utm_content=version_A

In 1971, Australia got a brand new (and, at the same time, very old) artistic style. Come see it in ‘Irrititja Kuwarri T...
10/04/2026

In 1971, Australia got a brand new (and, at the same time, very old) artistic style. Come see it in ‘Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu (Past and Present Together): Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert’, OPEN NOW at the BYU Museum of Art!

In this exhibition, you’ll meet the Papunya Tula Artists, the oldest Aboriginal-owned arts organization in Australia, who infused sacred ancestral designs with contemporary materials and methods. Inspired by the sweeping Australian desert landscape, they forged a movement that changed the the world forever.

features 128 artworks by nearly 100 artists and is is organized by Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in conjunction with Papunya Tula Artists. Like all MOA exhibitions, it is free and open to all!

Featured artworks:
MICHAEL JAGAMARA NELSON
Four Stories at Pikilyi
1988
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas.
47 ½ × 71 ½ in. (120.6 × 181.6 cm).
Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia. Gift of John W. Kluge, 1997.
1989.7011.005

WARLIMPIRRNGA TJAPALTJARRI
Maruwa, 2013
Synthetic polymer paint on canvas
60 × 72 in. (153 × 182 cm)
Collection of Steve Martin and Anne Stringfield.
© Warlimpirrnga Tjapaltjarri and licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd.
Photograph courtesy Gagosian

10/04/2026

“Seeing all these paintings here… fills us with the spirit of our ancestors.” — Mayatili Marika

Mayatili Marika, a representative of the Rirratjiŋu clan, visited Asia Society Museum in New York for the opening of “Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala." Her family’s paintings are among the works on display, offering a profound connection between past, present, and future for the communities.

Experience this powerful exhibition today: https://asiasociety.org/new-york/exhibitions/madayin-eight-decades-aboriginal-australian-bark-painting-yirrkala

10/04/2026

What is the Yolŋu story? Aboriginal artist Yinimala Gumana talks about the tradition of painting sacred clan designs, a practice deeply rooted in Yolŋu culture for millennia.

You can find Gumana’s work in the Asia Society Museum’s current exhibition, “Maḏayin: Eight Decades of Aboriginal Australian Bark Painting from Yirrkala,” where the patterns of the Dhaḻwaŋu clan are on full display.

Explore this powerful exhibition and connect with Aboriginal art this weekend. Plan your visit and follow us for more artist interviews: https://asiasociety.org/new-york/exhibitions/madayin-eight-decades-aboriginal-australian-bark-painting-yirrkala

✨ This past week has been full of exciting activities for Dora Griffiths and Jan Griffiths in Charlottesville at Kluge-R...
10/04/2026

✨ This past week has been full of exciting activities for Dora Griffiths and Jan Griffiths in Charlottesville at Kluge-Ruhe.

Dora and Jan have been working with University of Virginia students from Professor Marcy Linton’s UVA Arts Drama class in making tool rolls and pillows from Waringarri textiles.

The exhibition curated by Dora, “Our Unbroken Line: The Griffiths Family” was celebrated with a reception and artist talk with Margo Smith, Kluge-Ruhe Director. They were also interviewed by Assistant Professor Henry Skerritt for a podcast that will be released soon!

Jan and Dora were delighted to lead a ceramics workshop for children as part of the Kluge-Ruhe public program, and then it was on to screenprinting workshops with the team at Infinite Repeats Studio .

But no matter how busy it's been, of course there's always time to enjoy some tasty American fried chicken! 🍗

Creative Australia UVA Department of Art

10/04/2026

Jan Griffiths paints with a young workshop participant at Kluge-Ruhe, sharing how to paint the waterlily pads from Woorrilbem billabong, her grandmother’s Country.

Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection Creative Australia University of Virginia UVA Arts

Coming soon to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art!Fifty years ago, a painting movement emerged at Papunya in Australia’s C...
10/04/2026

Coming soon to the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art!

Fifty years ago, a painting movement emerged at Papunya in Australia’s Central Desert. Now widely recognized in global contemporary art, the movement draws on ancient traditions and reveals living ancestral connections known as Tjukurrpa (Dreaming).

Irriṯitja Kuwarri Tjungu celebrates fifty years of Papunya Tula Artists, featuring nearly 120 paintings, including some of the most iconic works of Indigenous Australian art.

Rather than being arranged chronologically, the paintings are displayed according to Indigenous principles of genealogy, place, and ancestral travels, revealing the deep, ongoing relationship between Aboriginal artists, the places they paint, and Tjukurrpa.

📅 On view October 16, 2026 – March 14, 2027



Artwork:
Ningura Napurrula, Wirrulnga, 2001. Synthetic polymer paint on canvas, 48 × 48 in. Collection of Richard Klingler and Jane Slatter. © The artist’s estate and licensed by Aboriginal Artists Agency Ltd.

Irrititja Kuwarri Tjungu: Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from the Australian Desert is organized by the Kluge-Ruhe Aboriginal Art Collection of the University of Virginia in partnership with Papunya Tula Artists.

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