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Girrgee Art Exhibition Opening – RMWABLC, Eidsvold

Girrgee Art by Val McGrath
Official Exhibition Opening: 7 January 2022 at 2pm – All Welcome!
“Val is a Murri from Queensland.  She moved to Poona in December 2020 from Blackbutt where she lived for about 11 years after her and her husband retired.

 Though her maternal grandmother came to Queensland at a very young age from the Flinders Ranges area and her father is Indian, Irish, Aboriginal from NSW area she was not bought up in that culture but in the Aboriginal culture of where she has lived.

Both her parents were born in Queensland, and she has been bought up and lived and worked in many Queensland towns as well as in NSW and WA.

Her main mentor is her husband’s skin brother from WA who has guided her and given her permission to paint their way. She owes much of her style and techniques to her respected Elder.

Val started painting as a hobby at a young age as a way to express herself, mainly giving her art away to family and friends and now has been fortuned enough to see her items, whether it is a painting or something she has painted on being not only bought by someone in Australia but also bought or sent overseas. She can say she has art in many homes in many countries.

Val finds painting as a way of relaxing and connecting to her spirituality as feels she is guided in her art.  Her art is a mixture of styles from the different areas she has lived and worked in, from the land of which she loves and through the support and guidance of her mentor.

Val only paints a couple of well-known stories such as the 7 sisters, Birth of the Butterfly and Spirit children. Most of her art centers around today and what she believes we need to do to heal, such as getting back to our culture, respect, connecting to country, our spirituality, and our ancestors and to be able to leave our stories for future generations.

Though she does larger paintings Val prefers to put art on everyday things that can be used eg photos frames, shoes, dishes and also does smaller paintings.

Her husband Noel, who is very handy, makes bullroarers, boomerangs, clapsticks and other items from local timber and Val paints them.

Art in many forms including music has been a large part of her life and always will be.

Her main ambition is to share their culture with the wider community.”

More of Val’s art can be seen on here and she can be contacted on mcgrath64@hotmail.com