Peninsula exhibition to launch national tour: An exhibition from the estate of East Kimberley painter Janet Dreamer (1959-2021) will launch a national exhibition programme of the late artist's paintings by Everywhen Art in association with the artist's art centre Yarliyil Arts.

Known affectionately as "Dreamer", Janet Dreamer's brilliantly coloured works bring to life the flora, wildlife and water life of her birthplace - old Flora Valley Station; the lush oasis of nearby Palm Springs and the abundant wildlife, plants and cultural significance of many places she travelled through on the numerous journeys she called 'walkabout'.

Although Dreamer started painting in the late 1960s at the age of 16 and under her father's tutelage, it was many decades later - and after she joined Yarliyil Arts at Halls Creek in 2013 - that she started painting in earnest and with her own vision. And what a vision it was. Her vibrantly coloured canvases with their free imagery and sizzling hues depict extroadinary and often hidden vistas of Jaru Country - from its coastal Derby region to inland reaches around Halls Creek.

At Yarliyil Arts, Dreamer was an artistic dynamo as she painted ceaselessly for hours on end. Art centre staff had never experienced anything like either her artistic style - a seamless blend of naive figuration and abstraction and confident use of colour - or her prodigious output. First, she would set down her main subject (typically fauna, birds, flora or water life), then semi obscure the images with sweeps of luminous colours and patterns. These joyous works of boundless, raw energy are characterised by strong colouration and unique figuration. In their depictions of now rare wildlife, and ceremonial iconography, many works are also of profound cultural significance.

A finalist (in posthumous tribute) in Perth's John Stringer Prize 2022, Dreamer's work is in the collection of the Art Gallery of Western Australia.

Everywhen Art, in association with Yarliyil Arts will follow this exhibition by those with partner galleries in Fremantle and Sydney to accord this unique artist the recognition she and her extraordinary paintings

so richly deserve.

OPENING EVENT SATURDAY FEBRUARY 8 | 2 PM

To be opened by long term Kimberley art centre manager Kevin Kelly in conversation with gallery director Susan McCulloch OAM.

Previously exhibitions manager at Museum Victoria, Kevin Kelly has lived in the Kimberley since 1992. He worked with Dreamer and most of the famous founding Kimberley ochre artists for more than 30 years and was the executor of the estates of Rover Thomas and Queenie McKenzie.

Please click through to 'More Information' for booking details.