Cambridge College returns 250-year-old Aboriginal spears to traditional owners

Spears removed from Kamay camp (Botany Bay) but Captain Cook and Joseph Banks 1770.

In a moving ceremony at the Wren Library at Trinity College, Cambridge the four spears were returned to traditional owners from La Perouse Aboriginal Community.

The spears were removed in 1770 by Captain James Cook and Joseph Banks from an empty camp. They were removed without permission after the explorers landed close to the encampment at Botany Bay (Kamay) which had been abandoned after the Gweagal men had been shot at.

It was initially thought - by Banks - that the spears were poisoned. However, his senior officer quickly realised the 40-50 spears they had collected were used for fishing and the “poison” was in fact a resin used to attach the bone tips to the shaft.

The traditional owners have sought to have them returned from Trinity College, Cambridge, since the 1990s. Michael Ingrey, a Dharawal man, said the spears’ return has been “a long time coming”.

He added: “The emotions are mixed…a lot of the old people that started the campaign aren't with us any more to see their hard work and labour come to fruition.”

The spears were given to Trinity College by John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich in 1771, along with other artefacts collected during Cook’s explorations. The spears have been held at the university’s Museum of Archeology and Anthropology since the early 19th Century.

The spears were among the first artefacts to be removed from Australia after initial contact, making them “exceptionally significant” and the last from that era to remain.

“They reflect the beginnings of a history of misunderstanding and conflict,” said Nicholas Thomas, director of Cambridge’s archaeology museum.

The wood used to make the spears can still be found on Country where they will be re-homed. Senior elders continue to teach younger generations how to make the spears in very much the same way these important artefacts were fashioned.

Community representatives Quaiden Riley Williams and David Johnson at the ceremony. Photo: Jenny Magee (Courtesy Trinity College Cambridge website)

Cotswold Homes & Interiors Festival - Cirencester Cornhall Market 2 March 2024

Bay Gallery Home is excited to be part of the Cotswold Homes and Interiors Festival hosted by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

The Cotswold Homes and Interiors Festival is a new event designed to showcase the many wonderful and diverse homes and interiors businesses in Cirencester and the wider Cotswolds.

There will be stalls in the wonderful Corn Hall, selling a wide range of products from soft furnishings to ornaments and art.  A series of free entry talks and demos with Q+A opportunities will also be taking place in the mezzanine area of the Corn Hall.

Pick up our festival guide at home, design, arts and crafts venues around Cirencester and spend your day in town, enjoying talks and demos, stalls, and eateries, while seeking out participating shops and businesses using the handy guide map.

Don't miss out on this exciting event that brings together the best of Cirencester's homes and interiors makers and doers.The event has been organised by Cotswold District Council and funded by the Government’s UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF).

Your VIP code for Affordable Art Fair Battersea is here!

Bay Gallery Home looks forward to seeing you on our stand in a few weeks. Get in touch if there’s anything on our website you particularly want to see and we’ll have it on the stand for you.

https://aafbattersea.seetickets.com/timeslot/affordable-art-fair-battersea-spring?OfferCode=G-BAY-COMP

Invitation to Affordable Art Fair - Hampstead Heath 8-12 May 2024 stand J6

Bay Gallery Home is delighted to invite you to Hampstead Affordable Art Fair in Hampstead 8-12 May 2024.

We have curated a wide range of Dreaming stories, bush medicine and bush tucker paintings in dazzling acrylic colours, styles and sizes including works by artists we are representing for the first time.

There are lots of lovely smaller paintings heading over for those looking to enter the art market. We also curated some fabulous large paintings for statement pieces. And our ever popular Desert Dogs will be returning.

In other exciting news we are joining Art Money so you can pay for your artworks over time. This means collectors can purchase works essentially using an art credit card. At the shows we noticed people are falling in love with our artworks but cannot pay the full amount on the day, missing out on obtaining the works that beguiled them. Art Money is the perfect way to help you pay in manageable monthly payments.

Fair sales of paintings and ‘My Country’ interiors collection are very important to the Central Australian Aboriginal artists we represent. Funds from the Aboriginal art industry directly impact their social mobility, health and education.

For your VIP tickets or to gain Access All Areas (if you are an avid collector or interior designer) please book your tickets using the links below.

Art Money helps you collect art

Some of the artists we are exhibiting: Penny Napaljarri Kelly, Ada Pula Beasley, Tracy Ngwarreye Peterson,

Shortlisted for The Fabric Award: International Design and Architecture Awards

‘My Country’ botanical velvets - left to right Rosie Pink, Betty Pink, Daisy Brown, Lilly Green, Melita Dusty Pink

Exciting news! Bay Gallery Home’s innovative fabric collection has been shortlisted for a major award at this year’s International Design and Architecture Awards.

Our ‘My Country’ range has been chosen by the events’s curators, Design et al, to vie with famous brands like Liberty Fabrics for the prestigious Fabric Design Award. The winner will be chosen by a judging panel of 26,000 industry professionals and announced at the awards show in London in September.

The ‘My Country’ interiors collection has taken five years of dedication and investment to build and it is a joy to see it being recognised. It has been created against sometimes difficult challenges, including the pandemic, Australian wildfires, personal tragedies and, in the fabrics case, manufacturers going out of business just as the first prints came off the press, leaving me to start all over again.

So much has been poured into this creation, with us often to’ing an fro’ing across the world to spend days and nights in the car driving around our desert communities in search of beautiful Aboriginal artwork. It has a been a real family effort too - my mother is always at the wheel (driving 3000km from Brisbane) and my children squished into the back for the long journey from Alice Springs to “Outbush”.

Lots of adventures were had including my Mum greeting us at Lasseter’s Hotel in Alice in 2017 with a lump the size of a grapefruit on her lower leg. “Oh, don’t worry,” she shrugged as she helped load our bags into the boot. “It’s just a snake bite I got sleeping in the swag on the way here.”

There have been many hours spent slogging up and down the motorways of the UK searching of the right designers and manufacturers capable of making a product that can compete against the worlds best design houses.

‘My Country’ is a collection of 12 breathtaking designs - all taken from the work of some of the most talented artists among the oldest continuous race on Earth - on a range of five fabric bases. They are suitable for upholstery and soft furnishings including cushions, lamps and curtains.

Thank you to all those who have collaborated with us and bought from us over the years. We hope you agree it’s been worthwhile.

Wish us luck!

‘My Country’ fabrics are from paintings by: Lilly Kemarre Morton (Lilly Green) , Betty Pula Morton (Betty Pink) , Alana Ngwarraye Holmes (Alana Pink), Daisy Kemarre Turner (Daisy Brown), Joycie Pitjara Morton (Joycie Yellow), Michelle Pula Holmes (Michelle Blue), Rosie Ngwarraye Ross (Rosie Pink and Rosie Blue), Ruth Nungarrayi Spencer (Ruth PInk, Ruth Blue, Ruth Red) and Sarah Napurrurla Holmes (Bush Onion).

Images of some of them are below (left to right): Michelle Pula Holmes, Lilly Kemarre Morton, Betty Pula Morton, Rosie Ngwarraye Ross and Ruth Nungarrayi Spencer.

Photograph credits: Alexandra O’Brien, Adam Carter & Lara Damiani Think Films

New Year brings New Aboriginal artwork to Bay Gallery Home

As we enter 2022 we have been busy curating new Aboriginal paintings across a range of emerging and established artists, sizes, and styles from the Central Desert communities we represent.

Among our highlights above are larger works in subdued colour’s for lovers of lighter hues as well as three smaller paintings packing a dynamic punch with their bold colours.

Last week visitors expressed their delight at seeing the paintings “in the flesh” having discovered them online. While photographs of the paintings are beautiful its difficult to capture the texture and depth of the paintings in a photographic format. The many layers of colour applied to each artwork make them very tactile; the irregularities and (sometimes) random flicks of paint assure you that the paintings travelled all the way from the Central Australian desert bearing elements of the artists personality.

Over the course of 2022, Covid permitting, Bay Gallery Home is hoping to exhibit in various art fairs across the country. If you have any near you you’d like us to know about please let us know and we’ll endeavour to explore opportunities to exhibit our gorgeous Aboriginal art works there.

Thank you for continued support of Bay Gallery Home and the artists we represent. Hope to see you in Tetbury soon. All the best for 2022!

That's a Christmas wrap! Closed for Christmas 23-29 December

Alana Pink wallpaper from a painting by Alana Ngwarraye Holmes.

Merry Christmas everyone!

After spending a few hours battling to upload a more Chistmassy shot we’ve admitted defeat and thought I’d share this with you instead.

Our gallery started in Tetbury six years ago with business slowly but steadily developing. This photo is from the early days, the image I was trying to share is much busier with the space filled with lengths of fabrics, cushions, pouffes, lamp shades, wallpapers and rugs from our ‘My Country’ Aboriginal interiors collection. Please go to our Instagram feed @baygalleryhome to see it.

Bay Gallery Home wishes you a happy and safe holiday period. It’s a tough time for many of us but together we will get through it and hopefully 2022 will see Covid erradicated. We open by appointment 23, 24, 27, 28 December. Between 29th December to 3rd January we will in but working limited hours. All online orders will be fullfilled postal hours allowing

Thank you all for supporting Bay Gallery Home, the artists we represent and all the other businesses our gallery works with, it really means the world to us.

Hope to see you in the New Year.

x

Christmas Gift Ideas from our Aboriginal Desert Artists: design with origin

Delight your friends and family with Christmas gifts you can’t get anywhere else in the UK. 

Bay Gallery Home is brimming with Aboriginal art and design we can’t wait to share with you. 

Just yesterday we received the heavenly scented candles encased in fine bone china bowls so you can keep them as a decorative object, an hor d’oeuvres bowl or somewhere to toss your Christmas jewellery into at the end of a long night. 

We also have new teapot & mug designs including more whimsical designs from West Australian artists.

In bath and body we’ve added body bars in gorgeously illustrated boxes and a new Murdie Nampijinpa Morris lip balm.

More beautiful paintings are on the way including some from budding young artists who are displaying the trappings of great talent. 

Please visit the website to see the new additions. There’s plenty of time for us to post out presents on your behalf if your unable to visit us in Tetbury.

Tomorrow evening Friday 10th December we hope that those of you who can make it to our thank you drinks. Please do a lateral flow test beforehand if you haven’t received both Covid jabs and your booster if required.

Stay well. We will get through this. x

Light Up! Christmas Party Friday 10 December 2021

Every year Bay Gallery Home hosts a Christmas party to coincide with the Tetbury Christmas light switch on. Tetbury comes together to celebrate Christmas with a street party and many independent shops remaining open for late night gift shopping, drinks and nibbles.

This year we would love all our amazing, supportive clients, friends and Tetbury community to join us for drinks and canapes as a thank you for helping us navigate and grow during the challenges of the last year.

Thank you one and all for embracing our crazy enterprise of bringing Aboriginal art to the Cotswolds!

Party starts at Bay Gallery Home from 1800. Please ensure you have done a lateral flow test beforehand and bring your mask. The road outside is closed so you can enjoy your drink out there if you’d prefer not to be indoors.

Please RSVP where possible. Many thanks. x

Congratulations Betty!

My Country and Bush Medicine, Betty Pula Morton, 2016

Huge congratulations to Betty Pula Morton winner of First Nations category in the inaugural annual National Capital Art Prize.

Betty is immensely talented and this prize is well deserved. As this prize attests, Betty’s body of work and reputation as an artist is going from strength to strength.

We are lucky enough to represent Betty’s work in the UK. In addition to selling her original paintings we created fabrics and wallpapers from one of her canvases selected on a trip to the Central Desert art centre in 2017. You can see these and the original artwork in our Tetbury, Cotswolds art gallery.

When buying anything from Bay Gallery Home you are supporting artists like Betty, their family and wider community, including the art centre who make it possible for the Aboriginal artists to bloom.

Betty Pula Morton’s My Country and Bush Medicine painting has been translated onto fabrics and wallpapers as part of Bay Gallery Home ‘My Country’ Aboriginal interiors collection.

Bay Gallery Home collaborates with Sample Library at Decorex International 2021

Bay Gallery Home is excited to announce we will be presenting our ‘My Country’ Aboriginal interiors collection in collaboration with Sample Library at Decorex International 10-13 October 2021.

Over the course of the show our samples will be available to view on the Sample Library stand G140.

On Monday from 11am we will be doing a two hour presentation where you will learn more about the origins of ‘My Country’, the Aboriginal artists we represent, the process of bringing the collection from painting to translation’s onto fabric, wallpaper, tiles and rugs. You’ll also see some of the original artworks!

Sample Library are holding a prize draw for people who sign up for an account with them during Decorex. Our Lilly Green cushion (from an artwork by Lilly Kemarre Morton) is among the prizes and usually retails for £60. Prizes will be drawn on Friday October 15th.

Aboriginal man in western NSW is first Australian indigenous death from Covid

Everything those working with Australian Aboriginals have dreaded has become a reality.

The deadly Delta variant has reached outback towns of NSW killing a 50 year-old Dubbo man with underlying conditions. He was unvaccinnated like many other’s in the western NSW towns suffering rising Covid infections. Of the current 561 cases in the region 65 per cent of them are Aboriginal.

The vaccination roll out has been slow with only 6.3 per cent of Aboriginals in the region being vaccinated versus 26 per cent of the general population.

“It’s ripping through the community like wildfire at the moment, which is really, really scary,” Quayle said.

“As a Barkinji woman, this was my worst nightmare for it to ever hit my community, especially when we know the statistics and the early death rates of our mob due to colonial disease.

“It’s heartbreaking. I just hope my mob can get through this. It’s so scary it feels like a nightmare.”

(from Chloe Quayle, also known as Barkaa, described the devastating impacts of the virus on the regional town of Wilcannia, in western NSW, to ABC‘s The World Today program.)

On top of battling rising Covid cases there is a growing food shortage in places like Wilcannia which is 200km from the closest big community. One family was told to “Go call Uber eats”. @NITV @twitter

For donations and more information go to:

@NITV

Hawkesbury’s Helping Hands - www.hawkesburyhelpinghands.org.au

@skrakulr (The Real Herbert Scrakule)

Susan Osbourne interiors - Notting Hill

We are thrilled to share that Susan Osbourne, purveyor of fine French antique furniture now has our cotton velvet and avanti linen samples in her Goldborne Road showroom, Notting Hill.

“Susan Osbourne is one of the leading 19th Century French Chair specialists in the UK, offering chairs, sofas and chaise from our showroom in Golborne Road, with an unsupassed collction in terms of quality, quantity and unique styles. Clients choose their chair or sofa, their fabrics from a range of over 80 fabric houses.”

Among the world’s leading fabric houses you will be able to choose fabric from the ‘My Country' Aboriginal interiors collection. All our fabrics are made in the UK as we aim to support British design, manufacturing and our Central Desert artists, who receive a royalty from all of our sales.

Susan Osbourne’s showeroom is at:

83 Golborne Road, Notting Hill,  W10 5NL

020 8969 6255

http://www.susanosbourne.co.uk/contact/4579782641

EC Collective Australian Distributors of Bay Gallery Home's 'Alana Pink' fabric

EC Collective, part of fabric and wallpaper house Elliott Clarke selected our ‘My Country’ fabric and wallpaper collection to join their artisanal design stable. Australian’s looking to source our products in Australia can use our website as a tool for the various fabric bases available and order them through Elliott Clarke. Wallpaper stock is held in Australia and can be sent out the within a day or two of your order.

Alana Pink is from an original artwork by Alana Ngwarraye Holmes who paints her Country in the Central Australian desert. Bay Gallery Home went out to the Communities we represent in the Central Desert to seek permission to translate artists paintings onto fabrics and wallpaper. They receive a royalty from the sale of each of our products benefiting them, the community and maintaining the art centre.

The fabric colour may differ dependent on the device you are viewing it on.

If you have any questions please get in touch with alexandra@baygalleryhome.com

Gorgeous new paintings arrived in our Tetbury, Cotswolds Aboriginal art gallery

I love all the paintings I curate for Bay Gallery Home but this consignment is going to be particularly hard to let go. Each painting is simply stunning. From the celestial masterpieces depicting Seven Sisters Dreaming by rising star Athena Nangala Granites to the coloured-concentric circles drawing you into the deep pools of Peggy Napurrurla Granites “Dogwood Tree Bean Dreaming” and the emerging talent of young artist Kurshiah Nakamarra Robinson becoming more evident with each of his Water Dreaming’s, you are completely, utterly spoilt for choice.

We are open this weekend from 1030-1730 Saturday and 1200-1500 on Sunday when you can buy these paintings before they snapped up and go to new homes. They are currently unstretched but are sold ready to hang.

Keep your eyes peeled for fabulous New Art as we are listing paintings

Shorty Jangala Robertson, Ngapa Jukurrpa (Water Dreaming) this magnificent Shorty has hit the market and we are in the enviable position of having secured it to sell through our gallery.

In preparation for our reopening we have many new paintings winging their way from the Central Australia Desert to our Tetbury Aboriginal art gallery. If you like what you see online don’t miss out as on our last reopening the paintings were snapped up! We send our works ready to hang all over the world via Parcelforce and DHL .

There’s more going up each day on the website. Some will also feature on our Twitter and Instagram feed.

We can’t tell you how excited about having lovely clients back in Bay Gallery Home on 12 April.

Bay Gallery Home introduces our 'My Country: design with origin' Pouffes

Lilly Green cotton velvet pouf in The Ormond Hotel, Tetbury

Bay Gallery Home introduces our luxurious velvet poufs.

Our pouffes are a simple way to complete the appeal of your living space by creating alternative seating immediately enveloping you in comfort. Simple and elegant design with origin.

The pouffe can be paired with our Lilly Green wallpaper to complete your room scheme or you could choose another wallpaper from our collection to create statement design.

The Aboriginal botanical design is taken from an original painting by Lilly Kemarre Morton. It depicts the sacred plants and trees of the Australian outback used by the Aboriginals for the last 60,000 years. Lilly receives a royalty from all the products we make using her design.

If you are in Australia you can purchase our fabrics from our distributor Elliott Clarke under their boutique artisanal EC Collective.

Made to order in the UK from any of our fabrics found on this link:

https://www.baygalleryhome.com/fabric

Lockdown 0.3 - here we go again!

Our Ruth Red Goanna Dreaming velvet cushion on one of the amazing sofas you can find at Treacle George in Tetbury, the Cotswolds.

Sadly we have had to close our doors again but we’re still trading online and by appointment during this winter lockdown. If you follow the gallery safety protocols you can pick up any purchases safely or we can send them to you via Royal Mail, Parcelforce or DHL.

Please keep an eye for new paintings on the website and Instagram, you’ll also be able to see new developments in the ‘My Country’ collection. Our made in Britain new cushion collection is online and we’ve uploaded photos of our made to order ottomans. Fabric is available by the metre so if you want to practice your upholstery or sewing skills we have beautiful fabrics in the gallery you can’t get anywhere else.

Don’t forget Tetbury’s small independent shops during this lockdown. We’re all working so hard to bring you things of beauty you can’t get anywhere else.

We watched with horror as the queue snaked down the road from the post office as people returned lockdown purchases to Amazon. Please shop locally and/or from independents across the UK.

Merry Christmas and New Year 2021

Our new Rosie Blue and Rosie Pink Cushions from artwork by Central Desert artists, Rosie Ngwarraye Ross. These cushion are also on sale at Cotswold Trading, Broadway.

Wishing all our clients, collaborators and especially our wonderful Artists and all the Art Centre staff a happy festive period. The last couple of years have brought Australia many challenges with the fires and now the pandemic. Despite the distances we’re all working hard to bring you beautiful art and new ‘My Country’ interior offerings. We hope you love our work and continue to support the Gallery and everyone we work with.

Bay Gallery Home is open with limited opening hours between 28 December to 31 December 2020. We are open between 1100-1500 (give or take) and open by appointment so please call 07776 157 066 or email alexandra@baygalleryhome.com to arrange a visit.

We have many new exciting developments to share with you so keep an eye on our website.

Lockdown 2.0 - Bay Gallery Home is still trading

Sadly we have had to close our doors but we’re still trading online, and by appointment from Wednesday.

Please keep an eye for new paintings on the website and Instagram, you’ll also be able to see new developments in the ‘My Country’ collection.

Really looking forward to seeing you again in December.

Please don’t forget our small independent shops in the run up to Christmas. We’re all working so hard to bring you things of beauty you can’t get anywhere else; especially China!