Eddie Blitner

Australian Aboriginal Artist

  

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Born: 		24/12/1961 
Area:		Naiyarindji, Ngukkurr	
Tribe:		Marra / Alawa 	
Clan: 		Barbil, Moiety: Mambali	 
Totem:		Bandiyan, Skin Name: Taiita

Bark painting, ochres on bark, carved and painted hollow log coffin, didjeridu. Dupun, carving

1998 Australian Aids Magazine "Blue Bell". 1999 First Prize Barunga Aboriginal cultural Festival "One Fire".

1999 Four Corners interview/world wide release.

1998 Telstra Aboriginal Art Awards, Darwin, NT.
1999 Spirits of the Dreaming exhibition, Darling Harbour Cultural Centre. Promoted by the Today show. Sydney. NSW.
2000 Love Magic exhibition, Katherine Art Gallery, held at the Australian Trust, Sydney. "G Spot"
2018 Freshwater Billabongs, Japingka Gallery, Freemantle, Perth, WA.
2018 Christmas decorations, Casuarina Square, Darwin, NT.

Monash University Museum of Art, Collection Vic.
Skycity Casino & Resort, Darwin NT

Journeylines, Margo Stanislawska, Birnberg, JB Books Australia
Yidaki, Didgeridoos to Internet.
Aboriginal Artists, Dictionary of Biographies, Birnberg, M. & Kreczmanski, Central Desert,
Western Desert and Kimberley Region. J.B. Publishing Australia. Marleston, SA.

My grandfather raised me identifing me as a Marra descendant. Eddie started painting when he was seven years old. My grandfathers, Fred, Gerry and Donald would be painting or carving and we kids would sit around them and watch them grind the ochre's and mix the colours, after a while he would tell us the story for that particular painting and also teach us the songs and dance for that story. When he was in a very good mood, he let us paint the sides of the bark painting, that was my start. Eddie has progressed as a highly recognized contemporary artist. He has worked with the children of several schools and street children teaching them his painting skills and techniques. Edward Blitner is from Naiyalrindji and the community Ngukkurr on the Roper River, which is approximately 270 km Southeast of Katherine, N.T. It is now called the Yugul Mangl Community.

Many very good painters have emerged from that community and are represented in most major Australian galleries. It has taken Eddy over 40 years to learn to paint the stories and the Dreamings, passed on to him by his grandfather. He has developed his own unique style, which makes his works readily identifiable without losing the traditional cross hatching identity that was originally handed down to him. Edward is also an accomplished woodcarver and didjeridu maker. Some of Eddy's bird carvings stand 2 meters high and are fully decorated and cross hatched. Other members of his clan (Barbil) taught him how to make flint spear heads, traditional hunting boomerangs and most important how to hunt, fish, find bush tucker and make bush medicine to survive./