Established in 1948, Ernabella Arts is Australia’s oldest, continuously running Indigenous art centre. Ernabella Arts is in Pukatja/Ernabella Community at the eastern end of the Musgrave Ranges in the far north-west of South Australia.
Pukatja was the first permanent settlement on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. The Presbyterian church founded the Ernabella Mission in 1937 and a craft room was established in 1948. The first craft products were hand-loomed woven fabrics and hand-pulled and knotted floor rugs with a unique pattern that became known as Anapalayaku Walka or Ernabella Design.
In the early 1970’s a group of Ernabella artists travelled to Indonesia and learnt the technique of batik. Over the next 30 years Ernabella became renown for the intricate batik silks that were created here. In 2003 the batik studio was converted to ceramics and since then the artists have developed their own unique forms and styles and Ernabella Arts has become synonymous nationwide and overseas with Indigenous ceramics.
In recent years, long after commencing working as artists, senior women decided to leave behind the walka of the early days and to depict their Tjukurpa (sacred stories of Country, Culture and Law). The centre’s highly regarded reputation lies in the adaptability and innovation of the artists who have been introduced to many different mediums. Today its varied group of artists is a mix of young and old, men and women. The members of Ernabella Arts are always reinvigorating their centre, growing and developing it from the first incarnation as a craft room into a culturally strong independent contemporary art centre.
Ernabella Arts is an Indigenous owned and run corporation which promotes and supports ethical practice in the creation and sale of First Nations art.