Coiled Fibre Bush Basketby Anne Dixon

Anne Dixon was born in Alice Springs in 1965 however as a young girl she grew up in Pukatja or more commonly known as Ernabella Community in South Australia. Anne’s family reside in Fregon and Watarru communities in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands. Anne travelled between these communities as a child and young woman and now lives in Alice Springs with her children and husband who teaches at the local Indigenous boarding school, Yirara College.

Anne is a skilled basket weaver and was inspired to learn Tjanpi (coiled basketry) by observing her mother, Wipana Jimmy and her aunt Tinpula Mervin, practicing this art form. This new form of Aboriginal art and craft was developed by the Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (NPY) Women’s Council in response to women in remote Indigenous communities wishing to enter the workforce but remain on their homeland community. This project titled “Tjanpi Desert Weavers” was started in 1995 and has flourished with now 28 communities involved in the project and over 400 Aboriginal women participating. Building on traditions of using fibre for medicinal, ceremonial and every day purposes, has meant that the women have taken easily to making coiled baskets and sculptures out of grass as this was firmly embedded in Western and Central desert culture. This new found skill and art form has received widespread praise not only as a way to support Aboriginal women but also the artistic talent and skill involved.

This relatively new form of art also allows the women to continue to practice more traditional aspects of their culture, so while out collecting desert grasses for their baskets the women visit sacred sites, homelands and hunt and gather food for their families whilst also teaching their children about country, Dreamtime and sharing intimate desert knowledge. The artworks have been exhibited widely with great success. In 2005 a group of Tjanpi artists won the prestigious Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award with a life-size creation of a Toyota Troopy.

Anne began to weave fairly recently in approximately 2004. She initially started by experimenting with a few small pieced and then quickly progressed into larger crafts. Her technique includes starting on the outer rim and working her way toward the middle. She uses traditional textiles including various kinds of grasses found in the outback, feathers from birds such as the emu and binds them with wool or string. Her larger pieces are magnificent to see and demand attention. Her visions for her artworks relate to the important ceremonial sites around her homelands and the Dreaming stories that have been inherited from her father. The artworks incorporate an array of colours from nature ochre colours (red, orange, pink, white) to blues and gold’s that can be found in the countryside around her.

Anna is an exciting emerging artist, beginning Aboriginal art into a different forum. Since 2006 she has had many exhibitions demonstrating her talent, keen eye and willingness to try new things. Although this art form is not “traditional” in a sense most art collections in Australia now hold similar works and thus can be considered collectable pieces.

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