History and publications

The University Art Collection was established in the Northern Territory with the creation of the Northern Territory University on 1 January 1989.¹ In that year, the University inherited two collections formed by its precursor institutions: the Darwin Institute of Technology (1984-89, formerly the Darwin Community College, 1974-84) and the University College of the Northern Territory (1987-89).

One of these collections encompassed a teaching collection of approximately 100 items, predominantly works-on-paper by contemporary Australian non-Indigenous and several First Nations artists, assembled by an Art Acquisitions Committee and the School of Fine Arts between 1980 and 1989.

The second was a discrete collection of more than 20 Indigenous items - bark paintings, sculptures, woven items, decorative weapons and ceremonial regalia - emanating from Arnhem Land, the Tiwi Islands, Central Australia and north Queensland acquired by a former Warden of the University College of the NT, Professor Jim Thomson, in 1988.

From the 1990s onwards, acquisitions continued to be made to the university Art Collection by an Art Collection Committee, focusing principally on works-on-paper by First Nations and non-Indigenous Australian contemporary artists, including university art students, staff, artists-in-residence and Northern Territory-based artists.

Following the establishment of the NT University Print Workshop (NTUPW) within the Art School, in 1993 the University Art Collection became the beneficiary of workshop proofs (WPs) of limited-edition prints produced by artists who worked with the university’s printmaking staff.

From 2002, the redesignated Northern Editions Printmaking Workshop continued this tradition, after the re-integration of Northern Editions within the School of Creative Arts and Humanities until its closure in 2014.²

Prior to the opening of CDU Art Gallery in 2009 at the university’s Chancellery (building Orange 12), the CDU Art Collection held annual exhibitions in the Nan Giese Gallery, (building Orange 10). The staging of the Art Collection's exhibitions in this venue acknowledged its historical and contemporary associations with the Art School.

In 1996, the CDU Art Collection's first major touring exhibition, entitled Printabout, was organised by ArtbackNETS NT (now ArtbackNT).³ It featured 34 lithographs, etchings and linocut prints by First Nations artists who collaborated with the Art School's printmaking staff at the NTU Print Workshop between 1993 and 1996. Printabout toured to 76 venues regionally and nationally.

In 1997, The meeting of waters exhibition featured collaborative artworks created at Australasian Print Project, NTU Printmaking Workshop with artists from Indonesia, Philippines, Arnhem Land and Darwin.⁴ In 1999 a survey exhibition of the University Art Collection - Art and Place - was held featuring 143 artworks, curated by Dr Ian McLean.⁵

Since 2009, a continuous program of exhibitions has been featured at the CDU Art Gallery as documented in the past exhibitions included on this website. View a list of catalogues and journal articles dedicated to the CDU Art Collection.

Footnotes

1. Northern Territory University was renamed Charles Darwin University in 2003, following a merger with Centralian College in Alice Springs and the Northern Territory Rural College.
2. The NT University Print Workshop (NTUPW) was renamed Northern Editions Printmaking Workshop in 1997.
3. Monger, K and Officer, D. 1996. Printabout: lithographs, etchings and lino prints from the Northern Territory University.  Darwin: Northern Territory University in association with Artback NETS NT.
4. Hogan, J, Hall, B and Lendon, N, 1997. The meeting of Waters. Darwin: Northern Territory University [Printmaking workshop]
5. Giese, N. and McLean, I. 1999. Art and place: collecting contemporary art at the Northern Territory University. Darwin: Northern Territory University.