Marie Ryder b. 1966

Marie Ryder is an Eastern Arrernte woman who grew up in Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa) in Central Australia, about 40km south-east of Mparntwe (Alice Springs). Marie is the daughter of Therese Ryder, a respected artist known for her watercolour landscape depictions of her country surrounding Tjorita (the MacDonnell Ranges), as well as painting using the dotting technique of the Central and Western Desert regions. Marie is married to Kevin Bird Mpetyane, grandson of great artist Ada Bird Petyarre (dec.) Marie learned to paint by watching her mother and maintains this tradition of passing on cultural knowledge to her own children, namely her daughter Kaureen Bird (dec.). Marie’s sons are also in the popular hard rock band, Mulga Bore.

Marie learned much of her painting skills by observing her mother Therese, and has taken on a similar dotting style. Marie typically depicts various kinds of bush tucker that can be found on her country, and the paths taken by women to find and collect them. She also incorporates features of the land; the undulating hills and the waterholes around which the bush foods and medicines grow.

Many of her paintings depict imuna – bush food; merne pmerlpe (quandongs), merne awele awele (bush tomatoes), merne atwakeye (wild orange) and angkwerrpme (mistletoe). Marie pays homage to the native botanicals of the region by painting in vibrant colours, giving them the impression of a soft glow by surrounding them with fine dotting in warm, earthy tones, sometimes including subtle pops of bright colour!