In an Alice Springs classroom, a group of students are learning the basics of pattern-making. Lisa Multa is among them, drawing simple, elegant lines and curves onto some bright fabric.
“This is sand dune country, my grandfather’s country,” she tells SBS News.
The students are all established Indigenous artists visiting from the remote Northern Territory community of Haasts Bluff, where they work out of the Ikuntji art centre.
Lisa Multa shows off her work. Source: SBS News
Their work, says Ms Multa, is inspired by the region’s rugged landscapes.
“When we’re drawing, comes from the heart,” she says.
The Papunya Tula cooperative
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The Western Desert region of the Northern Territory has a rich artistic past. It was in Papunya, near Haasts Bluff, where in the early 1970s a group of men began painting stories of their dreaming.
Their dramatic, abstract depictions of culture and country - often using a distinctive dot painting technique - were unlike anything the art world had seen before. Contemporary Aboriginal art became a global sensation.
Patrick Nolan works on a design. Source: SBS News
Patrick Nolan's father Dinny was one of the first Papunya Tula artists.
“He went to South America, Paris, Europe,” he says.
The younger Mr Nolan has since developed his own artistic style.
“I love watercolour. Sometimes dot paintings.”
'Textiles is massive'
Brigida Stewart from the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education is running the textiles class at the Desert Knowledge Precinct in Alice Springs
“We’re trying to mimic the role of a manufacturing company here in the studio,” she says.
“So they know and can see and understand what manufacturing fashion is all about, it’s quite a big process.”
Some of the designs have been printed on fabric and made into clothes. Source: SBS News
It's a pathway that could open up new revenue streams for the artists and their remote community. Their designs, printed on fabric, will first be made into clothes, but Ms Stewart says they could have many uses.
“Textiles is massive … it covers anywhere from Manchester homewares (bedding) to fashion, to quilting,” she says.
“It’s quite versatile … and we find their paintings translate quite well onto textile.”
Artist Ms Multa says she's looking forward to using her new skills for commercial use.
“We’d be feeling really proud and happy, that somebody might be wearing this,” she says.
The designs will debut at the Tjungu Festival near Uluru in 2018.
