Marie Abbott

Marie Abbott (also known as Marie Hayes or Marie Ramjohn) is the younger sister of Clem Abbott. They are both born in Hermansberg. Their father was Arthur Abbott and their mother was Katie Uburtja. When Marie was born in 1953, Clem was already 19 years old. An extremely accomplished painter, he influenced Marie and her cousin Douglas Abbott, as well as Peter Taylor. He described how ‘In the old Hermansburg school we used to paint, just with coloured pencils, and that way we leant a bit’ and ‘how I used to see old Namatjira and his sons painting, and watching them I got ideas and learnt more.’ He died in 1989. Marie’s landscapes often combine clear washes of vibrant colour with overlays of linear patterning. She combines painting and drawing to produce paintings with clear simple forms – rocks, plains and mountains, separate into foreground, middle ground and distance, often framed by a sinuous tree.

In her earlier work Marie used watercolours to paint the landscape but her brother said that she should paint her own style. From this Marie developed a naturalistic style of landscapes using acrylic paint on canvas, eventually combining dotting into the landscape very successfully.

During the period 1993 to 1996 Marie would detail birds of the region into her landscapes. Since 1996 the subject of her work has been illustrating bush foods and women gathering using symbolic designs and dotting, although she has begun to paint the landscapes once again.

Marie painted a large mural at the Aboriginal Birthing Centre in Alice Springs.

Marie is a registered Aboriginal Health worker and is studying with Bachelor College in Aboriginal Health.