Under the clearest blue sky

‘When I’m painting, I feel I’m in another place; a spiritual place where everything just comes out of me about my people and my community, and
I’m always learning.’

Uncle Brian Birch is a member of the Victorian Aboriginal community. His forebears were originally from Tasmania and Barbados. Under the clearest blue sky is a survey of Uncle Brian’s vibrant and lively paintings. Bringing together works from personal and institutional collections, this intimate body of work examines Uncle Brian’s connection to Country, family and tradition. Uncle Brian picked up a paintbrush at age 70 after completing a course in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Arts at the Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE (NMIT) and has since taken to working on large scale canvases.

Born in Fitzroy, Melbourne in 1936, Uncle Brian Birch completed his studies at NMIT in 2005 and won the National Gallery of Victoria Acquisitive Art Award in the 2006 Victorian Indigenous Art Awards for his painting, Koorie Elders and Family Dancing and Singing, 2006. He received the 2006 Gumbri White Dove Award at Bundoora Homestead Art Centre and was commended in the Koori Heritage Trust Acquisition Award in 2008. Uncle Brian is currently living at the Aboriginal Community Elders Services in Brunswick where he still enjoys painting.