Rochelle Ferguson Australian, Irruntyju, b. 1980
Rochelle Ferguson is a young woman from Irruntyju (Wingellina) communtiy in WA. She has spent most of her adult years in Alice Springs with her family and her children. She is learning her weaving skills from her mother Ann Cleary who is an accomplished artist from WA. Her mother and Rochelle have a style of weaving that is quite different from any other at Tanpi and incorporates grasses they have found in a secret spot along the river bed due to the high levels of rain over the past year. Rochelle's baskets look to be influenced by weaving styles in the northern Indigenous communities where they use Pandanas leaves. Her style is very intricate and she dyes the grasses herself. She also has created some beautiful sculptures with a different style of weave and is an exciting new artist for Tjanpi.