The opening of the Ikuntji arts centre in Haasts Bluff in 1992, involved many women from Kintore who had cross cultural and familial ties to the artists in Haasts Bluff. The women travelled from Kintore to Haast’s Bluff to participate in the opening ceremonies. Subsequent to the four day ceremony Marina Strocchi , the first art co-ordinator at Ikuntji, was asked many times by the women from Kintore for the opportunity to paint. In 1994, Strocchi organized a collaborative painting bush camp near Kintore with fifteen women resulting in five large canvases. These early womens’ paintings together, with some others produced at a further workshop, were exhibited in 1995 at Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide to great acclaim, with all the first canvases finding their way to institutional collections.

In 1996 the women from Kintore began painting for Papunya Tula Artists, who by then had engaged extra field workers to facilitate the painting activity. Amongst these early painters from the first workshop were Makinti Napangka, Wintjiya Napaltjarri, Tjunkiya Napatjarri, and Naata Nungurrayi.

Within a very short time, the group of women  painters at Kintore became some of Central Australia’s most sought after artists.

The next generation of inspirational Papunya Tula women artists have continued to paint in this traditional style. They produced works of excellence and inventiveness which are exhibited on the international stage and collected broadly by institutions and discerning collectors of contemporary art. The achievements of this collective group of painters should be both acknowledged and applauded as we look forward with anticipation to the next twenty five years.