Beaver Lennon was born in Adelaide in 1988 and has lived most of his life in Ceduna, South Australia. He is of the Mirning people on his grandmother’s side and the Antikirinjara people of South Australia on his grandfather’s side. His grandmother Verna Lawrie and his late mother, Bernadette Lennon-Lawrie, are also well-respected artists. His grandfather Stanley Lennon was also a talented artist who greatly influenced Beaver; he passed away in 2003.
His great-grandmother Jessie Lennon was a published author who wrote two books, I’m the one that know this country and I’ve been walking everywhere. These were recollections of living in and around Coober Pedy in the early 1920s and were written in her own voice and illustrated with photographs. They are especially important today for offering insight into the history of this regional area from an Aboriginal perspective.
Beaver began painting for the Ceduna Aboriginal Arts and Cultural Centre in 2005. His earlier paintings were influenced by his grandmother’s Dreaming stories of the Bunda Cliffs along the Great Australian Bight (SA), including images of whales and ocean themes. He is now more influenced by his grandfather’s Dreaming of Malu Tjuta (many kangaroos) and some of his paintings include depictions of kangaroos within vast open landscapes. Lennon also paints portraits and in 2008, after a workshop with Siv Grava and John Turpie, he completed My Jammu, My Grandfather, a portrait of Stanley Lennon.
Lennon paints in a realistic style, and his landscapes capture the distinctive open skies and vast expanses of country with an extraordinary degree of depth, inviting the viewer to step into his world. He favours the effects of early morning or late afternoon light, with romantic skies of rolling clouds that reflect the colours found underfoot. Through astute observational recordings he maps out his deep connection to country.
His work has been included in 'Our Mob’ at the Adelaide Festival Centre’s Artspace in 2006, 2007 and 2008. He was a finalist in the 2006 Fleurieu Peninsula Youth Scholarship Award and in 2007 he was given an Honoured Citizen Award for his service to the arts during the Reconciliation Week celebrations in Ceduna. In 2008 he was a finalist in the prestigious Xstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award at the Gallery of Modern Art, Queensland Art Gallery. His work has also been included in group shows at Tandanya, the National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide and in Port Lincoln at Kuju Art Centre (2008) as well as at Red Poles Gallery in McLaren Vale (2007 and 2009). Lennon also completed a series of commissioned murals on public buildings around Ceduna, c. 2008.
- Writers:
- Cumpston, Nici
Note:
- Date written:
- 2008
- Last updated:
- 2010
- Status:
- peer-reviewed
