Bonny Foley-Brennan, painter and weaver was born in Macksville, NSW in 1954. Her family moved to Sydney when she was an infant and she grew up in various suburbs of Sydney before settling in Wollongong in 1990.
Foley-Brennan began creating art when she attended the New Opportunities for Aboriginal Women’s course at Illawarra Institute of TAFE but did not take it up with any seriousness until she enrolled in a TAFE course in 2000, again at Illawarra, specifically targeting Aboriginal artists. After completing various art courses Foley-Brennan enrolled in an Advanced Diploma of Visual Arts and graduated in August 2006. Her paintings are landscapes and what she describes as “memory paintings” of her family and childhood. Her weavings are small baskets created from coloured raffia and beads that Foley-Brennan considers interesting as “they leave a 'wave’ shape in the weaving”.
Foley-Brennan is a member of the Boolarng-Nangamai Aboriginal Art & Cultural Studio based in Gerringong on the NSW South Coast and it is through this organisation that she has been able to exhibit her paintings and woven dilly bags. Her weavings were included the 2003 University of Wollongong exhibition “South Coast Weavers” which toured to Geelong that same year. She has also participated in the annual NAIDOC exhibition at Wollongong Courthouse and exhibited her prints in 2004’s “Red Hand in Wollongong” exhibition at the Long Gallery, University of Wollongong in association with Franck Gohier of Redhand Graphics.
A finalist in the 2004 TAFE NSW Art and Design Prize that toured to Regional Galleries throughout NSW in 2005, Foley-Brennan is represented in the permanent collections of the University of Wollongong and the Wollongong City Gallery. Friend and teacher Kelli Ryan who works with the Boolarng-Nangamai group, has guided her. Foley-Brennan also cites curator Glenn Barkley and artist/printmaker Franck Gohier as among her major supporters.
Foley-Brennan is a first cousin to curator and arts writer, Djon Mundine and also actor, activist and historian Gary Foley. Foley-Brennan regularly participates in weaving workshops were she teaches weaving to the broader community at the Boolarng-Nangamai Aboriginal Art & Cultural Studio.
- Writers:
- Allas, Tess
Note:
- Date written:
- 2007
- Last updated:
- 2011
- Status:
- peer-reviewed
