Design and Art Australia Online

Leann Jean Edwards, artist and designer, was born on Manatunga Mission, Robinvale, Victoria in 1962. She is a descendant of the Wiradjuri and Yitha Yitha Nations of New South Wales, and the Mara clan of the Yolgnu people of the Northern Territory. Edwards undertook a Koori art and design course at the East Gippsland College of TAFE between 1991 and 1995 and achieved a Visual Diploma of the Arts at Monash University in 1996, however her art practice preceded this training. One of her first exhibitions was 'Manatunga Memories’ at the Nicholson Gallery, Bairnsdale, in 1993, which consisted of paintings that recalled her early childhood life on the Manatunga Mission. Edwards’ art practice is inspired by her sense of the injustice Indigenous people suffer, and her commitment to presenting the perspective of the “under dog”. She creates bold, vibrantly coloured paintings that are dense with lively community activity. Drawn from her own experiences and memories, as well as the stories shared by her relatives (which she writes down), they explore urban Indigenous experience and capture the humour and pathos of family life.

Edwards’ art practice is often connected to her involvement in Indigenous community projects, to which she also brings her strengths as a dancer and educator. In 1992, she was invited by the Krowathunkooloong Keeping Place, a Museum of East Gippsland Aboriginal culture in Bairnsdale, to produce wall designs based on the artefacts that were on display inside the museum. In 1997 she was commissioned by the City of Melbourne to produce a design for a hot air balloon that was part of the Melbourne Moomba Festival 'River Spectacular’. In that year Edwards was among a group of Koori artists who founded the East Gippsland Aboriginal Arts Corporation, and she has participated in a number of the Corporation’s exhibitions. Edwards was also involved in the Mallacoota Arts Festival over a number of years, at which she performed as a dancer and contributed artistic designs.

Edwards has painted a number of school murals, one of which was designed for the Bairnsdale Primary School (known locally as '754’) and dedicated to Fred Bull. Fred Bull, brother of renowned Gurnai painter Ronald Bull, had been a friend of the artist’s grandfather Edward William Rogers and an important member of the Bairnsdale Primary School community. Edwards was assisted by a number of Bairnsdale Primary School children in her creation of the mural. In 2001, Edwards participated in an artist exchange program at the Ashiwi elementary school in Zuni, New Mexico, and in the same year she held a solo exhibition titled 'The Kirby Women’ at the Dreamtime Gallery in Sante Fe, New Mexico. The exhibition was a tribute to Edward’s grandmother Sylvia Kirby, and to her ten sisters. As she described in conversation with the author, each painting in the exhibition contained a narrative based on Edward’s memories of how each of the Kirby women had touched her life.

In 1999 Edwards was able to explore a new artistic medium when she participated in an Australian Print Workshop in Fitzroy, Melbourne. Two etchings she produced at the workshop were acquired by the National Gallery of Australia, Canberra, and included in the Gallery’s 2004 exhibition 'Place Made: Australian Print Workshop’.

At the time of writing, Edwards worked as an Aboriginal culture and language teacher at a number of schools in the East Gippsland region, and ran a business as a freelance designer. She was living in Lakes Entrance and had three children and three grandchildren.

Writers:

Fisher, Laura Note:

Date written:

2008

Last updated:

2011

Status:

peer-reviewed