Lila Lawrence, painter, screen-printer, ceramicist and weaver, was born on 2 July, 1940 in Quirindi, NSW and attended school there until the age of 15. She has lived in a number of places with her parents, mother Leah Olive Beale (née Suey) and father, Claude Beale, including Gunnedah, Curlewis and Tamworth before settling in the Wollongong region on the South Coast of NSW.
Encouraged by her friend and fellow artist, Mabel Dungay, Lawrence attended art classes at West Wollongong TAFE in 1998 and was awarded her Advanced Diploma of Visual Art in August 2006. Lawrence is an artist member of the Boolarng-Nangamai Aboriginal Art & Cultural Studio based in Gerringong on the NSW South Coast and in 2006, as a member of this organisation, her work was included in their NAIDOC exhibition at Wollongong City Art Gallery and another exhibition titled “Looking through European Eyes”, also held at the Wollongong City Art Gallery, in which Illawarra Aboriginal artists were asked to respond to works from the Gallery’s Colonial collection.
Lawrence has also exhibited at the Karoona Gallery, West Wollongong TAFE in 2004 and at the 2005 and 2006 Royal Easter Show. Lawrence stated in an interview with the author that her paintings, which are created using make-up brushes, are landscapes that “reflect from my memories of places and land I have travelled throughout my life.” Lawrence also conducts workshops at Boolarng-Nangamai in weaving, storytelling and cultural awareness. Lawrence said in the same interview that being a member of Boolarng-Nangamai also enables her to practice her Aboriginal culture and to be with her people.
- Writers:
- Allas, Tess
Note:
- Date written:
- 2007
- Last updated:
- 2011
- Status:
- peer-reviewed
