Artist, Teacher, Curator, Writer. Born in England in 1945. Arrived in Australia in 1969 as a young art teacher, with a National Diploma in Design (NDD) London, and a Post Graduate Art Teacher’s Diploma (ATD) University of Liverpool. Lesley’s practice is driven predominately by a deep appreciation and respect for the Australian landscape.
Lesley’s recent publication, ‘Becoming Australian – an artist’s journey’, launched at her 50 year survey exhibition, is a visual precis of her evolution as an artist. This book also confirms her vast range of skills, her virtuosity and versatility both in technique and image-making, and with a constantly-shifting focus between abstract and representational elements to create both 2D and 3D works.
Lesley Meaney has also participated in numerous group shows in Australia and overseas. She is represented in many public and private collections, has won numerous awards and is documented in a number of significant Australian art publications. Lesley, a pioneer of the theme exhibition in the 1980’s in Western Australia, has held senior lecturing positions in Western Australia, as well as teaching indigenous artists based at Cossack in the North West Pilbara region. She has also run Summer School and Extension classes at the University of Western Australia.
In 2012, Lesley completed her much awaited 80sqm studio– complete with swing! This, as well as her property in Yallingup, is where it all happens. As for her future practice, she states, “I cannot predict what I will be creating in a decade, next year or even next week. Past works are merely prologue – like a line in a poem or cadence in music”.
Outside the studio, Lesley has been involved in a number of sports. She represented Australia in Hockey in the early 1970’s and was the first woman to swim solo across the Rottnest Channel. She has been a life-member of the Rottnest Channel Swim Association for a number of years, and in 2018 was inducted into its Hall of Fame. She claims that the discipline required for competitive physical activity not only keeps her fit, able to withstand the ‘ups and downs’ of a creative life, but helps keep her grounded. She adds, “Being in the bush or the ocean is my ‘church’, where many of my artworks have been conceived.
EDUCATION & PROFESSIONAL HISTORY
2021 Sound & Waves Concert – in collaboration with Perth Symphony Orchestra
2009 Artist in Residence, Holmes à Court Gallery, East Perth, WA
2000-2005 Course Presenter, University of WA Extension
2003 Curator, Food in a Harsh Country, Karratha Airport, WA
2002-2003 Lecturer, Aboriginal Public Art, Pilbara TAFE, WA
2002 Mural Coordinator, Cheeditha Aboriginal Community and WA Police Force, WA
1991-1994 Gallery Guide, Art Gallery of Western Australia
1887 Lecturer, Carine TAFE, WA
1980 –1983 Art Coordinator, Karratha College
1973-1979 Head of Art Department/Senior Lecturer, Fremantle TAFE, WA
1968-1972 Art Teacher (secondary education) England and Australia
1968 Art Teachers Diploma, Liverpool University, ATD (Eng)
1966-68 Freelance Graphic Designer, London
1966 National Diploma in Design, Twickenham College of Technology NDD (Eng)
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2020 Lesley Meaney – Becoming Australian, Holmes a Court Gallery, Vasse Felix, Margaret River
2019 Lesley Meaney – 50 year Survey, Holmes a Court Gallery, No.10, West Perth
2021/20/18/17/16/14 Artist’s Open Studio Exhibitions, Nedlands and Yallingup
2013 Reason, Rhythm and Rhyme, Linton & Kay Galleries, Perth
2012 In the Land of Plenty, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup, WA
2010 Keyworks, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup, WA
2008 New Works, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup, WA
2007 To Vincent with a Handshake, Perth Galleries, WA
2005 Tag – the mark of the scribbly gum moth, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup
2005 Interior Country, Perth Galleries
2004 Tree Memoirs from Red Dirt Country, Perth Galleries
2003 The Shedding of Old Layers – The Growing of New, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup
2002 Ennobling the Gum, Pilbara Gallery of Fine Art, Karratha
2000 The Kimberley Under Canvas, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup
1999 The Studio Nude, The Naked Model, Perth Galleries
1998 The Last Decade, Mountford Winery Gallery, Pemberton
1997 Residue of a Journey, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup
1995 Within One Mission, Perth Galleries
1994 Sense and Sentiment, Gunyulgup Galleries, Yallingup
1991 Tapestries in Paint, New Collectables Gallery, Fremantle
1990 Windows, Bay Gallery of Fine Art, Claremont
1988 Homage to Rottnest, Tresillian Community Centre, Nedlands
1985 Homage to Fiji, Arts Council, Suva, Fiji Islands
1984 Long Gallery, Regent of Fiji, Nadi, Fiji Islands
1983 Karratha Community Library, Karratha
SELECTED AWARDS
2018 Homegrown Prize, Vasse Art Award, Vasse
2014 Joint Winner, Sculpture, Wanneroo Art Award
2014 Overall Winner, Vasse Art Award
2012 Overall winner, Shire of Morawa Acquisitive Award
2012 Winner, Acrylics, Beverley Art Award
2008 Winner, Mixed Media, Kondinin Art Prize
2008/06 Overall winner, The Evan Owen Memorial Art Award
2006 Joint Winner, Vasse Art Award, Vasse
2001 Overall winner, Town of East Fremantle Acquisition Award
1999/90 Winner, Hospice Health Credit Selection Prize
1997 Winner, Water Based Media, Katanning Art Prize
1995 Excellence in Mixed Media, City of Melville Art Award
1995 Winner, John Hughes Art Award
1994 Acquisition Prize, Creative Hot Shop
1992 Art Purchase Award, South Perth Primary School
1985/86 Carlton Brewery Fiji Open Calendar Award, Fiji
1983 Overall winner, Painting, National Rotary Art Exhibition, Port Hedland
1983/82/81 Winner, Drawing, Karratha & Dampier Art Awards