Lucinda Leveille

Queensland

• Artist Statement
  • A curly haired and adventurous three year old Lucinda made an unforgettable entry into the world of art with a pencil and the lounge room wall as her canvas. Her parents soon bought her a blackboard to encourage her budding talent or perhaps had another compelling motive in mind. Even then she knew she wanted to become an artist, just like her father, grandmother and great grandfather. It was in her genes and nothing would deter her. As soon as she was old enough she applied for art school. Competition was fierce, but her talent and determination gained her a place. The 5 year full time classic course included anatomy, perspective and colour theory, subjects that broadened her scope, understanding and experimentation into different styles. On finishing school, Lucinda moved to the Gold Coast where she produced a body of work that she presented to a Surfers Paradise gallery. Shattered when rejected and told she had no talent so should pursue another career, Lucinda didn’t put brush to canvas for 10 years. But you can’t continue to deny what genetics, passion and talent gave you.
    
    For Lucinda art is an expression and interpretation that not only pleases the eye but draws out our emotion as we continue to discover the different aspects of what we see. A truly talented artist allows the viewer to escape to their own special place for a little while. Finding new strength, Lucinda continued her studies using different mediums, pushing the boundaries, painting with groups or spending many hours alone in her studio. She has travelled a journey of styles, realism, expressionism and cubism continually changing as the moment and her soul dictated. “You never know where your brush will lead you” she says.
    
    The diversity of Lucinda’s body of work is testament to more than her unquestionable talent. It is also exposes her understanding of the drawn emotion her brushstrokes impart through the subject on her canvas. Quoting Pablo Picasso “the purpose of art is to brush the dust of daily life off our souls”, Lucinda trusts that her art brings a little bit of peace happiness and love into your life. Many would say she already has.
• Biography
  • 
    SOLO EXHIBITIONS
    2010 New Works Pauline Ewers Fine Art, Toorak, Victoria
    2006 Pushing The Boundaries Bruce Watling Galleries, Southport,
    Queensland
    
    SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
    2018 The Morris Art Prize
    Artlovers Australia Prize
    Lethbridge Small Scale Award
    Coast To Country 10 Women Artists supporting women
    2013/18 d’arcy Doyle Art Prize
    2008 Mortimore Art Prize & Traveling Exhibition
    2003 Nerang Chamber of Commerce Exhibition
    2002 Society Of Sculptors
    
    BIBLIOGRAPHY
    2018 Home Design Magazine November, full page feature
    Artlovers Australia Book 2018 feature, p 6
    Art Edit Magazine Summer edition issue 16, p 69 and 108
    Artsy Shark Autumn feature artist
    2007 Women In Focus Magazine August, feature p 39
    2006 This Month on the Broadwater July 2006, feature p 5
    2003 Gold Coast Sun Newspaper January feature article, p 10
    
    SELECTED COLLECTIONS
    2014 Gold Coast Volunteer Coast Guard
    2008 Private Collection, Corfu, Greece
    2004 Gold Coast Italo Australian Club (public space)
    2003 Gold Coast City Council, Nerang Library
    2002 Nerang Chamber of Commerce (public space)
    2001 Gladstone, Queensland (public space)
    2000 Rockhampton, Queensland (public space)
    1999 Private collection, London, England
    1998 Private collection, Spain
    
    SELECTED AWARDS
    2018 Morris Art Prize, Finalist
    Artlovers Australia Prize, Finalist
    Lethbridge Small Scale Award, Finalist
    2013 d’arcy Doyle Art Awards, Highly commended, landscape
    2008 Mortimore Art Prize and Traveling Exhibition, finalist
    2002-2005 Sculptors Society, various awards
    1998-2015 Gold Coast Show Society, various awards
    
    RESIDENCIES
    2016 Gold Coast City Council
    
    
    
• Interview

  • Which new trends or Australian artists do you find inspiring at the moment? I don’t really follow new trends or any artists – I go where my paintbrush leads.

    Which Australian deceased artist do you most admire and why? Brett Whitely for his amazing draughtsmanship.

    Which exhibition that you have visited made the greatest impact on you and why? I was quite young, I don’t think I had left school and I saw a Rodin sculpture in Sydney – the Burghers of Calias and I was totally mesmerized, I decided I wanted to sculpt then and there. However, things change and I ended up a painter.

    Where do you get your inspiration for your work? I am inspired by the water at the moment – whether it is still water, fresh or salt, the sounds and smells all contribute to a painting. But most of the time you simply see something and go ‘O.K. got to get that on canvas.’

    Do you have any rituals or habits involving your art-making that you can tell us about? Not really, but I am always exploring new products to see if they will improve my practice. Or seeing what is new on the market, you might find something that leads you in a new direction or opens up the possibilities of something new happening on the canvas.

    What do you like most about being an artist? I am my own boss! How do you handle bad days when you experience artist's block? I always take what Brett Whitely said as fact, it is a job and on a day when nothing creative is happening you go into the studio – tidy, clean, do whatever you need to do to get organized. When you go in the next day something will happen – treat it as a job – 9 to 5.

    What is your greatest achievement as an artist to date? I suppose the two solo shows that I had in a row, but having said that, I was pretty well burnt out after and didn’t paint for a few years after that. But I it was always a dream to have a ‘solo’. Do you feel that you want to make a difference to the world or in people's lives? If yes, how? I would like to leave the world a little more happier, calmer, more pleasant to be living in I guess. I would like to think that I lived and added to people’s lives not detracted.

    What are your plans for the coming year? To keep on exploring, learning and expanding my art practice. There is always something new out there.