LIVING TREASURE AWARD: Master of Australian Craft

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As a highly respected Tasmanian Indigenous shell worker, sculptor, installation and fibre artist, originally from Cape Barren Island but now living in Launceston Tasmania Lola Greeno has been awarded Craft Australia's Living Treasures Award for 2014. 

With more than 30 years of traditional shell necklace making; the knowledge and customs that were passed down from mother to daughter; Lola is one of a handful of women shell stringers who have been responsible for ensuring the craft is passed on from their Elders and continued to the present day. Although a traditional craft, Lola today works with the shell necklaces in a contemporary manner, sometimes incorporating them with woven fibre works or as parts of installations. Her work is not static or held in the past; it speaks of today's Tasmanian indigenous women.

Living Treasures: Masters of Australian Craft celebrates the achievements of Australia's iconic and influential crafts practitioners and promotes the work of Australian artists whose exemplary craft skills have been recognised by their peers. The Living Treasures series features the selected artist through a solo exhibition of new work, a major monograph publication, a public lecture program and a national tour of the exhibition. The series also celebrates the short-listed finalists as 'Masters of Australian Craft' and acknowledges the wealth and dynamism they have contributed to the Australian contemporary studio craft movement. The Living Treasures series was launched in 2005 and is an initiative of Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design. Click here to read more. Click here for a further reference