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

EDUCATION

2012	Examining Life Stories, Riawunna Aboriginal Education, UTAS Our Marerlopeptar, My story on my life so far.
1997	Bachelor of Fine Arts Tasmanian School of Art Launceston (TSAL), University of Tasmania
1993	Associate Diploma in Fine Arts (Textiles) TSAL
1991	Riawunna Aboriginal Bridging Course, University of Tasmania - Launceston
1988	Bachelor of Arts (Home Economics) TSIT - Completed 1st Year
1987	Aboriginal Education Unit Bridging Course TSIT

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT

2007	Cultural Jewels DVD, interviewee & workshop tutor, Aboriginal Education Unit, Cultural Youth Program Bridport
2007	Our Marerlopeptar- our story, producer film DVD as  Indigenous Leadership Course, FACHSIA, Canberra
2000	Interviewer Oral Historian, Bring Them Home Project, National Library of Australia
2000	Internship Program, Regional indigenous curators, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
1998-2000	Statewide Arts Worker- Women’s Karadi Aboriginal Corporation, Hobart
1998	Interviewer of Oral Histories, As we Remember, Education Department Hobart
1996	Traineeship: Curator - Aboriginal Art - 12 months University Gallery, University of Tasmania
1996	Gallery Studies, Tasmanian School of Art at Launceston, University of Tasmania
1995	Resource Person, Riawunna Centre for Aboriginal Education, University of Tasmania, Launceston
1994	Trainee Resource Officer, Riawunna Centre for Aboriginal Education, University of Tasmania, Launceston

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY

Arts Tasmania – Program Officer (Aboriginal Art)

Launceston Church Grammar School Camp Banksia Cultural Camp

Women’s Karadi Aboriginal Corporation Statewide Arts Worker

Community Consultation, Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre, Hobart

Trainee Curator, Aboriginal Art, University Gallery, University of Tasmania

Aboriginal Bridging Course - Textiles Tutor, Riawunna - University of Tasmania

Collaborative design project, Tasdance/University of Tasmania

EXHIBITIONS

2013	Triennale of Craft, Kanazawa Museum, Japan
2013	String Theory, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
2013	Tasmania Today, The Academy of the Arts, Launceston
2011	Near and Far, Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, Hobart
2010	Celebrations, Handmark Gallery Hobart
2008	RE-earthing, Devonport Regional Gallery
	Making Relations, Contemporary Arts Services, Hobart
2005	Cross Currents Linden St Kilda Centre for Contemporary Arts Melbourne
2005	Rhapsody 21c, Academy Gallery, Launceston
2005	On Island Devonport Regional Gallery, Devonport
2004	Our Place Indigenous Australia now Cultural Olympiad Games of Athens
2004	Passage Lake Macquarie City Gallery NSW
2004	Design Island, Opera House Exhibition Hall, Sydney
2002	Wunderkammer, Plimsoll Gallery, Hobart
2002 - 2005	Native Title Business, Queensland Museum, Brisbane
2001	Tribal, Handmark Gallery, Salamanca Place, Hobart
2001	A Survey of Indigenous Jewellery and Body Adornment Redback Gallery, Brisbane
2001	Response to the Island, Long Gallery, Hobart Tasmania
2000 - 2001	Across, Australian National University, Canberra,
2000	Beyond the Pale, Telstra Adelaide Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide
1999	Island to Island, Forestry Tasmania, Hobart
1998	Ways of Being, Ivan Dougherty Gallery, University of New South Wales, Sydney
1998	Mapping Identity, Centre for Contemporary Craft, Circular Quay, Sydney
1998	Many Voices, Tamworth City Gallery, Tamworth, NSW
1998	Ecology of Place and Memory, Gallery A, University of Tasmania, Launceston
1997	Circles around the Body, Gallery A, University of Tasmania, Launceston
1997	Boxed In, Gallery B, University of Tasmania, Launceston
1997	Cultural Forms curated an exhibition of Tasmanian Aboriginal Baskets, Gallery B, The University of Tasmania Launceston
1997	Aboriginal Art, Savode Gallery, Brisbane
1996	Guddhabungan:  A Festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art, Australian National University, Drill Hall, Canberra
1996	Diverse Matters, University Gallery B
1995	Nuini: Our culture is alive, Tasmanian Aboriginal Artists Exhibition Gallery A
1993	Trouwerner, Tasmanian Aboriginal Artists Exhibition, Gallery Two, Launceston
1993	Myhena, Tasmanian Aboriginal Artists Exhibition University of Tasmania Gallery B
1992	Parlevar Art, Devonport Gallery and Arts Centre
1992	The Quilt Form, Collaborative work of 6 artists and 5 students UTAS

REPRESENTED IN THE FOLLOWING PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The Powerhouse Museum of Applied Arts and Science	Sydney, NSW
Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery	Hobart, TAS
National Maritime Museum of Australia	Sydney, NSW
National Gallery of Australia	Canberra, ACT
Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery	Launceston, TAS
The Campbelltown City Art Gallery	Campbelltown N.S.W
The Queensland Art Gallery	Brisbane, Qld
Art Gallery of South Australia	Adelaide, SA
National Gallery of Victoria	Melbourne, Vic
National Museum of Australia	Canberra, ACT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Gough J, Contemporary Aboriginal Art in Tasmania Today. Art and Australia, Volume 35 Number 1, P108-115 Fine Arts Press Pty Limited.

Kleinert S & Neale, M. The Oxford Companion to Aboriginal Art and Culture, Australian National University 2000. Pages 596 and p 698.

Lehman,Greg, Lola Greeno in Croft, Brenda L (ed) Beyond the Pale: Contemporary Indigenous Art, Adelaide Biennial 2000 exhibition catalogue (Adelaide: Art Gallery of South Australia 2000)

Many Voices, exhibition catalogue (Tamworth: Tamworth City Gallery, 1998)

Mapping Identity, exhibition catalogue (Sydney: Centre for Contemporary Craft, 1998)

Moodijt (Australian Indigenous Cultural Expressions) CD ROM, P O. Box 3171, Broadway, WA 6009

Object in Perspective 2003 colour image of shell necklace as part of the cover design 2003

Julie Gough, Guest curator for Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery, tayenebe- Tasmanian Aboriginal women’s fibre work, July 2009, P43-55

100 Hundred Stories from the Australian National Maritime Museum, Sydney 2012, P12-13

Playground, Compiled by Nadia Wheatley, Allen and Unwin, Crows Nets, NSW, 2011, page 32

Contemporary basket making in Australia Woven Form, edited Brian Parkes, Lamb Print, Sydney 2005

As I remember, Dept of Education, Hobart 1998

Keeping Culture- Aboriginal Tasmania, Edited Amanda Reynolds, National Museum of Australia

Contemporary Jewelry in Prospective, Edited Damian Skinner Lark Jewelry & Beading 2013

The Arts Grounded in Region, 2nd International Triennale, Kanazawa Museum Japan 2013