About

Kelly Leonard is an artist based in Broken Hill NSW. As a teenager, Kelly was taught weaving by a second-generation Bauhaus weaver, Marcella Hempel, in Wagga Wagga NSW. Marcella Hempel, was born in Berlin in 1915. She studied weaving under Margaret Leischner, a former teacher at the Desseau Bauhaus. Marcella migrated to Australia in the 1950s, becoming an important figure in the studio art movement in the 1970s in regional NSW. Marcella said she regarded herself as a product of Bauhaus philosophy in search of a socialist utopia.
Margaret Leischner (1908-1970), migrated to Britain in the 1950s becoming a Professor at the Royal College of Art. Her important role at the school helped disseminate specialist textile knowledge developed at the Bauhaus, throughout the education system in Britain.

Since reactivating her practice in 2017, Kelly has been making work responding to the sight, sound, smell and feel of the environment, where she places woven artworks in conversation with place, to activate new meanings and relationships. Her work is always informed from her perspective as a regional/remote artist. Kelly believes that struggles for social justice and environmentalism cannot be separated from each other and are inextricably woven together.  Themes such as trust, the importance of relationships, different evaluations of time, risk taking and the ethics of care are important considerations in how she makes work and how work is shown to an audience. Kelly views weaving as an open-ended world making practice though which new patterns can emerge.

Kelly’s base is on Wilyakali Country and she pays respect to all traditional custodians on whose lands she travels in.