Kelly Leonard

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Kelly-Leonard

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I am an artist  who combines traditional textiles with a regional contemporary focus on the environment. As a teenager, I was taught hand-loom weaving by a second-generation Bauhaus Master Weaver, Marcella Hempel, in Wagga Wagga, NSW. Marcella Hempel, was born in Berlin in 1915 and studied weaving under Margaret Leischner, a former teacher at the Dessau Bauhaus. Marcella migrated to Australia in the 1950s, becoming an important figure in the studio art movement in the 1970s in regional NSW. Marcella’s focus on the relationship between materials and structure to build a signature style, has remained with me.

My current practice and research is centred around bridging hand-woven (floor loom-based) textiles with conductive technologies to produce sound works. The textiles use recycled copper wire as a conductive yarn, to act as a receiver for the inherent energies transmitted from the environment or as a byproduct from our technological world. In particular, I’m exploring the potential interaction between people, space and objects and experiences. I use fieldwork as a primary methodology to interact with the environment and to record sounds, installations and performances.

Read more on my website

See more work in progress on Instagram