Lynette Lewis is part of the art centre Ernabella Arts.
Lynette has fast become one of Ernabella’s leading artists.She began as an Aboriginal Arts Worker at Ernabella Arts in 2015 when her children were in their final years of school. Prior to this, Lynette had made tjanpi (weaving) at home and years earlier had created a suite of prints at the art centre.
In 2015 Lynette participated in two workshops leading up to the exhibition at Sabbia Gallery in Sydney – Yangupala Tjuta Waakarinyi (Many Young People Working). She then attended the Australian Ceramics Triennale in Canberra with three other artists and demonstrated at the Sabbia Gallery exhibition that toured to the Australian National Botanical Gardens Gallery.
In 2015 Lynette participated in a contemporary jewellery workshop with jeweller Mel Young at Ernabella as part of the Indigenous Jewellery Project. She created exceptional resin and traditional seed necklaces during the workshop, and she was selected as a finalist in the National Contemporary Jewellery Award at Griffith Regional Gallery.
In 2016 Lynette worked alongside seven other Ernabella women to create a collaborative ceramics installation for the Indigenous Ceramics Art Award at the Shepparton Art Museum.
In 2016 Lynette’s work was acquired for the National Museum of Australia’s collection.
In 2017 her work was presented in Clay Stories: Contemporary Indigenous ceramics from remote Australia at Sabbia Gallery. The exhibition began its national tour at JamFactory in Adelaide for the Tarnanthi: Festival of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art.
Her first solo exhibition was Mara ninti: Clever hands – Liritja (necklaces) by Lynette Lewis and was presented at Craft ACT in 2017.
Since then Lynette’s work has appeared in exhibitions across Australia and internationally, including the Hold our connection to country strong for malatja-malatja (future generations) exhibition at Aboriginal Signature gallery in Brussels in 2018 and then again in Nganampa ngura-nguru nyurampa ngurakutu (From our place to your place) at Aboriginal Signature in 2020.
In 2019 Lynette’s ceramic artwork was inspired by milpatjunanyi, drawing stories in the sand, was a finalist for the Ravenswood Women’s Prize. She was also a finalist in the 2019 NATSIAA Telstra Awards.
Lynette is part of a renowned family of Ernabella artists – her mother is Atipalku Intjalki and her sisters are Michelle Lewis and Langaliki Lewis. Her father Adrian Intjalki was an established punu (timber) artist and her brother Jeffrey also paints at the art centre. Today Lynette’s daughter, Jayanna Andy, is an emerging ceramicist at Ernabella Arts.
SOURCE: Ernabella Arts