CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Leah Thiessen

Upcoming Exhibitions

**News Update**
Leah Thiessen has been listed in this years TOP 100 Australian Collectable artists of 2025!

Leah Thiessen’s abstract, highly layered images are created in direct response to bush, beaches and mangroves that surround her home and studio on the edge of the Terranora Broadwater in Northern NSW. Exploring the living energy of nature, Thiessen’s work draws upon the biodiversity of the bush and mangroves that line the water’s edge and reflect the the raw energy and liveliness of a space and place.

‘My work taps into the emotional gravity of a place, its memory, its pulse, its rawness and power. For me the paintings communicate a deep felt relationship with the earth, embodying a spirit of place and its atmosphere. The images are a direct emotional response to the bush, beaches and mangroves that surround my home. My paintings explore unique ways of capturing the diversity of the natural terrain. I am interested in local flora, protected plant species, seaweeds and noxious plants. I often start my paintings with the small delicate details found in the bush and then depart to a place of frantic energy.’
Leah Thiessen, Artist Statement

"Thiessen describes her work as an immersion in the emotional resonance of her surroundings. Each painting begins with subtle impressions - delicate marks and quiet tones - that gradually build into more vigorous layers of color and form. The process is instinctive and physical, guided as much by feeling as by sight. She often pushes a piece well beyond the point where other artists might stop, stripping away and rebuilding until a new kind of harmony emerges.”
Excerpt from catalogue essay by Kate McAuley 2025

ARTIST PROFILE:
Leah Thiessen has been exhibiting nationally since 2010. In both 2025 and 2023 she was listed in the Top 100 Collectable Artists (top100artists.com). She has been a finalist in the Lethbridge Landscape Art Prize (2024, 2022), the Omnia Art Prize (2024), the Calleen Art Award (2022, 2019, 2016, 2015), the Muswellbrook Art Prize (2021), the John Leslie Prize (2020, 2018, 2016), the Glover Prize (2020), the John Villiers Art Prize for Small Works (2020), the Clayton UTZ Art Award (2019), the Gosford Art Prize (2019), and the Paddington Art Award (2016) among others. She has exhibited nationwide since 2010. Her work is held in the Arthur & Suzie Roe Collection.