Holly Leonardson

Mulubinba, Awabakal land (Newcastle NSW)

Holly Leonardson is a visual artist currently residing in Mulubinba (Newcastle), Australia. She has been working with collage-based concepts for over ten years, with a practice that spans both tactile and digital collages, and small sculptures that maintain a focus on the assemblage of found imagery and materials.

Her work is guided by a playful, material-led process and an enthusiasm for frequent studio experimentation. The main themes in Holly's work reflect her interest in handcrafted objects and the making process, collections and collecting, living spaces and the natural environment. In the last few years, beach combing has been at the forefront of her image taking and found object collecting, with weathered shards of colourful broken plastics, fishing floats and driftwood making its way into her work alongside screen printed depictions of shells, rockpools, lost fishing line and rope.

Holly graduated from the University of Tasmania in 2015 with a Bachelor of Contemporary Art. In 2025 she won the Hunter Emerging Art Prize in the sculpture category for her work Ocean Object #1, and was a finalist in the 2024 Gosford Art Prize. She currently works from a studio crammed with books at Onwards Gallery.