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WELCOME to the ASAA gallery of John Leeden. Self taught and a long-time RAAF engineer John travelled Australia and the world for his work and developed a life-long appreciation of the aviation world. He very successfully entered the RAAF heritage award on several occasions and now paints for sale and commission. Select examples of John's artwork from the list at left, below. |
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ARTIST PROFILE: JOHN LEEDEN
In January l949 at the age of 16, John entered the RAAF as a member of number 3 Engineering Apprentice Intake and spent the next 30 years in the Service. During these years he served on numerous Bases in Australia, plus overseas at Butterworth, Malaya, and in Paris, France. Although possessing no formal art training, John was, in October 1973, offered the position of Technical Illustrator to the N.S.W. State Planning Authority an offer he declined due to the restrictive nature of the work. John took up his position in Paris in 1975 and remained for 3 years. This gave him the wonderful opportunity of working with people in the French Aircraft Industry and the chance to spend many happy hours sketching in the incredible aviation museums there and in the U.K. In July 1978 John returned to Australia to take up the position of RAAF Resident Engineer at G.A.F. Avalon, Vic, where he remained until leaving the Service in 1979. During his time in France, John received and completed many commissions of Paris scenes, in various mediums and spent countless hours at weekends with drawing board and pencils in many locations around that city.
In 1988 John was a joint winner of the inaugural RAAF Heritage Art Award, winner in 1990, and a major prize winner in 1989 and 1993. Among the commissions John has received over the years have been works for Mobil Australia, Legacy House, Melbourne, and presentation paintings for retiring senior RAAF officers. In 1988 John joined the fledgling ASAA and has remained a member since then. He is committed to the success of this society and its aims and enjoys the interaction with other members. John's preferred mediums are pencil, pastel and oil. He is also an avid aeromodeller specialising in f/f scale. John's other art interests are steam trains, heavy horses and architectural subjects. No. 22 Quinty's Last Tiger |
| ©2009 Australian Society Of Aviation Artists Inc. Material on this website cannot be reproduced without the written permission of the Society. Copyright is held in all works of art, photography and other media by the respective artists. |
For as long as he can remember John's interest in aviation developed in parallel with his love of drawing. In February 1939, whilst visiting St. Kilda Beach, John saw his first aircraft, the Saro Cutty Sark amphibian owned by Matthews Aviation taking joy flights, which left a lasting impression on the 6 year old. At school his books suffered the ravages of war with desperate dogfights adorning covers or any available space. These "epics" being born when he obviously should have been paying attention.
This experience resulted in the Balmoral Gallery, Geelong, Vic. requesting a solo exhibition of drawings and paintings and this was successfully staged in June, 1979, followed by others in 1980 and 1982. The 1980 exhibition contained 5 aviation subjects, which were sold and resulted in further commissions for aviation work.