Janette Lucas is an artist with decades of experience exhibiting her
paintings throughout Australia and Indonesia. Her work is held in
public collections, including Museum and Art Galleries of the Northern
Territory (MAGNT), Australian Defence Force Palmerston NT,
Government House & Parliament House Darwin, along with many
private art collections.

After studying and teaching in Victoria, Lucas moved to Arnhem Land
with her family and from then on much of her career as an artist was
spent in the Northern Territory. She was founding co-ordinator of
Bábbarra Women’s Centre, lectured in drawing at the Darwin
University and was head of art at Batchelor College, Rum Jungle, where
she taught indigenous students from the education, linguistics, and
media faculties.

Having re-discovered a deep affection for children’s books, Lucas
wrote her first book Margot and Milligan – Curious as Cats on a road
trip south from the green rolling hills near Byron Bay in 2020.

The original illustrations used in the book, created with pen and ink with watercolour on paper, can be found on the Community Wall in the gallery foyer.