The Susan Lester Fund was established in 2024 by the Lester Family in memory of Susan.
To give to the TLC Foundation through the Susan Lester Fund, please click here. To select the Susan Lester Fund, click the dropdown arrow beside the TLC Foundation in the ‘Transaction Details’. Your support enables the TLC to continue protecting and managing nature in Tasmania.
Tasmanian artist Susan Lester died in January 2022, aged 65. Following her death, her family established a fundraising campaign to publish the collection of 200 paintings of Tasmanian birds she had completed in the 1980s, which is now held by the Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery. The Lester family thanks the many hundreds of family, friends and members of the public who donated to that campaign, allowing Birds of Tasmania to finally appear.
The Tasmanian Museum and Art Gallery and curator Jane Stewart made the book possible by generously providing digital images of the paintings, and for again exhibiting the works, which had not been seen in public for more than 20 years. Dr Eric Woehler provided his expertise to help update original accompanying text, which had been written by the late Dr Bob Green of the Queen Victoria Museum and Art Gallery. We thank Dr Woehler and the Green family for their generous support of the project. Libby Lester, Susan’s youngest sister, initiated the project on behalf of the family. An ABC Radio National documentary about Susan’s life and the history of the paintings, produced by Libby and Frances Green, is here.
Initial funds of $104,757 were raised by the family in collaboration with not-for-profit organisation OUTSIDE THE BOX / Earth Arts Rights through the Birds of Tasmania by Susan Lester project. The Lester family warmly thanks Robin Banks, Michael Small, Lynda Warner and Tracey Diggins for their generous support and unwavering commitment to Susan’s artistic legacy.
Find out more about the Birds of Tasmania by Susan Lester project here.
