Gillian Lever is a contemporary British artist who studied Fine Art at Reading University in the 1980s when it had a strong tradition of teaching abstraction. Following her studies Gillian moved to Birmingham where she became friends with the artist William Gear who nurtured her practice. She has exhibited nationally and internationally, and her work is held in a number of public and private collections across the UK. Public collections include Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Goldman Sachs, UB40, Queen Anne's School Reading, St George's Hospital Tooting, The Warwick Arts Trust London, The Royal Bank of Canada, and TLT Solicitors, London. For thirty years she was represented by Art First, a London based gallery which, before closing in 2024, presented a dynamic exhibitions programme, participated in art fairs in the UK, the USA, Europe and South Africa and represented emerging and established artists whose work has entered museum and public collections in the UK, the USA, South Africa and Europe.
Gillian trained as an art therapist and has practiced Art Therapy and Art for Wellbeing in a number of hospitals, GP surgeries and community settings. Together with her husband, the artist Jake Lever, she co-founded Lever Arts, an arts organisation that seeks to work soulfully with people, materials and places. As well as working to commission and creating exhibitions Lever Arts devises participatory experiences in the areas of health, education and spirituality, believing that art can offer a resource for centred living in a frantic and fractured world.
Throughout her life Gillian has found her own art practice to be a valuable spiritual exercise - like chanting, prayer or reading - she believes art making can be a powerful way to connect to the divine voice within.