Brenda Lewis studied drawing at the Brisbane Technical College and at Martyn Roberts' private art school in Fortitude Valley (Brisbane). She continued her art studies at the Chelsea School of Art, London, in the late 1940s. She returned to Brisbane in 1953 before moving to Central Queensland where she painted, taught art and opened her first gallery. She has published Lovers and Other People (1988), an artist's book of watercolours.

Returning to Brisbane in 1976, Lewis gained her BA in Political Science at the University of Queensland in 1985. She was one of the original members of the 'Social Alternatives Collective'. She lived on Coochiemudlo Island, Moreton Bay.