Eileen Stevens was born sometime in the 1910s at Makiri, in the north-west corner of South Australia between what are now the communities of Kaltjiti and Watarru. Her father was a Yankunytjatjara man, and her mother was Ngaanyatjarra, but Stevens described herself as belonging to the Pitjantjatjara.
Stevens grew up in the bush, living a traditional, nomadic way of life. When she was a young woman, her family settled at Ernabella, which was a Presbyterian mission at the time.
She worked there milking goats. Her husband, who she met whilst living at Ernabella, also worked there chopping trees for use in building projects. The couple later moved to Nyapaṟi after it was established in the mid-1970s. This area was her husband's Dreaming country (homeland),] and although she often made visits to her own birthplace, Stevens would live at Nyapari for the rest of her life.
Stevens did not begin painting professionally until 2004, very late in her life. Her husband had died by then, and Stevens had become close friends with the founding artist Wingu Tingima who had already established herself as an artist in the founding Western APY Lands communith of Irruntju. The two women began to paint for Nyapari's art centre, Tjungu Palya, after it was opened in 2006. They often painted alongside one another, sharing creative ideas and travelling to their exhibitions together Eileen's daughter, Yaritja Stevens, was married to Tingima's son; and the two shared grandchildren.
Stevens had a short career of less than four years. However, her art had immediate success in exhibitions in Melbourne, Adelaide, Sydney and Adelaide and was stronly collected by collectors interested in the burgeoning art from this area. Her only solo exhibition was held in October 2007, less than a year before her death at Vivien Anderson Gallery, Melbourne.
