Fran Alison

Fran Alison

Fran Alison is a jeweler and currently a lecturer at the Manukau School of Visual Arts, her practice involves a lot of collaboration as she was apart of an artist group who worked on a project called "Weeds". In the beginning of the lecture, Fran explains the dictionary definition of collaboration quoting "-1.work jointly esp. in a literary or artistic production. Oxford English Dictionary", She further explains her lecture on collaboration with her personal experiences.

I think explaining her work from my perspective isa good way to start. Fran mentioned in her lecture that she loves to work with metal, she loves the nature of metal but her methods of manipulating metal is incredibly unorthodox. She takes a leap of faith sometimes and decides to crush metal, perhaps for the reason that she hopes for an interesting, abstract outcome.

1993 in Melbourne called ‘Conversationswith Kitchen Utensils’.

Fran takes an interest in how false items can be perceived as real items, she emphasizes how the appearance of an item is enough to fool the viewer. Fran made these fake biscuits while she was working for a model making company, using her skills to make false ice cream for advertisements. Fran quotes, "This was my first foray into faking it." I personally like the idea of falseimpressions, and how the the eye and mind are easily fooled by image.

Detail Assorted Titbits

In 1999, Fran worked on a series of works she called ‘dress up’, these were a series of wearable works made from steel and mesh. Fran says the works are heavily influenced by polynesian culture, and she acknowledges the floral patterns and designs for it's diversity (in terms of meanings and ideas). One of her pieces were of a samoan lei which she quoted "The lei particularly. A necklace that is given in greeting and parting in pacific culture, I have repeatedly used this form in my work." her work is an interesting mix of the old and new as she names thepiece "Urban Lei".

"Urban Lei" 1999

a series of works called "dress up" in 1999

Fran decided to work in collaboration with other artists in 2005 with the show "Weeds". The project was her attempt to progress her work and explore different approaches in art making, she quoted ". For me it was also a point at which I started to move my ideas for exploration in my practice from the house to the garden." In my opinion, her work seemed to be stronger in this project, perhaps for the reason that at that time, her experience has made her into a better artist, but, also the fact that she collaborated with other artists, allowing her to give and share ideas with artists who use ceramic and cast glass. "Weeds" was shown at "Galerie Biro" in Munich Germany in September 2010, the work revealed was interesting as they were made from collected items, I thought the idea of using a biscuit tin and decorating it was quite amusing at first, but thinking about the process of which it was made, like floral patterns cut out and collaged on, makes for an interesting composition.

Remake of a piece from Weeds 2 at Quoil

Remake of a piece from Weeds 2 at Quoil