Fran Allison - Collaboration

Fran Allison gave a lecture about her practice as a jeweller and working in a collaboration. Her works are inspired by ready-made or found objects that she takes and distorts or repurposes to create jewellery. I really admire how Allison can take something we see everyday, ugly or pretty, and turn it into something great that we can wear to almost anything.

I found all of Allison’s works innovative and beautiful, but the one work that stood out for me was the Doily Daisy Chain, 2007 made from recycled and reformatted white crocheted doilies and lollipop sticks. I really liked this work because it brought back childhood memories of when my cousins and I would go out and pick the little flowers on the grass, and make necklaces and bracelets to give to the girls.

River of the Moon: Room of Lovers - Rebecca Horn

One of the artists that Allison mentioned had an influence on her work was Rebecca Horn. In her work River of the Moon, I noticed that it looked similar to Allison's work of her brushes on the bathroom floor, in the sense that she has used everyday objects and placed them in a room.

Allison worked within the Weeds Collaboration, which she said started to have an impact on her practice, going from household items to cake and biscuit tins to actual weeds. I think this is an important statement because whether we plan to or not, when working in a collaboration, we become influenced by those we work with. Personally, I think there are positives and negatives when it comes to collaborating. When in a collaboration, you are able to feed off each others ideas, and construct something big and great. In contrast, collaborations can cause you to steer off your own practice, which could result in you making art more for what other people want, rather than what you want.