Sculpture
Alison McDonald works with reused materials as she welcomes the ghost-like history from previous owners that is silently transported along with the materials journey. She reflects and explores those previous uses then creates site specific artworks en-masse.
In particular, she has specialised in working with reused PET plastic assemblages with the hope that these plastic transformations encourage more responsible use of our finite resources and the disastrous effect it has on our environment.
Pose 2023
Wearable Art occupies an exciting and innovative space that fuses many art forms and techniques, from the use of recycled or high-tech materials and industrial design, through to millinery, sculpture and traditional craft and weaving techniques.
Wearable Art Creatives (WAC) was established in 2019 and aims to grow and promote wearable art as an innovative, vibrant, and creative art form in Townsville, its surrounding areas, and beyond.
The WAC Show is a highly entertaining stage performance showcasing wearable artworks from across Australia. It showcases the work of artists, designers, hair stylists and makeup artists, alongside dance and music performances.
‘Belonging: Memory & Loss’ solo exhibition, Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts
7 July—13 August 2023
As someone who has moved home 22 times, I have explored the human need for belonging, home, and the implications of losing it. I delved into the housing crisis and the significance of our possessions that we carry around with us. I have reflected on the memories attached to our belongings and what is truly necessary to remember a loss.
In this solo exhibition, I showcase sculptures and jewellery which I have created using media such as reclaimed parquetry from a flooded Townsville home, reclaimed keys, and repurposed anodised aluminium canisters.
Barnaby Smith from Art Guide Australia has written an article here.
This exhibition is available for tour, if you are interested please contact me via my contact page.
Waiting for go 2020
Reused anodised aluminium etched, copper, sterling silver, titanium, stainless steel, brass & wood
20 x 47 x 46cm
Ring Cycle for POSE Wearable Art 2021
Recycled PET plastic ring collars
2016-2019 ‘Wanton, Wild & Unimagined’ solo travelling exhibition
By converting masses of everyday objects into visually aesthetic conceptual discoveries, my artwork communicates the optimism in regenerating rubbish. Within my artworks, I aim to stimulate the history embedded within the object, its initial attractions and final deficiencies.
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Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2019
2018 ‘Immersed’ solo exhibition, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
During this current drought and change in climate, I felt compelled to examine my own relationship with water in every minute aspect. As water is such a constant, yet underestimated part of our life, I recorded my usage via a diary to gain a better understanding of how ubiquitous it is. Listing each time I drank, washed, flushed, swam, watered or observed water. This soon became overwhelming. As I became immersed in everything water, I was able to choose selected moments to capture within my artworks for this exhibition Immersed.
Continuing as a Waste Warrior, Immersed evokes my water journey as it traverses a diverse array of reused everyday vessels and consumerist waste that once housed water and their embedded narratives.
Godre’r Glais
I was the first artist to travel from Townsville to Aberystwyth back in March 2012. I was also the very first artist to reach the town house ‘Godre’r Glais’, that I shared with two other artists and so had my pick of the rooms. I chose a top room with a rear view that rose up Penglais Hill, scaled the chimneyed roof tops, all the way up to the majestic National Library of Wales and beyond. This view was to be my daily journey up to the studio and back.
Much of my time there was spent traversing up and down Penglais Hill; from Godre’r Glais to that magnificent crinkled stainless steel studio, designed by Thomas Heatherwick; via the town centre; and right down to the pebbled beach.
The hill had such an impact on me; I have devoted one of my artworks to that hill journey, again using recycled plastic rings as I did in Wales. Although, generally my greatest fascination was the seaweed I collected down at the bottom of the hill.
As a child I was petrified of seaweed however, I eventually grew to be totally fascinated by its immensity, scale and enormous variety, so on route to Wales I went via Dublin and spent time at Trinity College’s Herbarium. I trawled through their extensive collection of 150 year old Australian seaweed collected by the botanist, Professor William Henry Harvey from 1856-58. This wet my appetite further for the Welsh seaweed, so I spent considerable time ankle deep in layers of seaweed underneath the Aberystwyth Pier collecting and photographing it.
Whilst there I did a few small experiments creating seaweed in recycled plastic however, this time I am extending that into new medium, recycled copper. Copper and copper mining is synonymous with Welsh history and the colours of copper replicate the green, brown & red colours of seaweed. It is also a metal which changes colour and reflects the changes I went through whilst there, this combined with the transient nature of seaweed; this too reflects the transitory nature of my journey from Townsville to Aberystwyth.
The Bather
Don’t Waste Xmas
