CO:LAB artist biographies
Cathy Franzi
Dr Cathy Franzi is an award-winning visual artist interested in expressing scientific and environmental knowledge through the representation of Australian flora on ceramic form. In 2010 she completed a Master of Visual Arts in Ceramics at the School of Art + Design at the Australian National University, Canberra. In 2015 she was awarded a Doctorate in Visual Arts (Ceramics) for her research topic, ‘An Australian botanical narrative: a practice-led enquiry into the representation of Australian flora on the ceramic vessel as an expression of environmental culture.’
Her interdisciplinary approach is informed by a first degree in Science and has led to numerous science-art projects including the prestigious ANU Vice-Chancellor’s Artist Visiting Fellows residency with the ANU Research School of Biology and the ‘Art of Threatened Species’ funded by the NSW Office of Environment and Heritage.
Franzi has held eleven solo and participated in more than forty group exhibitions and is represented by Sabbia Gallery in Sydney, Beaver Galleries in Canberra and Schaller Gallery in Michigan USA. Her work is held in public collections including Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Parliament House Art Collection, Manly Museum & Art Gallery, Canberra Museum & Gallery and Shepparton Art Museum. Franzi has received numerous awards, most recently Highly Commended in the Waterhouse Natural Science Art Prize 2020 and People’s Choice Award in the 2020 Klytie Pate Ceramic Award.
She contributes to the field by teaching at tertiary and community level and is in her fourth year as President of The Australian Ceramics Association.
Alison Jackson
Alison Jackson is a designer, maker and contemporary Silversmith based in Braidwood Australia. Completing a Gold and Silversmithing degree at the Australian National University, Alison holds over a decade of artistic and technical metal forming expertise.
Craftsmanship and the way pieces are made has always been an influence to Alison. From the way two surfaces join together, a junction, or the way an edge has been finished, it’s all in the details of an object. It is the perfection of being imperfect and the distinctive nature of structures and objects that inspires her. By linking the rich history of metal-working to present-day artistic practices, Alison intertwines her fine hand-crafting skills with the experimental nature of design and metal forming.
https://www.ferroforma.com.au/
Dan Lorrimer
Dan Lorrimer is a sculptor, machinist and fabricator. With a degree in Sculpture from the Australian National University, Dan has since diversified his work, significantly developing his skills across a wide range of technical areas, specialising in metal forming.
Dan’s work is driven by a deep understanding of materials, industrial processes and a keen sense of exploration through making. He works across scales in metal, from sculpture, object design through to custom prototyping and fabrication services. Dan’s thirst for learning and developing unique processes is woven through all he designs and makes, continually striving to refine and resolve making processes to be the best they can be.
Dan’s sculpture practice explores notions of movement, energy, solidity and illusion through minimalist sculptural forms, often located between the artificial and natural world.
He has exhibited widely across Australia and is currently represented by Flinders Lane Gallery Melbourne.