Alison McDonald

At Home Artist In Residence (AHAIR)
4-17 June 2020, Jensen, Townsville, QLD
Read more about the AHAIR program here.

WAITING FOR GO Project Summary
“Waking me at night was a list of COVID-19 related words, I wrote them down. I was not sure why, but I wanted to utilise these into an artwork about this current time. Perhaps I was trying to find order amongst the disorder in current lives.  My choice of medium to work with for my 14 day at home artist-in-residency, also links with my conceptual profile. It is slices of emerald green anodised aluminium waste from a JCU building, but slightly different extrusions and shapes, echoing my view of people and countries in the world today and their individual capacity to cope at a time of crisis.”

Completed artwork
Images below: Alison McDonald, Waiting for go, 2020, Reused anodised aluminium etched, copper, sterling silver, titanium, stainless steel, brass and wood, 20 x 47 x 46cm. Image 1 courtesy the artist. This COVID-responsive artwork was created as part of the AHAIR project and exhibited in the 2020 Umbrella Members’ Exhibition & Bamford Medical Art Prize.

AHAIR Public Program – Alison McDonald Studio Q&A
5pm Wednesday 17 June 2020, live-streamed on our facebook.

AHAIR work-in-progress

Art in Isolation
Local filmmaker Ben Cocklin recently created a short film in partnership with Umbrella. Ben spoke with Alison McDonald to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on her life and artistic practice.
Directed, shot and edited by Ben Cocklin | Production Assistant: Marjorie Cutting

The AHAIR program is presented in partnership with the Regional Art Services Network (RASN), North QLD. It is a pivot in response to COVID-19 and our usual Studio Residencies. The program provides opportunities for North Queensland visual artists who have lost income and opportunities as a result of the coronavirus.