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 (and more recently copper) with the hope that these transformations encourage more responsible use of our finite resources and the disastrous effect it has on our environment.

Momentum - Queensland Regional Art Awards 2025

Art for Life Overall winner

For Annie Slade

Reused copper hot water service, refrigeration tubing & 1 x sterling silver and various patina and archival wax using chasing & repoussé technique

 2 x 37 x 37cm (each bowl 2x5x5cm)

2025

Artist Statement

This landscape represents the inter sections of my enduring passions: a fascination with seaweed and the technique of chasing and repoussé.

Whilst giving momentum to an ancient technique, these diverge from traditional perfection, embracing the irregularities that arise during the making. Creation is slow and contrasting to the relentless pace of our contemporary world. Every mark a quiet celebration, with momentum driving the rhythmic tapping of the hammer against copper. This meditative act is gradual, each stroke building upon the last, transforming the material into something new.

Connecting to Annie Slade’s 1884 collection (a part of British Marine Algae Collection at JCU Special Collections), sparked a creative dialogue leading to the development of these bowls. Studying her pressed seaweed specimens deepened my understanding of both her pioneering work and the enormous variety of marine algae. The bowl shape references the global significance of seaweed as a potential food source.

Stirring Histories - detail 2024

PUNQ Festival - POP UP NORTH QLD

Out front of TYTO Regional Art Gallery

73-75 Mcilwraith St, Ingham QLD

Running from 1 – 18 August 2024

Hills Hoist clothesline, salvaged souvenir t-spoons & steel

302 x 400cm

Stirring Histories is a site specific and kinetic artwork which takes audiences on a journey through layered narratives of the north Queensland Sugar Cane industry, through the very recognisable and kitsch implement that serves as a conduit to history, the commemorative spoon. This new commission interrogates the essence of colonial exploration and reflects on Australiana, where remnants of a bygone era that once commemorated and paid homage, now overflow, and find themselves in op-shops or scrap metal heaps. Amidst this collection, kitsch enamel souvenir teaspoons emerge as poignant relics, stirring the sugar into our welcoming cuppas and prompting contemplation of the past.

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.

Download the FREE Education Kit.

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