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The Reef

About Frances Smith

Artist, Fran Smith

I was always drawing and sculpting as a child. In the 1970’s, I was academically trained in graphic design at Sydney College of the Arts and after graduating, began work as a graphic designer in television.

I became head of design for Channel 7 in Sydney before travelling to London and working in various galleries and design practices.

Returning to Australia in the 1980’s, worked at Channel 9 as a senior air-brush artist and then for the ABC in Sydney, before leaving and heading the design department at a major independent TV studio, transitioning to digital design and animation.

Since then I have worked as a designer in book publishing, formed my own design studio and multimedia company and developed a commercial newspaper publication in both print and web.

Throughout, I worked in clay, gaining competence in both throwing and glazing, working at night and weekends mostly, but for several happy years, as a full-time production potter.

Compared to most of the mediums I have used, clay is the most challenging – but it is also the most rewarding. From a plastic, almost trivial raw material, it is transformed over a series of stages into a highly decorative, functional and long-term expression of creative intent.

My fascination is with simple, elegant functional ware in porcelain; sometimes as surface for intricate illustration; and sometimes as a form that uses glaze simply as a means to highlight the underlying beauty of the piece itself, without further artistic overloading.

Find us on Weave

We are members of the Kiama and Shellharbour arts directory called Weave.

Find us on Etsy

Selected works are available on Etsy.

Stockists

Fran’s current work is available at the “Precinct Galleries” at Berry on the New South Wales south coast.

Precinct Galleries
12 – 24 Alexandra Street
Berry NSW 2535

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Recent Exhibitions

Other Exhibitions

  • 2016

    A Fresh Perspective, group exhibition, Kerrie Lowe Gallery, Sydney.
  • 2015

    Touch, group exhibition, Brookvale TAFE, Sydney.
    Reminiscence, exhibition, Judith Wright Contemporary Art Centre, Brisbane.
    Artisans in the Gardens, group exhibition, Botanical Gardens, Sydney.
  • 2014

    Evolution, group exhibition, Brookvale TAFE, Sydney.
  • 2007

    Tango, exhibition, Ewart Gallery, Willoughby, Sydney.
  • 2006

    Above the Salt, group exhibition, Ewart Gallery, Willoughby, Sydney.
  • 2004

    Seasons, joint exhibition, Fairview Gallery, Mudgee, NSW.
Gymea Lilly, Evolution Exhibition 2014

Black & White

Lustre

Sculptural

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