Marianne Newman Gallery

Australian artist, Alison Jane Rice, was born in the harbour side suburb of Mosman in New South Wales. She spent her early childhood squashing figs between her toes on Balmoral‘s magical island and dancing in her fairy costume with her sisters in its famous outdoor rotunda. This sense of play undoubtedly planted the fertile seeds for a creative imagination and artistic career path. Alison's work today still conveys the timelessness of this sacred place in her imagination. “To find pleasure in curiously constructed miniature environments is to honour perfection and embrace deformity," she muses.

Embarking on a serious artistic journey in the late seventies, Alison found herself fuelled by the energy and rawness of Australia's early visual arts industry. In 1995, she received a Masters in Creative Arts from the University of Wollongong after completion of her Bachelors degree. One year later, the artist was inspired to create a performance event relating to indigenous mythology in the Yiribana Gallery of the Art Gallery of New South Wales.

A non-profit project ALIGHT followed to highlight the importance of artist-in-residence programs in children’s hospitals worldwide. For her efforts, Alison was awarded an internationally recognised World Health Organization Healthy Cities Award for contributions to Youth, Arts and Environment. A born aesthete, inspired by beauty in nature and ancient cultures, Alison’s signature drawing and painting style and intuitive approach to colour illuminate her subjects through delicate executions of watercolour, pastel, pencil & charcoal, oil and acrylic on canvas and handmade papers. "I often employ theatrical themes to illuminate the relationship between art and humanity. My works are an emotional and spiritual response to my visual experience and aim to provoke in the viewer an intimate consideration of the natural world. Drawing, painting and printmaking provide me with infinite opportunity to communicate my world and assist me in my exploration of social, environmental and spiritual ideals".

Involved in all creative arts, including writing, book illustration and film, Alison Jane Rice continues to be successful in award exhibitions in galleries of local and international standing and remains active with commissions and the development of her Botanical Theatre series. “I conduct my arts practice in my Botanical Theatre Artist Studio in Leura where I draw and paint most of the week with minimal distraction".

Previous exhibitions and works in progress are the result of the Sydney artist’s travels in Greece, Paris, London, New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Bali, Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.

In March 2010, Alison commenced her ’Life in the Antipodes’ series: a female perspective. The artist affirms, “I am aiming to complete at least one hundred drawings and paintings over the next few years which reflect my life long interest in flora, fauna, landscape, nude & portraiture“.