Franca Barraclough is an artist of manic diversity who has dedicated a significant chunk of her career to making work as part of the small but culturally rich town of Alice Springs. As much as her imagination has been fed by the hot, complex, maverick filled wonderland, she has become a designer of the collective imagination of the place.
A distinctive aspect of Franca’s practice lies in her ability to drum up creative energy in the community that surrounds her through her idiosyncratic and hilarious perspective on the world. She then unselfconsciously uses that energy as her medium, drawing in participants to her collaborative projects and performances with a sense of purpose amongst the joy of art making.
Her work retains a characteristic of unfettered oddness, as she is delighted by both local detail and international mythology alike and finds ways to draw the two together with unpredictable results.
Artistic Mediums: Photography, sculpture, installation, performative art, live arts, relational art, theatre, dance.
EDUCATION
1998 Bachelor of Creative Arts, University of Wollongong
ACHIEVEMENTS AND AWARDS
2020 Alice Prize Finalist, Hunters Roundabout, (Photography), Araluen Gallery, NT
2018 Alice Prize Finalist, Tennis Mum in Gondwana, (Photography), Araluen Gallery, NT
2018 Advocate Art Award Winner, Places Category, Natures Crown (Sculpture), Araluen Gallery, NT
2011 Winner of Inaugural LOFTY Award, Watch This Space, Alice Springs, NT
2011-12 Selected Artist, The Coriolis Effect, Punctum and Arts SA, National
2007-2010 Artistic producer, 4 Cat’s Meow Cabaret, Alice Springs, NT
2008 Winner, ‘Up the Garden Path’, OPBG Sculpture Prize
RELEVANT EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
2016 -2020 Visitors Engagement Officer, Museum of Central Australia, NT
2011-2020 Freelance Creative Producer, various projects (see below) 2013 -2018 Theatre Manager, Totem theatre, Alice Springs Theatre Group, NT
2016 -2017 Décor Designer, (2 Fest) Something Somewhere Film Festival, NT
2014 Art Department Designer, 8MMM Brindle and Princess Film Production, NT
2009-2011 Regional Arts Development Officer, Red HOT Arts Central, Alice Springs, NT
2007-2011 Alice Desert Festival Program Coordinator, Alice Springs, NT
2007-2008 Community Arts Engagement Officer, Red HOT Arts Central, Alice Springs, NT
2004-2007 Visual Arts Tutor, Bachelor Collage, Alice Springs, NT
ART PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
2020
The Visitors Film, Sitzler Gallery, Araluen Art Centre, Alice Springs
The Visitors. Major exhibition of site-specific billboard-style photographs, installations, sculpture and film engaging the local community. Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
Alice Springs News - Review
Araluen Art Centre - Exhibition Page
2019
Seeds and Civilisations. Sculptural Installation. Artists In Museums project (site-specific pop-up exhibitions). Museum of Central Australia, (Presented by Artback & Women’s Museum of Australia) at the National Australian Museums and Galleries Association Conference, Alice Springs, NT
The Visitors Project, Artist. Three sculpture /installations were constructed/installed at locations in collaboration with contracted artists and technicians and under my direction photographed, filmed and droned. : Crowned Land (large scale outdoor sculpture); The Great Outdoors, Seed Dispersal,Hunters Roundabout. Alice Springs, NT
Totem Theatre Short Play Festival, Creative Producer, Alice Theatre Group, NT
2018
Power Posters Exhibition, Curator and Artist. Power punching political posters from the NT. Art Shed, Alice Springs, NT
Totem Theatre Short Play Project, Creative Producer, Alice Theatre Group, NT
Face Readers Inc, Interactive Live Arts, ASTC Arts on the Lawn, Alice Springs NT
Tennis Mum in Gondwana, Photography. Alice Prize, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
Natures Crown, Sculpture. Advocate Art Award, Araluen Arts Centre, Alice Springs, NT
Hour of Power, Dance Facilitator, Todd Mall, Alice Springs, Funded by Arts NT
Live Arts in Alice. Twistmas, Live Arts interactive space, Producer Creative, Alice Springs, ASTC, NT
Natures Bride Groom, Live Arts Ritual, Wide Open Space Festival , Ross River, Central Australia, NT
Phase One The Visitors Project, Artist. 3 unique immersive art experiences involving over 350 local community members with individual works including : Fractals in a Domestic Universe (large scale outdoor installation); Go Feral, The Magic Path. Alice Springs, NT
Go Feral, Immersive Art Event in nature. Photographic Shoot. The Visitors, Old South Rd, NT. Funded by Regional Arts Fund
Fractal Spirals in a Domestic Universe, Outdoor installation. Part of ‘Still Alive After 25’, Watch this Space Arts Program, Clay Pans, Ilparpa, NT Funded by the Regional Arts Fund
2017
The Visitors, RAF funded project, Immersive Live arts Photo Series, NT
2012- 2017 Artistic Director, SO REAL Live Arts Company, Alice Springs, NT
2016
2016 -2018 Twistmas, Live Arts interactive space, ASTC, NT
Creative Producer, Living Theatre, theatre on the streets, Totem Theatre, Alice Springs, NT
Workshop facilitator and exhibition developer, ‘Doll it Down Recycle’, NT
Creative Producer/ Director ‘Let Me See’ RHACA, NT
2015
Performance artist, The Ritualises, Watch This Space, The Lofty Awards
Artistic Director, ARTFIT, selected as a part of the Australia Council for the Arts’ ‘Setting the Stages’ program, Crack Theatre Festival, Newcastle
2013-2014
Toured 24-hr DANCE Marathon, Regional Arts Summit, Kalgoorlie, WA
Creative Producer 24hr Dance Marathon, NT
Creative Producer, Live Arts in Alice, RHACA, NT
2012
Artist, The Palace of Nothing.The Coriolis Effect – Kumawuki –RAC, NT
2011
Curator, Sequences and Cycles, Contemporary Ceramics in the Desert, Araluen Artistic Director, Ceramics Festival, Surface Exhibition, Workshops and Seminar, Sequences and Cycles
Curator/ Project Manager, Souvenir (devisor of original concept); Over 20 local and international artists came together in a cluttered Souvenir store to readdress the marketing of the much-visited terrain that is Australia’s Great Red Centre, Watch This Space Gallery, Alice Springs
2010
Project Manager ‘Happenings Program’ Trial of 5 new performance art works in public spaces
Contributing Artist, ‘From the Heart to the Jewel’ exhibition artist. A collaborative exhibition between the Heart (Alice Springs) and the Jewel (Tasmania) showing of 13 panel works inspired by river flora found along the way. Junction Regional Arts Festival, TAS
2009
Project Manager, ‘LLLook’ Landscapes, Lenses and Locals, Alice Springs Public Library and Alice Desert Festival collaborative exhibition
2008
Project Manager ‘Beautiful faces amazing places’ Alice Springs Public Library and Alice Desert Festival collaborative exhibition
Artistic Director/ Project Manager, ‘Stories from the Tea Cup’, Art at the Heart Regional Arts Australia Conference, Alice Springs ‘Stories from the Tea Cup’ paid homage to the sacred act of tea drinking as a vehicle for self-expression, communication and storytelling. A community-based arts project designed to gather local stories and art works into a single vision involving 5 installations in public places, 120 community interviews, and art-making
Sculpture Artist, Olive Pink Apparition, up the Garden Path 2008 Curator ‘Beautiful faces amazing places’, ASTC and RHACA collaboration
2007
Artist, Shifting Ground (21 Days of Art and Performance throughout Alice), WTS Artist, Ground Swell Exhibition, ‘Cleaning Country’ (Group Show), Photography, Reg Harris Lane and Alice Springs Airport, NT
Artist, ‘Tea Time’ A real Time Performance, NT
Artist, Fractal Spirals in a Domestic Universe, Sculptural Installation, NT
2005
Artist, Inner Landscape, Still Shot Photography, Contemporary photographic exploration between inner and outer worlds, Perth Centre of photography, WA
2003
Artist, Blind Date, Darwin Visual Arts Association and Watch This Space Gallery, Alice Springs collaborative project and N.T Touring exhibition, NT
Artist, Alice in Bendigo, Artist Residency, Allan’s Walk Gallery, Bendigo, Vic
Publications
2014
24hr DANCE Marathon Project Belonging – Great Stories from Regional Australia. (Publication)
info@francabarraclough.com
+61 480 260 176