First show in college’s new pop-up gallery

An exhibition of paintings by New York City based Fran O’Neill is now open in the Atrium at Sussex Coast College (SCC).
By The Newsroom
Published 22nd Mar 2013, 06:00 BST
Artist Fran O'Neill and Foundation Degree in Fine Arts student, Amelia Kirk-Harkin who helped set up the exhibition at Sussex Coast CollegeArtist Fran O'Neill and Foundation Degree in Fine Arts student, Amelia Kirk-Harkin who helped set up the exhibition at Sussex Coast College
Artist Fran O'Neill and Foundation Degree in Fine Arts student, Amelia Kirk-Harkin who helped set up the exhibition at Sussex Coast College

The artist, who grew up in Australia, uses oil paints to create large abstract canvases in an ‘organic, intuitive and improvisational’ process.

She said: “Abstraction, colour, movement of the paint and shifting scale all come into play on the canvas.”

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Her works explore the complex nature of space and fleeting moments which have a special or unexpected quality about them.

“There are times when I glimpse something, and I have no idea what I am looking at, or when the strangeness of real-life seems dreamlike or indescribable for a split second, than brutally comes into focus,” she said.

Fran has won several awards for her work, including the Shaw Award, Brooklyn College (2010 - 11), The Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2007) and the Hohenberg Travel Award (2000).

The exhibition is organised by Jeb Haward, learning and standards manager for Art and Design at the college.

“This exhibition is a rare treat for us,” he said.

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“It will be the first show to feature in aSPACE, SCC’s new ‘pop up’ school of Art & Design gallery.”

The exhibition is open from 9am to 6pm Moday to Friday, 9am to 4pm on Saturday, and closed on Sunday.

Visit www.franoneill.com or www.sussexcoast.ac.uk.

Related topics:Australia