
Recent Awards/Recognition
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2023 Nashville Airport, "FLY GIRLS," solo exhibition, juried
2023 Grant recipient, International Encaustic Artists
2023 Cecret by Ce Gallery, Merritt Mansion, juried
2023 Camelback Gallery's "Shades of Blue" finalist
2022 Galerie Tangerine Salon Show, Nashville TN
2022 Customs House Museum, Guild Show, Clarksville TN
2022 Camelback Gallery's “Faces 2022," received 2
bronze awards
2021 Vanderbilt University Women's Center- 2 commissioned portraits, permanent collection
2021 "Metamorphosis" National Juried Exhibition, Tubac Center of the Arts, AZ.
2021 DAC Gallery Regional Exhibition, 1st Place & Honorable Mention awards, Clarksville TN
2020 WAX FUSION, IEA encaustic magazine, cover art and 6-page article
2020 10 Nashville billboards, ArtPOP Street Gallery,
Nashville, TN
2020 "Vignettes in Wax and Words" international exhibition, International Encaustic Artists
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BIO
Alison lives in Nashville, Tennessee and has been a full time artist since 2016. As a teen, Alison studied art at Rochester Institute's School of Craft, and the University of Texas at Austin, where she earned a Master's in Advertising, and pursued careers in marketing and teaching. By 2016 Alison married and moved to Stuttgart, Germany where she lived for 3 years and immersed herself in European encaustics from 2016-2019. She traveled extensively studying with artists in many countries and worked in a sculpture atelier with Birgit Feil in Stuttgart.
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Alison has exhibited in the US and Europe, has work in collections at Vanderbilt University, John Wesley Powell Museum in Utah, and has authored articles about encaustic wax. Her work was on 10 Nashville billboards, on the cover of Wax Fusion magazine, and has won many awards. In 2023-2024 Alison's "FLY GIRLS" portraits will be at the Nashville airport and travel to museums across the U.S., returning to Nashville for a solo exhibition at the Customs House Museum in October 2024.​
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Artist Statement- abstracts
I am interested in exploring the materiality of things and in relationship with one another. There is meaning in old materials, and with man-made materials which have fascinating properties. I enjoy finding ways to combine the old with the new. My abstract wall sculpture is born out of my frustration with non sustainable packaging. I hope the viewer finds comfort in their patterns and forms, and that they spark curiosity about these man-made materials.
Artist Statement- portraits
Visual Anthropologies
I have always been curious about culture & anthropology. My career in consumer marketing frequently took an anthropological approach. We conducted ‘ethnographies,’ observing how people lived and shopped. In 2016 I moved to Europe where I traveled, studied cultures and painted for 3 years. It is fascinating to me how well cultures are preserved in Europe, country to country. Hop a border, and people are suddenly different. I documented the nuances of my observations, such as the smiling eyes of the Irish, in my paintings.
Returning to America in 2019 I struggled with my identity as an American. I began reading about indigenous women and discovered so much untold history about Native Women, and their role as warriors protecting their land and families. Euro-American culture perpetuates a fictional “princess” stereotype of native women, yet many women fought lockstep with men and became highly respected leaders. Native Women Warriors was my first 'American' anthropology, and this series was featured on 10 Nashville billboards during the pandemic, in early 2020, to inspire resilience.
Visual Anthropologies (portrait series work):
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Protest Singers
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Fly Girls
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World Healers
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Native Women Warriors
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Vetted Souls- homeless US military veterans
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Irish Eyes- street portraits from Ireland
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Into the Wilderness- COVID pandemic
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Delta Blues- Mississippi blues artists
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Ordinary Environmentalists
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Recent News Media
July 2021 Williamson Home Page
Oct 2020 WAX FUSION magazine article and front cover
May 2020 Channel 5 NEWS -Art Billboards
June 2020 Vignettes digital magazine exhibition
April 2020 The Tennesean- Art Billboards
April 2020 ART of Nashville magazine
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