Fran is a plantswoman and Melbourne artist who has exhibited in many shows locally and in London.
Her work is based on indigenous plants and their role in our notion of self and place – our identity and our connection to the natural world. Fran is an ecofeminist whose art places plants at the highest rank. Her practice works with post-colonial themes of voyage, discovery, natural history, myth, dream and the desire to create a space for oneself by collecting, planting and growing.
Fran’s main work – the Danthonia project - (re)creates a lost environment on the Darebin Creek. These plants are her collaborators in a shared endeavour and she respectfully records and illustrates their lives in both real and mythical forms.
EXHIBITIONS
Finalist, The 15th Art of Botanical Illustration, Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 2020
Liminal // a shared distance, Hatch Contemporary Arts Space (online) 2020
Frances Lee, For I have learned to look on nature, Hatch, Banyule City Council, 2018
Finalist, The Art of Botanical Illustration, Domain House, 2016
Finalist, Banyule Works on Paper, 2015
Reframing Nature, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, 2015
Botanica, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, 2015
Frances Lee, Jane Newbery Gallery, London, 2012
Lambeth Open, London, 2012
Urban Art, Josephine Avenue, Brixton, London, 2012
Lambeth Open, London, 2011
Ivanhoe Art Show, 2009
Winter in Banyule, 2008
Darebin Artists Group Show, Preston 2003
Not the Archibald, Melbourne Fringe, 2003
LURE Artary Gallery, Preston, 2002
Darebin Artists Group Show, Preston 2001
Darebin Artists Group Summer show, Preston 2000
8 x 8 ROAR, Fitzroy
Postcard Exhibition, Linden Gallery
Australian Print Workshop
York Street Printmakers, York Street Gallery
Fitzroy Painters, York Street Gallery Fitzroy
Sweet Jamaique Gallery
York Street Gallery
York Street Gallery “Established and Emerging Printmakers
Fitzroy Printmakers, York Street Fitzroy
Frances Lee and Dominic Belvedere, Lizzard Lounge, Brunswick
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
Hatch Contemporary Art Space, Melbourne 2018
Dulwich Artists Open, London 2013
Jane Newbery Gallery. London 2012
Dulwich Artists Open, London 2012
Jane Newbery Gallery London 2011
Dulwich Artists Open, London, 2011
Art at 303, Melbourne 1994
York Street Gallery, Melbourne 1989
PROJECTS
The Danthonia Project - Darebin Creek 1994 – ongoing
Collaboration with plants - creating environment and art project
Melbourne Water Funding
Ivanhoe Primary School – Swale Garden. 2010
Landscape completed
In association with Banyule Council environment division
EDUCATION
GRADUATE DIPLOMA OF ART - CERAMICS
NMIT
GRADUATE DIPLOMA OF ARTS – MODERN LANGUAGES, JAPANESE
University of Melbourne
GRADUATE DIPLOMA OF EDUCATION, SECONDARY
La Trobe University
BACHELOR OF FINE ART
RMIT
CONTRIBUTION, COMMISSIONS, COLLECTIONS
Private collections in the UK, USA, and Australia
Great and Small Gazette, Contributor - ongoing
Banyule Arts Committee, member