Fran Romano

Themes of loss, longing and nostalgia inform my work. Through the lens of my Southern Italian heritage I take inspiration from the textures and patinas of Europe. I find the archaeology and history compelling along with the Catholic ritual and pageantry suffusing everyday life.

Making abstract vessels using stiffened, textured clay slabs, I work intuitively, building up a sense of history through layering on the surface of the clay. Using found and handmade objects, alongside printed clay fragments, I create installations exploring death rituals and shrine-culture. 

My abstract vessels reference both built and natural environments. Massed together and linked by votives, they too become shrine-like.  

Offering space for contemplation, my works explore interiors, whether physical or metaphorical. They ask to be looked into, and for the viewer to look within themselves. Working from my home studio in Canberra, I find that my teaching work and design practice complement my art-making.

Since completing a Diploma of Visual Art (Ceramics) at ANU School of Art Canberra (2013), Fran has regularly exhibited in group shows nation-wide. Inspired by memory, history and nostalgia, she investigates those themes through the use of layering and experimentation with surface texture and photographic imagery. In 2018, she was awarded an Emerging Contemporaries prize from Craft ACT: craft + design Centre. In recent years she has been exploring death rites and rituals from both an archeological/historical perspective and a human one.

She has been a finalist in the Little Things Art Prize (2018) and the Inaugural Palliative Care Art Prize (2017); and was recently awarded first place for 3D Art in the Foot Square Small Pieces Competition (Brisbane, 2019).