FIONA MacDONALD

Fiona MacDonald produces fictional worlds and details constructed from found objects, living organisms, natural and artificial materials. Her sculptures and paintings portray the desire for - and the necessary failure of - new spaces of the imagination. Unashamedly beautiful, but never without dark undercurrents, MacDonald’s work evokes sensations of overabundance and stagnation. Alternately seduced and brought up against the kind of wrongness that only occasionally appears in nature (in such ways as the duck-billed platypus looks stuck together with glue), she positions us at the edge of illusion and materiality.  Fiona studied at Leeds Metropolitan and Chelsea College of Art. Solo shows include Habitat 2006, (Phoenix, Brighton) and upcoming at Long and Ryle, London, June 2007. She is a finalist in the Celeste Art Prize 2007. Fiona has exhibited her work in solo and group shows in the UK and abroad and is at present a director and curator of Standpoint Gallery in London.

Education 1995 – 1997        MA History and Theory of Modern Art – Chelsea College of Art 1989 – 1992         BA hons Fine Art  – Leeds Metropolitan University 1988 – 1989        Foundation Course – Kent Institute of Art and Design Solo Shows 2007        Long and Ryle, London 2006        Habitat, Phoenix Gallery, Brighton 2004        On the Verge, Vertigo, London Selected Group Shows 2007     Dirty Nature, Standpoint Gallery, London     Celeste Art Prize, London and Edinburgh     Creekside Open 2, APT, London     Intervention, Fieldgate Gallery, London     Irrational Exuberance, Maddox Arts, London (October 2007) 2006     Breeding Ground, APT, Deptford.     Enclosed Gardens, Long and Ryle, London     Drawn, An Lanntair, Stornoway, Scotland     The Marmite Painting Prize, The Residence, London 2005     Elsewhere, Standpoint Gallery, London     Furniture of Sorts, Stroud House Gallery, Glos.     Chata Mia, CESTA, Tabor, Czech Republic     30 x 30, Vertigo, Great Eastern Street, London 2004     Vital Arts, Royal London and St Bartholomew Hospitals, London     Rebecca Wordsworth Contemporary Art, Bath     Escape, Irregular Art, London 2003             Glimmer. Lock and Davies, London     Beatrice Royal Gallery, Southampton 2002             Hindsight, Karen Taylor Art, London     Vital Arts, Royal London Hospital 2001     Arcadia, Paton Gallery, London     Contradictory Pleasures, Union Chapel, London     I, Me, You, We, SVC, London 1996     Hystheoria, Chelsea School of Art, Manresa Rd, 1993     Young Artists South East, touring, Maidstone and Folkestone Library Galleries 1992     Pullit X, Pullit Gallery, London          Awards Grants for the Arts, Arts Council England Residencies 2006        Phoenix Arts, Brighton 2005        CESTA, Tabor, Czech Republic 1992 – 1994        Community Care for Mental Health, Maidstone, Kent 1992 –1993        Maidstone Priority Care Trust, Maidstone, Kent Publications and press Habitat        Catalogue, text by Helen Williams and Loretta Stone – London 2006 Habitat        24 Hour Museum – Siba Matti, April 2006 Elsewhere        Catalogue, text by Peg Rawes and Alasdair Duncan - London 2005 Elsewhere        Telegraph Arts – May 2005 Arty no. 14         review of On the Verge at Vertigo - ‘Girls’ Issue Feb 2004 A-N magazine        Cable Pitch image - June 2002 p24 Related Activities 2006 ongoing        Standpoint Gallery, London - curator 2006        Arts Institute Bournemouth – visiting lecturer B.A. and M.A. Fine Art 2006        Phoenix Gallery – workshops Sweets for Everyone – curator, Dyson Art, London Elsewhere – curator, Standpoint Gallery 2003 ongoing        City University – lecturer in history of art 2003-2006        Adult Education College for Bexley – art tutor www.fionamacdonald.co.uk