Frances Phoenix (née Budden) (1950–2017) was an Australian feminist artist known for

needlework Needlework is decorative sewing and textile arts handicrafts. Anything that uses a needle for construction can be called needlework. Needlework may include related textile crafts such as crochet, worked with a hook, or tatting, worked with a ...

and

poster A poster is a large sheet that is placed either on a public space to promote something or on a wall as decoration. Typically, posters include both typography, textual and graphic elements, although a poster may be either wholly graphical or w ...

designs. Phoenix contributed to the

Women's Art Movement The Women's Art Movement (WAM) was an Australian feminist art movement, founded in Sydney in 1974, Melbourne in 1974, and Adelaide in 1976 (as the Women's Art Group, or WAG). Background Such movements had already been created in other countries ...

groups in both

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

and

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, as well as multiple community art projects. With

Marie McMahon Marie Elizabeth Rita McMahon (born September 1953) is an Australian artist, known for her paintings, prints, posters, drawings, and design work. Born in Melbourne, she has worked in various communities of Australian Aboriginal people and works in ...

, she was a founding member of the

Women's Domestic Needlework Group The Women's Domestic Needlework Group was established in 1976 by Australian feminist artists Marie McMahon and Frances Phoenix, members of the Sydney branch of the Women's Art Movement, with an interest in reclaiming and focusing attention on the u ...

and contributed to Judy Chicago's '' The Dinner Party'' (1974–1979). She continued to study and practice art for the rest of her life. Her needlework and poster designs are held in national collections.

Early life

Phoenix was born in 1950. She originally studied to become a teacher at the National Art School and Alexander Mackie Teacher’s College,

Career

In 1974, she joined Australia's first

, based in Sydney. Around this time, Phoenix began experimentations with domestic needlework, generating central core imagery,

Australiana Australiana includes the items, people, places, flora, fauna and events of Australian origins. Anything pertaining to Australian culture, society, geography and ecology can fall under the term Australiana, especially if it is endemic to Austra ...

and activist slogans in stitch. With

, Phoenix began a doily archive, researching the history of women's needlework and running women's needlework classes at the

Tin Sheds The Tin Sheds was the common name of the Sydney University Art Workshop was an Australian art workshop in Sydney, New South Wales, founded in 1969. Its name lives on in the Tin Sheds Gallery at the University of Sydney School of Architecture, ...

art collective in the grounds of

Sydney University The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's six ...

. With

Joan Grounds Joan Grounds (born 1939) is an American-born artist. She has been exhibiting in Australia and internationally from 1967. Her solo and collaborative art work is held in the National Gallery of Australia (ceramics), the National Gallery of Victoria ...

, Bernadette Krone, Kathy Letray, Patricia McDonald, Noela Taylor, and Loretta Vieceli, McMahon and Phoenix formed the Women's Domestic Needlework collection, preparing the archive for a touring exhibition, beginning at

Watters Gallery Watters Gallery (1964–2018) was a private art gallery in Riley Street Sydney, Australia, run by Frank Watters (1934 – May 2020) with his business partners and friends Geoffrey and Alex Legge. It was influential and well-known, hosting exhibit ...

, Sydney. The group supplemented the exhibition with research in '' Lip,'' two publications: ''The D'oyley Show: An Exhibition of Women’s Domestic Fancywork'' and ''Work for Dainty Fingers'' and a series of 10 screenprinted posters. With Marie McMahon, Phoenix travelled to the United States of America to contribute needlework skills to Judy Chicago's ''The Dinner Party'' (1974–79). Phoenix' account of the experience is detailed in her publication ''Our story/Herstory? Working on Judy Chicago's Dinner Party.'' While in Sydney, Phoenix was also a founding member of Matilda Graphics and the local feminist arts publication ''F/Arts''. In the early 1980s, Phoenix joined the Adelaide

. She spearheaded multiple community art projects including ''Double our Numbers'' and ''The Alchemists' Teaparty''. She continued to study throughout her life, completing a masters degree in visual art on ''The critical corpse : re-(inter)preting the abject dead animal in visual art'' at the University of South Australia.

Works

*''Queen of Spades'' (previously known as ''Kunda''), 1975, doily mounted on board *''No Goddesses , No Mistresses'', no goddesses no mistresses (anarcho-feminism), 1978, insert for a ‘Dinner Party’ runner: red embroidery cotton on white commercial doily, 29.7 x 21 cm *''Grow your own grassroots defiance against the capitalist plot: Victory'', 1981, four-colour screen printed poster

Exhibitions

* Unfinished Business,

Australian Centre for Contemporary Art The Australian Centre For Contemporary Art (ACCA) is a contemporary art gallery in Melbourne, Australia. The gallery is located on Sturt Street in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, in the inner suburb of Southbank. Designed by Wood Marsh Architects ...

, 2018 * The D'Oyley Show, Watters Gallery and touring in Port Kembla, Nowra, Broken Hill, Orange, Bathurst, Maitland, Armidale, Lismore, 1979

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phoenix, Frances 1950 births 2017 deaths National Art School alumni Australian women artists University of South Australia alumni Australian textile artists 20th-century women textile artists 21st-century women textile artists