Glenalta artist and educator Fran Callen has worked with students from Eden Hills Primary School to create a mural for the school.
Grey Box Grassy Woodland Mural
Artist: Fran Callen
Project cost: $4,770
Location: Fence at Eden Hills Primary School
Installed: 2022
Fran set out to highlight the importance of Grey Box Grassy Woodland, an endangered ecosystem found in parts of the Adelaide Hills.
“I have noticed that a lot of trees are being removed and I wanted to raise awareness of how precious these places are,” she said.
Students in Years 2 to 4 started the project by learning about the plants and animals that live in the woodland, then observing, sketching and creating collages.
The collages were painted, then shapes cut out to be installed along the external fence at the school, along with words from a variety of languages including Kaurna.
About the artist
Fran is driven to create by the urge to document her immediate surroundings, narratives suggested in the details of moments.
After her first solo exhibition at Greenhill Galleries in 2000 Fran won the 2003 Ruth Tuck Scholarship to Santa Repararta International School of Art, Florence, returning to complete Honours in Visual Arts at SASA in 2005. Her energetic live drawings of social interaction and performance led her to paint Divinyls front woman Chrissy Amphlett in her New York recording studio early 2011. This portrait was shortlisted in the 2012 Portia Geach Memorial Art Prize.
Fran has taught drawing and painting in tertiary institutions for thirteen years, including South Australian School of Art, Tauondi Aboriginal College and currently teaches at Adelaide College of the Arts. She has also worked as a community artist across Australia and overseas, specialising in collaborative murals with community groups. She currently works from her studio at Collective Haunt Inc. in Adelaide.
