ALISON McDONALD | ‘Aliware Sue Necklace’ | Sterling silver & reclaimed anodised aluminium saucepan lids

Alison McDonald’s 20 year practice is based in Townsville, North Queensland. McDonald’s art sits at the junction of consumer culture and environmental concern and ranges in size from microscopic jewellery to epic sculpture or installation. Her work is shown in national and international exhibitions, including Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Strand Ephemera’s (2015 winner) and in 2025 won the Art for Life Award with Qld Regional Arts Awards. Her artwork is in collections of Royal North Shore Hospital, Visy Education Centre, Perc Tucker Gallery, TCC’s-Integrated Sustainability, Catholic Education, CQ University, Energy Super, Monterey Bay Aquarium, California and Stadiums Queensland. McDonald completed her BVA (Hons) from JCU, then a Master of Art in Public Space at RMIT. She has also been artist in residence at Aberystwyth, Wales with an Arts Qld Career Development Grant and twice to RedGate, Beijing. McDonald taught Sculpture at James Cook University and TAFE North Qld. She recently toured a solo exhibition ‘Wanton, Wild & Unimagined’ to 13 galleries around Australia.

Alison McDonald's 'Aliware' jewellery series repurposes discarded antique anodised aluminium saucepan lids from the 1950s-60s, blending them with sterling silver links. Her meticulous and extensive process involves sourcing, cutting, flattening, drilling, doming, and chasing the aluminium discs. These are then integrated with the silver links, through cutting, forming, soldering, and polishing techniques. ‘To honour the women of my family I have named each piece in this series after them.’ – Alison McDonald

ALISON McDONALD | ‘Aliware Sue Necklace’ | Sterling silver & reclaimed anodised aluminium saucepan lids | 52cm long