Alison Pierse

Art and Design Coordinator for Lifelong Learning within the School of Education and Lifelong Learning
Photograph of Alison Pierse.

Contact

Email: chp@aber.ac.uk
Office: School of Education and Lifelong Learning, Aberystwyth University,P5 Penglais Campus , Aberystwyth, Ceredigion. SY23 3UX.
Phone: +44 1970 622742
Fax: +44 1970 622258

Biography

I am the Art and Design Coordinator for Lifelong Learning within the School of Education and Lifelong Learning. I have been working for the department for nine years and have seen many changes.

My role as an educator and the need to keep learning is very important to me.

I taught for twelve years in schools in England and Australia as Head of Art and as an Artist in Residence before moving to Wales to join my husband. At this point I moved across the age range to teach Adult Learners, which is incredibly rewarding and humbling.

I too am an Adult Learner; I am studying for a M.A. in Fine Art on a part time basis, juggling a busy job as well as keeping time to be there for my daughter and family.

My recent study in painting is based around the summer visitors to our promenade; (the Hasidic Jews) back lit figures striding purposefully, sharing their space with the local wildlife.

The other body of work takes references from the ‘Child Lost’ paintings of Frederick McCubbin (1880s) which was a result of a scholarship enabling me to paint in Australia for five months. I have tried to portray a child exploring the wonders of the bush but also the harsh realities of the bush: the heat, drought, and the abundance of wildlife, with particular focus on the native birds. The red eyes of the choughs, the magpie’s melancholy call, and the eeriness of the currawong’s greeting.