I am a plant person and artist in Naarm on the Darebin Creek and have exhibited locally and in London.
My work centres on plants and the ways that they can help us to create a sense of self and place - how planting, growing and nurturing plants can shape our identity and connect us to the natural world. My work explores themes of discovery, myth, dream and the desire to connect to elevated thought and the sublime.
My main work - the Danthonia project - (re)creates a lost environment on the Darebin Creek. Planting hundreds of plants each year and working in the creek environment to revegetate lost communities. These plants are my collaborators in a shared endeavour, and I respectfully record and illustrate their lives in both real and mythical forms.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
SOLO
Frances Lee, Night Paintings, Loft 275, Ivanhoe Cultural Hub, 2022
Frances Lee, For I have learned to look on nature, Hatch, Banyule City Council, 2018
Dulwich Artists Open, London 2013
Jane Newbery Gallery. London 2012
Dulwich Artists Open, London 2012
Jane Newbery Gallery London 2011
Dulwich Artists Open, London, 2011
Art at 303, Melbourne 1994
York Street Gallery, Melbourne 1989
GROUP
Finalist, Banylule Award for Works on Paper, 2023
Finalist, The 15th Art of Botanical Illustration, Friends of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 2020
Liminal // a shared distance, Hatch Contemporary Arts Space (online) 2020
Finalist, The Art of Botanical Illustration, Domain House, 2016
Finalist, Banyule Works on Paper, 2015
Reframing Nature, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, 2015
Botanica, Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne, 2015
Frances Lee, Jane Newbery Gallery, London, 2012
Lambeth Open, London, 2012
Urban Art, Josephine Avenue, Brixton, London, 2012
Lambeth Open, London, 2011
Ivanhoe Art Show, 2009
Winter in Banyule, 2008
Darebin Artists Group Show, Preston 2003
Not the Archibald, Melbourne Fringe, 2003
LURE Artary Gallery, Preston, 2002
Darebin Artists Group Show, Preston 2001
Darebin Artists Group Summer show, Preston 2000
8 x 8 ROAR, Fitzroy
Postcard Exhibition, Linden Gallery
Australian Print Workshop
York Street Printmakers, York Street Gallery
Fitzroy Painters, York Street Gallery Fitzroy
Sweet Jamaique Gallery
York Street Gallery
York Street Gallery “Established and Emerging Printmakers
Fitzroy Printmakers, York Street Fitzroy
Frances Lee and Dominic Belvedere, Lizzard Lounge, Brunswick
PROJECTS
The Danthonia Project - Darebin Creek, commmenced 1994 – Collaboration with plants - creating environment and art project
Save Bulleen River Red Gum - community campaign, Change.org petition of 5,000 signatures, and presentation to the North East Link Independent Advisory Committee on behalf of the Bulleen River Red Gum (Caltex tree) and threatened trees and plant communities.
For I Have Learned to Look on Nature - documenting the significant trees of Banyule as living witnesses to history through painting, drawing, mapping, and narrative record-keeping, combined with tree tours, artist talks, and collaborations with arborists, poets and sound artists.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Fine Art, Painting and Printmaking. Phillip Institute (RMIT) Bundoora
Grad Dip Ed, La Trobe University