Frances Noon

Frances began making silver jewellery in the 1990s and has been exploring 3D sculpture for the past few years.

She began with birds and hens as a main theme, but now includes a range of animals, boats, and trees. She likes to play around with scale in her work. For example the sizes of birds are very large in comparison to her trees.

Frances' sculptures combine base metals, such as copper and brass, with wood which allows her to use colour in her work.

'I hand texture the metal using the rolling mill and by hammering, I have a variety of punches to draw with on the metal surface and I file the shapes around the edges. The metal parts are soldered together and then taken through an oxidisation process.
 
Some of my pieces have integral wooden parts now, especially the boats and trees. So I spend equal amount of time sawing and sanding down wooden pieces. I use layer upon layer of paint to build up the coloured surface so it looks aged and worn.
 
The birds and ... [more]