Art Con 10 is coming this weekend. In the run up to the big event on Saturday, the team is helping us introduce some of the participating Conspirators. Thanks to Martha Belden, for telling us more about today’s artist,  Alison Jardine

Having spent much of her life migrating around Europe, Alison Jardine now works as a career artist in Plano while she simultaneously pursues her MFA on a full-time basis. In 2009, Travis Rex introduced her to Art Conspiracy, and she’s been a devoted fan ever since. “The event was out on Industrial then, in a very leaky, drippy and fabulously atmospheric old warehouse,” she remembers. “We had so much fun and went back each year after that.”

Not only does Alison enjoy attending Art Con events, but she’s also had the privilege of participating and has been impressed with the impact the organization has had on her life as an artist in the Metroplex. “Primarily, I enjoy the rawness, the craziness and the contact between so many different groups within Dallas,” she says. “It helped me get to know the Dallas art scene and the often hidden creative side of this area.” Alison grew up surrounded by creativity, as her father painted and her older brother is a trained fine artist. And in 2003, she embraced a career as an artist when she and her family moved to Texas. “I had been working in publishing and Internet for about 10 years, since university, and I seized the chance to develop creatively.”

Having been influenced by many clearly diverse artists, from Francis Bacon to Takeshi Murakami to Gustav Klimt, Alison has developed a unique style that she claims is largely inspired by the motif of light and the distillation of moments in time and memory. “This is very important to my work, both our neural, emotional experience of memory and the digital memory we have created for ourselves,” she explains. “I often use technology and consider myself a painter with old and new media, such as pixels, video and digital compositions, as well as oil paints, charcoal and other traditional media.”

And she is excited to lend her talents to this year’s cause. “Raising awareness and much-needed funds is really important,” she says. “Additionally, it’s a real mixer of people from all different walks of life who enjoy art.” She points out that art openings and other events in the art world tend to be frustratingly exclusive, but “Art Con is an even that really does make everyone feel part of the fun, regardless of background. I wish more art came from the ground up, like Art Con.”

Note from Art&Seek’s Anne Bothwell: Alison has also written for Art&Seek in the past. And, in addition to the work she’s created for the auction Saturday, she’s also donated a piece that that Art&Seek will be giving away in the Art&Seek Art Hunt At Art Conspiracy.