It helps to be born into a wildly creative family—and want to be an artist too. Allison Norfleet Bruenger's father, a photographer, became smitten with her mother, modeling hats. Marrying in 1949, they both launched creative careers … and birthed equally creative children.
Allison initially saw herself as an interior decorator which morphed into a degree in fashion. “In the 80s and 90s, I did artwork on clothing.” Then she providentially got a job as a gallery assistant at Craft Alliance in St. Louis. Employees could take classes for free. Gobbling up this incredible experience, eventually she realized her next step would be a second degree, this one in metals with a minor in ceramics. She was told by her teacher, “We can teach you the basics. Then you can develop your own concept.” Her goal? To combine artwork into a wearable piece of jewelry. Sculptural pieces. “I wanted to marry all these elements.” It begins with artwork. “I start with a drawing for everything I create; then I ask myself how will I put it together?”
One day a woman who collects Allison’s work told her, “I bought a shadow box for each of your pieces. I put one in each box. When I’m not wearing it, it becomes wall art.”
This completely opened Allison up to a whole new dimension of her art, which she calls assemblages. Instead of a shadow box, she creates a wearable piece of jewelry that can be housed in a larger artistic structure, which in turn can be hung on the wall.
Increasingly successful, what keeps Allison within her own healthy “structure?” She laughs, “My other person, my husband James. He keeps me sane. He gets me everywhere. He’s always behind the scenes.”
Her assemblages are opening new doors for her art. Whereas some galleries are not equipped to handle jewelry, they can accommodate wall art. It seems that Allison’s world itself is a perfect assemblage of beauty, creativity, and complete joy.
Allison will be a guest artist during the month of December at the Alliance Art Gallery. An opening reception will be held on Saturday, December 10 from 4 until 7:00. This event coincides with Historic Downtown Hannibal's Living Windows celebration.
