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Burke, Frances Mary (1907 - 1994)

MBE, FRSA, FDIA

Born
1907
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Died
14 October 1994
Occupation
Designer, Artist and Businesswoman

Summary

Frances Mary Burke was appointed as a Member of the British Empire on the 1 January 1970 for her contribution to art and design. In 1937 she established with fellow graduate Morris Holloway Australia's first registered textile printery - Burway Prints. The Frances Burke Textile Resource Centre at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology was named in her honour. The centre now forms part of the RMIT Design Archives.

Details

Events

1937
Founded Burway Prints, the first registered textile screen printery in Australia (Frances Burke Fabrics Pty Ltd)
1938
Foundation member of the Contemporary Arts Society
1940
Exhibiting member of the Arts and Crafts Society
1942
Commissioned to design fabrics for first Australian Embassy Washington, USA
1947
Foundation member of the Society of Industrial Designers
1958
Foundation member of the Industrial Design Institute of Australia (now Design Institute of Australia)
1958 - 1966
Council member at the Museum of Modern Art and Design Australia
1968
Foundation council member of the National Printery Council
1968 - 1971
President of the Arts and Crafts Society
1977 - 1981
Member of council at University College Melbourne
1980 - 1983
Chairman of the Course Advisory Committee in Textile Design at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)
1987
Director of Arts Honoris Causa at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT)

Related entries

Related Places

Archival resources

National Gallery of Australia Research Library

  • Papers of Frances Burke, 1930s - 1940s; National Gallery of Australia Research Library. Details

Published resources

The Australian Women's Register Exhibitions

Books

  • Burke, Frances Mary, Exclusive hand prints, RMIT, Melbourne, 1996, 12 pp. Details
  • Casey, Maie, From the night / [poems by Maie Casey ; drawings by Frances Burke], M. Casey, [Berwick, Vic.], [1976], 41 pp. Details
  • Oswald-Jacobs, Robyn, Francis Burke fabrics / Department of Fashion & Textile Design, RMIT, RMIT, Melbourne, [1996], 12 pp. Details

Catalogues

  • Green, Erica, Frances Burke fabrics, 1937-1965 ; Gerry Wedd and Mambo, Harding, Peter, University of South Australia, Art Museum, Adelaide, 1999. Details

Newspaper Articles

  • 'Designer who did it her way', Age, 16 March. Details

Theses

  • Oswald-Jacobs, Robyn, 'A study of the work of Dr Francis Mary Burke, MBE, textile designer, with particular reference to the development of printed textile design in Australia.', Biographical Novel, RMIT University, 1997, 209 pp. Details

Online Resources

See also

  • 'The fabric of a society [review]', Age, 22 April. Details
  • Cadman, Kerith A (ed.), Who's who in Australia, 1988, 26 edn, The Herald and Weekly Times, Melbourne, 1988, 960 pp. Details
  • De Nijs, Jenny, Women as designers in Australia, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Melbourne, 1986. Details
  • Kerr, Joan (ed.), Heritage : the national women's art book, 500 works by 500 Australian women artists from colonial times to 1955, Craftsman House, Roseville East, NSW, 1995, 483 pp. Details

Anne Heywood and Clare Land

Created: 8 October 2002, Last modified: 6 September 2010

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