With 25 years of tertiary education, Alison Marshall gained B.Sc. degree (2004, SCU) with five majors, along with securing highly valued professional roles at the Museum of Sydney and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, producing a substantial collection of works during this period.​​

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With her multidisciplinary background, Alison draws upon diverse styles and forms from a global perspective, including historical poetry and prose, fables, and song texts sourced from her academic studies, e.g., Cultural Anthropology; Myths and Creation Stories; or Greek Tragedy in her Theatre Studies major.

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A rich collaboration with composer Peter Urquhart led to the Mid-Season Recital Series. This provided a much-needed platform for Sydney composers. As part of the series, Marshall and Urquhart co-authored the song cycles Songs of A Neon Alleyway (2011) and Songs of Renewal (2010) to public and critical acclaim. Alison contributed (2009-14) lyrics/libretti to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music Composition Unit at the request of Professor Matthew Hindson; her work is recognised for its "settable" lyrical quality. These texts are used by SCM Composition students as catalysts in the development of new musical works.​

 

Sometimes declamatory but always lyrical, Alison Marshall’s poetry is kaleidoscopic, light-coloured, and sonic fragments that simultaneously echo the Romantic and Symbolist poets of the nineteenth century as well as contemporary theories of Plate Tectonics and Astro-Astronomy. Marshall’s poem "Time Fix," for example, is a sophisticated meditation on the development and use of the Fibonacci number series. Alison's unique perspective and sensibility are mirrored by her abstract illustrations. Inspired by Mr Squiggle (Norman Heatherington 1921-2010) and Picasso, her no-rules anarchist approach focuses on symmetry and colour. Her works are essentially automatic drawings — psychedelic, intricate doodles allowing and inviting individual interpretations. All views are equally valid.​

 

Alison enjoys the opportunity to present a multidisciplinary performance/exhibition. For example, for the performance of the poem "Instinct" for the Sydney Fringe Festival, Alison illustrated her background screen and composed and played piano accompaniment, each element adding a layer of meaning and recapitulation of the theme and metaphor complimenting the total theatrical experience.​

 

Her ambition is to find common ground in the expression of our shared humanity — a spectrum of human emotions set against the calamities of our times, with the common thread being unity. Forms that transcend the political, religious, and national dogma give expression to the times we live through.