vivonne thwaites
curator
sera waters
Flee to Haven, 2009
Wool, crewel, thread, velvet, yellow trim, cotton fabric, stuffing
Variable dimensions
Photography Michal Kluvanek
artist statement
The embroidered linens that adorned my grandmother’s home adhered to the pleasant and traditional subjects of flora and fauna. My own needle-works similarly speak in this ‘nice’ and decorative language of stitch, using French-knots, silk-shading, beads, sequins or black-work, but instead pierce fabrics with recollections of drama, disaster, misdemeanours and petty crime. Through my work I imagine that memories of the dramas that have occurred in our suburban homes and elsewhere seep into and visually scar soft furnishings and comforting belongings, such as clothing, doilies, curtains, linen and haberdashery. Sometimes these dramatics are invited into our home, sometimes they occur when the everyday goes a little askew, and sometimes they creep in through a broken window or forced lock, but whether fictional, imagined or actual, they can nevertheless leave embroidered impressions upon the home’s fabric witnesses.
This set of knives, from my Butchering series, grew out of a story I overheard in a line-up of petty crime victims, a story I previously thought urban myth. The woman recounted that amongst the precious items stolen from her home, frozen steaks were the most surprising. Myth no longer, I decided that petty (or not-so-petty) criminals could possibly be the dark versions of our suburban butchers: similarly revelling in blades, cuts, blood and ice. Knives, of varying size and purpose are tools-of-the-trade for butchers of the criminal and non-criminal variety. Yet, they are also commonly found in the suburban kitchen; mundanely used for slicing and stabbing. Stitched in steel grey on black, these knives are camouflaged on their black linen backgrounds. But as if spotted in the darkness, their glow-in-the-dark blades shimmer in the night and give away their potential dangers.
sera waters - cv
Short Biography
Sera Waters is an Adelaide-based practicing artist and arts writer whose work is often imbued with dark meticulousness. She has spent time living in Tokyo and is a graduate of the Bachelor of Visual Arts (Honours), South Australian School of Art, (1997-2000) and the Master of Arts (studies in Art History), Adelaide University (2003-2006). She has been exhibiting regularly since graduating and being selected for Hatched, the National Graduate Exhibition at PICA (Perth Institute of Contemporary Art) in 2001. In 2006, Waters was awarded the Ruth Tuck Scholarship, which enabled her to attend the Royal School of Needlework (Hampton Court Palace, Surrey, UK) to study hand embroidery. This experience is clearly evident in Waters’ practice, which regularly explores and challenges stitched techniques. In 2009 three of Waters’ blackworks, from her Crooked Lineage explorations of petty crime, were selected to be exhibited in Talente, in the International Trade Fair, Munich. Waters is a current studio member of The Incinerator, Thebarton, and lectures and tutors in art history and theory, at Adelaide Central School of Art and the Art History program, Adelaide University, respectively.
Four of Sera Water's works have been acquired for a collection of women's art held at UWA.
1979 – Born Murray Bridge, South Australia
Lives Adelaide, South Australia
| EDUCATION | |
| 2006 | Royal School of Needlework, Surrey, United Kingdom, Summer School courses: Goldwork, Blackwork, Silk shading, Miniature, Jacobean and Whitework. |
| 2003-06 | Adelaide University, Art History Department, Masters of Arts in Art History |
| 2000 | University of South Australia, South Australian School of Art, Bachelor of Visual Arts Honours |
| 1997-99 | University of South Australia, South Australian School of Art, Bachelor of Visual Arts |
| SELECTED EXHIBITIONS | |
| 2010 | Little Weeds, online + Peel Street exhibition space (with Format Festival) +Seedling Art Space , curated by Lisa Harms, Adelaide, SA Hedgemaze, Prospect Gallery, Adelaide, SA |
| 2009 | Nell Pearson, Sera Waters, Claude Jones & Beci Orpin, Edwina Corlette Gallery, Brisbane, Qld |
| Just Is, Max Dawn Gallery, Adelaide, SA | |
| Craft’n Disaster, The Project Space, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia, Adelaide, SA | |
| Wangaratta Contemporary Textile Award, Wangaratta Exhibition Gallery, Vic | |
| Talente 2009, International Trade Fair, Munich, Germany | |
| artroom5, Adelaide, SA | |
| Revealing Meaning in Cloth, curated by Annabelle Collette + Craftsouth, Prospect Gallery, SA | |
| 2008 | artroom5, Adelaide, SA |
| 2007 | Spirited Away, Adelaide Central Gallery, Adelaide, SA |
| Quiet Hands, Gaff Gallery, Port Adelaide, SA | |
| Hedgemaze, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide, SA | |
| 2006 | Crooks & Nannies, downtown art space, Waymouth Street, Adelaide SA |
| 2001 | Hatched, National Graduate Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, Perth, WA |
| SELECTED GRANTS & AWARDS | |
| 2005 | Ruth Tuck Scholarship, South Australian Youth Arts Board, Australia |
| 2002 | Artists-in-studios, South Australian Youth Arts Board, Adelaide, Australia |
| SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | |
| Bull, Chris, ‘Local ‘Talente’ exhibits work in Munich’, Helpmann Academy Update, March 2009, p. 8. | |
| Dunt, Nerina, ‘Craft’n Disaster: Sera Waters’, Object, issue 59, October 2009, p. 58. | |
| Clifton, Catherine, ‘All Stitched up’, Adelaide Matters, issue 107, February 2009, pp. 28-29. | |
| Hart, Jenny, ‘Sera Waters’, Embroidery as Art blog, Jan 12, 2010 | |
| Hemmings, Dr Jessica, ‘The Dark Side’, embroidery (UK), vol. 60, Sept/Oct 2009, pp. 24-27. | |
| Kemp, Jemima, ‘During the South Australian Living Artists Festival’, Point Blank, Point 3, 09/08. | |
| Radok, Stephanie, Filling an extraordinary space, The Adelaide Review, no 253, September 28, 2004, pp 20-21 | |
| Zeplin, Dr Pamela, ‘Sera Waters: Crooks & Nannies’, Craft Culture online, Craft Victoria, 2007 | |
| PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE | |
| 2010-current | Studio member of The Incinerator, Thebarton |
| 2007-2009 | Peer Assessment Panel, Arts SA |
| 2007 | Key note speaker, SALA Festival, Art Gallery of South Australia |
| 2005-current | Committee Member on Adelaide Visual Arts Critic Circle, since Nov 2005. |
| 2005-current | Lecturing and tutoring in Art History in Art History Department (Adelaide University), Adelaide Central School of Art and South Australian School of Art (University of South Australia). |
| 2005-current | Studio member of Hedgemaze, Port Adelaide |
| 2005 | Project Assistant, Tatsuo Miyajima residency, Contemporary Art Centre of South Australia |
| 2004 – current | Arts writer for local and national publications and catalogues |
| COLLECTIONS | |
| The Cruthers Collection of Women’s Art, University of Western Australia | |
| Private Collections, South Australia and New South Wales, Australia | |