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Butchering: Boneless Potroast, 2008-2009
cotton, embroidery thread, beads and sequins on linen
260 x 220 mm
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Butchering: The Loin, 2008-2009
embroidery thread, felt, sequins, beads and cotton on linen
260 x 220mm
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Butchering: Two Tender Loins, 2009
cotton, embroidery thread and beads on linen
260 x 220 mm
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Butchering: Rib-Eye Roast, 2009
felt, beads, embroidery thread and cotton on linen
260 x 220mm
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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 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 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 under the guise of
'entertainment', sometimes they creep in through a broken window
or forced lock, but whether fictional or actual, they nevertheless
leave an embroidered mark upon the home's fabric witnesses.
The two Butchering series, one of knives, the other meat-cuts,
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. The cuts of meat are represented in their
frozen state, with blood-stained ice crystals radiating their
coldness about them. As well as serving this function, the ice
crystals, which are delectably rich with stitching, also have
ominous links to underground drug rings (a subject which appears
insatiably interesting in current Australian television). The
knives, tools-of-the-trade for butchers of the criminal and non-criminal
variety, are camouflaged on their black linen backgrounds. As
if spotted in the darkness, their glow-in-the-dark blades give
them away to the potential crimes about to be committed. |
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Sera Waters
Butchering: De-Bone, 2009
felt, sequins, glow-in-the-dark thread and cotton on linen
100 x 400mm
photographs by Michael Kluvanek
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Sera Waters
Butchering: Hack, 2009
felt, sequins, glow-in-the-dark thread and cotton on linen
140 x 400 mm
photographs by Michael Kluvanek
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Sera Waters
born 1979
Education
2003-2006
2000
.
1997-1999
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Masters of Art History, Adelaide University in conjunction with the Art Gallery of South Australia
Honours Bachelor of Visual Arts (First Class), South Australian School of Art,
University of South Australia
Bachelor of Visual Arts, South Australian School of Art, UniSA
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Selected Exhibitions
2009
.
.
2008
2007
2007
2007
2006
2005
2004
2004
2003
2002
.
2001
2001
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Talente (Handwerkskammer für München und Oberbayern), InternationalTrade Fair, Munich
(Talente is a prestigious international competitive exhibition, March 11 - 17, 2009, showcasing
the work of the very best young and emerging designer/makers selected by the German judges.)
Sala Exhibition, artroom5, 5 Kent St, Adelaide, SA
Spirited Away, Central Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Quite Hands, Gaff Gallery, Port Adelaide, SA
Hedgemaze, Light Square Gallery, Adelaide, SA
Crooks & Nannies, solo exhibition, downtown Artspace, Adelaide, SA
Feminine Idiom, ArtsSA, Hindley Street, Adelaide, SA
Interior N Gallery, Underdale (co-curated with Mark Siebert), Adelaide SA
Art for ages 0-100, ForestOne Gallery, Hindley Street, Adelaide SA
Syrup, solo exhibition, Pepper Street Arts Centre, Adelaide SA
Driveway (curated by Leanne Amodeo, James Dodd and Phil Hind) suburban backyards
Pt Adelaide and Exeter, Adelaide SA
Hatched, National Graduate Show, Perth Institute of Contemporary Art, WA
Helpmann Academy Graduate Show Miller Anderson Building, Hindley Street, Adelaide, SA
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Grants and Prizes
2005
2004
2002
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Ruth Tuck Scholarship, SAYAB, to attend Royal School of Needlework, Surrey, UK in 2006.
AJA Roy Terrill Prize, Japanese Art History Essay Prize, Adelaide University, Adelaide SA
Artists - in - Studio's 2002, SAYAB Grant, six-month studio space at Central School Studios,
Adelaide, SA
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Bibliography
2007
.
2006
2006
.
2005
2005
.
2004
.
2004
.
2004
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Dutkiewicz, Adam, 'Putting art and soul into the Fringe', The Independent Weekly,
March 24-30 2007, p. 31.
Dunt, Nerina, 'Crooks & Nannies', dB Magazine, issue # 399, 22 Nov - 3 Dec 2006, p. 35.
Zeplin, Dr Pamela, 'Sera Waters: Crooks & Nannies', Craft Culture online, Craft Victoria,
http://www.craftculture.org/Review/pzeplin1.htm
McDonald, Patrick, 'Scholarships Let the Dreams Begin', The Advertiser, Wed, Nov 23, 2005, p. 34.
McDonald, Patrick, 'Put six artists in a room and look what you get', The Advertiser Review,
Saturday, July 23, 2005, pp. 12-13.
Neylon, John, 'Sera Waters and Daniel Torchio, Liquid Gallery @ Liquid Girl, Gouger St',
The Adelaide Review, no 246, March 2004, p. 26
Radok, Stephanie, Filling an extraordinary space, The Adelaide Review, no 253,
September 28, 2004, pp 20-21
Quantrill, Sarah, 'Interior', dB Magazine, issue #341, 22 September - 5 October 2004, p. 42
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Professional Experience
2007-current
2006-current
2005-current
2005-current
2005-current
2005
2003-current
2004
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Arts SA Peer Assessment Panel
Embroiderers' Guild of South Australia, member
Hedgemaze, held studio at Hedgemaze since November 2005
Committee Member on Adelaide Visual Arts Critic Circle, since Nov 2005.
Tutoring, SA School of Art and Art History Department, Adelaide University
Project Assistant, Contemporary Art Centre of South Aust,Tatsuo Miyajima project, Adelaide, SA
Arts writing, Eyeline, Artlink, un Magazine, Vitamin (layout and articles), dB magazine, catalogue
essays, national and local publications
Artist-in-residence, South Australian School of Art, UniSA
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2008 SALA EXHIBITION LINK 3 - 17 August, 2008
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