Sera Waters: Textile Collage

Artwork Focus: ‘Fashioning Locals’ (2017) and ‘Self as Plover’ (2011)

Suitable for: Years 9-10 Visual Arts, Photography and Visual Design

Click Here to download Lesson Plan

Overview

Sera Waters is an Australian textile artist working in embroidery and sculpture. Her conceptual practice explores gaps within Australia’s colonial and Eurocentric history as well as her own genealogical past, including her family’s migration to Australia. In this activity, students will construct a mixed-media photographic collage involving an element of textiles, referencing the artist’s stylistic traits.

Outcomes/Indicators

ACAVAM126 – Experiment with distributed mixed-media materials and techniques that convey a likeness to Sera Waters.
ACAVAM127 – Develop embroidery, textile, paper cutting and collage techniques that are recorded through photographs and annotations in journals with sample works.
ACAVAR130 – Evaluate how artists use material practice to comment on world events. Assess the textile and conceptual link between Sera Waters and Stanislava Pinchuk.

Activity

Step 1: Introduce students to artists of ‘Domestic Arts’ – specifically women who are using textiles within their practices, including Sera Waters and Stanislava Pinchuk.

Step 2: Use a theme such as time and place.

Step 3: Demonstrate and allow students to practise a range of transfer, stitching or embroidery techniques in both fabric and paper. When sewing paper it is suggested to pierce the paper with a needlepoint first.

Step 4: Compile and distribute a range of images or mixed-media materials students have access to. Students may also use found objects, materials from home and images sourced from the internet.

Step 5: Using a theme such as time and place, students construct a design of a textile collage in their diaries. Explain to students that they should consider composition layering. Encourage students to collect and store their materials for the collage and take photos of various combinations of compositions without gluing them into place.

Step 6: To begin a collage, start by manipulating a photograph and apply an image or fabric into an area of clothing, object or negative space.

Step 7: Scan collages as digital prints once complete.

Extended Response

How do artists Stanislava Pinchuk and Sera Waters use their practice to comment on world or personal events?

Materials & Equipment

• Found photos, newspaper, book pages, magazines
• SC007 Textile Scissors
• AA015 Fabric Glue 125mL
• NE124 Chenille Needles 6pk
• CT008 #8 Cotton Thread Assorted 42pk
• PA129-AS A4 Ream Cover Paper Assorted 125gsm
• GR023 A3 Cutting Mat
• TQ1000 Snap Off Cutter
• MT125 A3 Cotton Fabric 10pk
• FE062 A4 Felt Sheets 48pk
• CT038 Pom Pom Rainbow String 5m

Share Your Outcomes!

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