Sera Waters facts for kids

Sera Waters is an Australian textile artist, arts writer, and arts educator. She lectures at Adelaide Central School of Art in Adelaide, South Australia.

Early life

Sera Waters was born in Murray Bridge, South Australia, in 1979.

She received a Bachelor of Visual Arts (Hons) from the University of South Australia in 2000. In 2005 she was awarded the Ruth Tuck Scholarship for Visual Arts, and used it to undertake study at the Royal School of Needlework in the UK.

She then went on to earn a Masters of Visual Arts from the University of Adelaide in 2006, and later (2018) a PhD from the University of South Australia

Artistic style and subject

Waters specialises in textile arts and techniques, such as embroidery. Waters’ blackwork is considered her signature technique. In her PhD thesis, she used textile arts to explore family genealogy. Her works have been described as deeply conceptual, witty, and using humble needlework to encompass worlds of concern. As well as examining the colonial experience through her art, she is concerned with practicing art on Aboriginal land and the impact of colonisation. She is also interested in textiles arts embodying labour and time.

Academic career

As of 2024^[update] Waters lectures in art history at Adelaide Central School of Art.

Awards, residencies, and scholarships

• 2006: Ruth Tuck Scholarship for Visual Arts
• 2016: Heysen Prize for Landscape, Hahndorf Academy
• 2018: Hill Smith Gallery / University of South Australia Postgraduate Award, Helpmann Academy
• 2019: Finalist, Ramsay Art Prize, Art Gallery of South Australia
• 2020: Guildhouse Fellowship, from the Art Gallery of South Australia

Collections

• Art Gallery of South Australia
• Cruthers Collection of Women's Art, University of Western Australia