Alex Schaefer
Winner - Outstanding Student Award 2008.
Living all my life in a rural environment that is being rapidly being overtaken by the urban spread of Sydney, I wished to show the importance of my local environment. Even the smallest of details intrigue and fascinate me. To communicate the relationship between these, the rocks, moss, fungi, vines and water, I used the tactile medium of fibre art and then photographed the result in the natural environment that inspired me.
Contact: test@atasda.com.au
My Work
Secret Life of Wisteria
This completely original designed quilt was my Textile major work in the Higher School Certificate in 2008.
Each raceme took 4 full days to do. I enjoyed designing it on EQ6 and designing the leaves and racemes from the 800 photos I took. My folio was very extensive with many diverse experiments undertaken in the final section.
"As the days warm, and the nights become longer, the delicate, whimsical buds start to bloom. Splashes of purple lay against the bare brown vines of the wisteria plant. When all other plants remain dormant, Wisteria begins to bloom brightening the day. This idea of the magical essence, that the wisteria could when no one else could, is what I wanted to capture in my quilt. I want the colours and lines to represent this idea of magic. The colours are light and have a slightly mythical presence, the organic wavy lines also have a whimsical essence."
Techniques - Fabric painting (all backgrounds), machine appliqué (racemes), self made bias strips, strip piecing, paper piecing, hand app
ArtExpress photo
I made this fibre work for my Visual Arts major work. It consists of a bodice, a skirt, a chocker necklace, 9 A3 colour photos, 3 A4 black and white photos and 6 B5 black and white photos.
Living all my life in a rural environment that is being rapidly being overtaken by the urban spread of Sydney, I wished to show the importance of my local environment. Even the smallest of details intrigue and fascinate me. To communicate the relationship between these, the rocks, moss, fungi, vines and water, I used the tactile medium of fibre art and then photographed the result in the natural environment that inspired me. Positioning the fibre works within this special environment allows these relationships to be seen and shows that even the smallest feature has value and is worth preserving.
Techniques - proper construction of a bodice with lining including boning and proper fitting. Rocks were made with silk using a modified Ken Smith technique of "mossing". Machine felted water and clusters of crystals. Self made pa
Winter Draw String Bag
I made this bag as a year 11 textiles project. The bag is to represent a season, I decided to choose winter.
I made my own fabric for the outside of the bag using various clipping on organza between 2 pieces of Romeo then free motion quilted over the top with sliver and matte polysheen thread.
I then designed the draw string bag myself, in a hexagon shape. I beaded snowflakes on the outside.
Jacket
Another year 11 textiles project. This was my first garment I ever made. I used a Vogue pattern and followed the instructions.
I learnt so much in making this garment and this knowledge lead onto the creation of my HSC artwork. I embellished the collar and down the back to add interest and flair to it.
Greywork
I made "Greywork" in a workshop with Tita Leach. It was originally a redwork set of 4 quilts. I decided to do it in hues of greys and make one large quilt using her blocks and some I designed myself.
I entered "Greywork" into NSW Quilters Guild Show and won first in Junior B (13-18 year) category. My quilt was then selected to go down to the Australasian Quilt Convention Best of the Best Quilt show, where 5 quilts are selected from each quilt show around Australia.
Black, white and everything in between
Year 9 was my quilt "Black, White and Everything In Between", an art quilt depicting the pollution in the sea. I entered it into Castle Hill show and won Campion Junior Textiles.
This was my first art quilt and I love how it reflects my concern for the ocean but at the same time it taught me to be more carefree and experiment with idea and notions.
