ALISON SCHWABE GALLERY
Alison's quilts are unmistakably Australian. I don't know why. I missed going to the Outback when I was in Australia (twice), but when I see her colors and lines it reminds me of the pictures I've seen of Ayer's Rock -- dry, majestic, mysterious. They have a primitive feel to them which I found goes well with my small figures from Papua New Guinea. EXHIBITS AND HONORS Recent Exhibits Collections Education OTHER PAGES Ethnic and Folk Arts Resident Artists Book Store Private Collections Collector's Corner				AVAILABLE WORK Visual Index of Her Work Pilbara Obiri Ora Banda Mission Beach
			Artist's Statement "I am part of all that I have met Yet all experience is an arch wherethrough Gleams that untravelled world whose margin Fades for ever and for ever when I move." Ulysses, A.L. Tennyson I was born and raised in Launceston, Tasmania and my husband Michael, a geologist, is from near there. When first married, we came west to Kalgoorlie in the Nickel Boom of the late 60's. I taught high school English and Social Studies there. A short stint in local government followed, a heady period in all -- but every boom goes bust. In 1975, with our two children we headed north to the N.T. for what I now call our "Tent Period" -- in exploration camps in the Alligator Rivers area and Katherine. We experienced culture shock after 'Kal' but it was still fascinating and a time I value greatly. Between 1975 and 1981, I discovered creative embroidery and took a lot of workshops. Back to Kalgoorlie in 1981, I helped form the Goldfingers Embroiderers group. I was invited by Rusty Walkley to exhibit solo in her studio, "Sunburnt Textures" in July of 1987. Also, Goldfingers and Patchwork Pollies combined to produce one of the double-sided quilted banners commissioned by the Government for the Touring Bicentennial Exhibition -- I literally put the last stitches in the gold nugget and the machine embroidery on our piece. The very next day (October, '87) I began packing to go to the USA where Michael was transferred by an Australian company to be based in Denver, Colorado "for about 2 years... I thought quilting would be an interesting focus for the duration. Little did I know! Before too long, I had joined a guild and a quilting bee, taken basic construction classes, met some other creative souls (Colorado is full of them) and had begun to tackle quilting in a very non-traditional way. I attended workshops by a few well-known teachers -- especially at the Quilt Surface Design symposium. I successfully entered my work in contemporary quilt shows and multi-media gallery shows. Since returning to Australia in January, 1994, and despite the logistics of an international move and house renovations, etc. I have managed some major new pieces. "Undercurrents" was entered in the 1994 W.A. Water Authority's Inaugural Art Award and declared a joint winner ($2,000 prize) -- and then purchased by the Authority for its head offices for another $2,000. Another new piece, "Obiri" was accepted for Quilt National '95. Eighty works were selected from a record total of 1280 entries; I was the only Australian. In the past three years a series of quilts has been developing in which the memories I have of certain places are strongly associated with particular colours. I realized this connection when we arrived in Denver, Colorado at the end of autumn, 1987, with the landscape predominantly yellowy-gray, awaiting winter. I began to think of other places in terms of remembered colour associations. These 'Colour Memory Quilts' are non-traditional block patterns with strip inserts presenting some part of the memory. I have always thought one of the most potentially expressive embroidery stitches is the straight stitch; the strips are a development of that view. *Excerpt from "Contemporary Quilter-Alison Schwabe," Textile Fibre Forum No. 43, 1995. Selected Recent Exhibits "The Razor's Edge," New Collectibles Gallery, Fremantle, Australia "Quilt National," Athens, OH, 1993, 1995 "Artcraft Expo," Fremantle, Australia "Colours of Australia," Opera House, Sydney, Australia "WAQA Exhibition," South Perth Civic Center, Australia "Christmas Show '93," The White House, Washington, DC "FIBER/texture '93," Boulder Arts Center, Boulder, CO "Vision: Southwest," Prescott, AZ "Visions: The Art of The Quilt," San Diego, CA Collections Western Australian Water Authority, Leederville, Western Australia The White House "Christmas Ornaments '93" Education Bachelor of Arts, University of Tasmania, Australia Diploma of Education, University of Tasmania, Australia
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