Alison Schwabe

I’ve always enjoyed the domestic traditional needlework techniques for making or decorating practical items of clothing and household furnishings that I began learning as a young child in the 50s, and I still use these basic skills today. By the late 80s I was exhibiting as a creative embroiderer, as the drive to focus on the decorative functions of fabric and stitch grew. Encountering traditional geometric patchwork was brief but highly influential, as it led me into the world of contemporary art quilts. I love using basic geometric shapes in grid formations which represent the balance of calm and order, with a level of predictability that comes from repetition. The main source of inspiration in my fibre art is Landscape. My life has taken me to live in distinctly different landscapes on three continents. And, as my life and body have changed shape and texture over the decades, I now see Landscape as a Metaphor for Life.