Overall Comments
The
project work you have completed shows the extent to which you are beginning to
recognize that you have a personal style and a particular way of working. There
is a clear link between work in your sketchbook and the identification and
development of possible starting points for your design ideas. Your visual
awareness as well as an increasing fluency with design based work is becoming
increasingly evident as shown in stage two and this is backed up by the
connections you make with wider artistic and intellectual concerns. Your
technical skills continue to develop and the work you have completed shows a
concern for the presentation of outcomes in an accessible way. In your next
assignment, try to maintain the documentation of your working practices and to
continue to reflect on more specific aspects of your progress.
Feedback on Assignment
Project
6 Manipulating Fabric: Creating Shapes and 3D Forms
Aims:
- To explore how work from your sketchbook can be used
a starting point for the development and realization of your ideas
- To explore different ways in which stitch can be
used to assemble fabrics and hold structures together
- To experiment with a range of 2D and 3D fabric
manipulation techniques and processes
- To gain an understanding of the diversity of style
and design in textiles
- To consider why craft produced textiles maintain a
place in our society
Stage
2: Exploring Ideas
I liked the way in which
you focused your experimentation on just two images here. You took a focused
approach with each in that the horseshoe photo led you to work directly with
materials to hand and to use their qualities to explore the surfaces seen in
the photo. By contrast, the barnacle image led you to explore further
possibilities by digitally manipulating imagery. Did you have a preference here
in terms of preferred ways of working? A further extension of this preliminary
work could have been some smaller focused drawings or collages in your
sketchbook. This would have been a good reference point for further
experimentation with applied fabric techniques. There are close links here in
terms of how you work with shape and line in compositional terms. There was
also some interesting sampling based on word and colour association and the results
showed a good understanding of the extent to which your choice of fabric and colour
can create a particular mood or feeling.
Stage
3: Applied Fabric Techniques
The first two samples
based on your horseshoe photo were lively and well considered. There was a
robustness and crustiness about them which you achieved by carefully building
up the layers of fabric. It was a good example of where the addition of braids
etc. is fully justified in achieving your intentions. You might like to have a
look at Lez Brotherstone’s costumes for Sleeping Beauty. Look at how he uses
layering and combining different fabrics. See link below and click on View the
Gallery to see the gothic fairy costumes
www.new-adventures.net/productions/sleeping_beauty/reviews
It was also interesting to see what happened when you began to
manipulate the barnacle photo further. The structure became very lace like and
delicate. Could this lead you to further research? You might like to look at
Michael Brennand Wood’s Material Evidence, Improvisations on a historical theme based on the Whitworth Art Gallery’s collection of lace. It
might lead you to further experimentation with materials and techniques. There
is also a good link here between this and the crochet work you undertook for
Alice Kettle.
You are becoming increasingly aware of how subtle changes in
your images can be used to create very different outcomes. I’m thinking here of
the contrast you achieved when selecting hard contrast imagery as opposed to a
softer focus. In all your samples, you relied very much on fabric quality to
achieve the overall effect. It was interesting see that by contrast, you used
only very basic utility stitches to assemble fabrics and hold structures
together. Was this a conscious decision on your part?
The diversion into stained glass allowed you to capitalize on
the use of semi-transparent fabrics and the sample in which you combined the
printed background with overlaid shapes worked very well indeed. The reference
to Klimt’s work was very self-evident but you might also like to look at Frederich
Hundertwasser for his use of rich pattern and simplified, distorted shapes.
Final Sample
secure your shapes. The background by contrast was rather more
sensitively handled with some good layering and the use of running stitch which
served to secure the layers as well as create additional surface texture. You
might like to re consider this piece in terms of alternative approaches. Could
you for example, insert some of the shapes underneath the top background layer?
Would further consideration of varying the scale of the shapes in terms of
larger and smaller circles help you to re consider the overall composition and
the relationship between positive and negative shape?
Stage
4: Surface Manipulation
You produced some very interesting samples for
this stage. I particularly liked the slashing and the way in which you varied
the distance between the rows of stitching. This allowed a denser buildup of
frayed, coloured threads to emerge on the surface. You could take this experimentation
further by trying the same techniques but with different fabrics. You might
also like to look at Elizabeth Brimelow’s work. She used slashing very
effectively in her quilts but cuts on the bias of the fabric within an enclosed
stitch area. This effectively prevents the fabric from fraying at all but
reveals slashes of pure colour reminiscent of Elizabethan costume.
The moulded samples were
highly successful too. I felt as though the beige hairy sample was actually
growing whilst I was looking at it!
Final
Sample
This was a really good
choice of technique to re-create your barnacle photo. I liked the way in which
you create different surface heights by using French knots as an intermediary
level. My only reservation was again in relation to the overall composition.
You could maybe re consider more carefully the spaces created in-between the barnacles.
Would less be more? You can exaggerate elements within the original photo to
suit your purpose rather than trying to achieve a direct copy. Could you introduce
some darker tones with your French knots in order to create an illusion of
greater depth and tonal contrast?
Preparation
for Project 7: Theme Book
Your theme of ‘Gardens’ is
a good one with lots of potential but you need to focus in more closely on a
particular aspect otherwise, it will become unmanageable. Also, think very
carefully about everything you have learned so far in terms of materials,
techniques, observational skills, visual awareness design and compositional
skills and try to demonstrate how you intend to build on this. Don’t be
overambitious. Often a simple design well executed can work much better than
something which is overcomplicated and maybe beyond your current level of
expertise. Remember, it’s a level 1 module. Again, reference to Elizabeth
Brimelow’s work in terms of subject matter might help you here.
Learning Logs/Critical
Essays
References to artists’ work
and exhibitions are thoughtfully considered. Try to link this more loosely to
the development of your own ideas e.g. you clearly loved Gillian Bates’ work.
What elements might you consider developing in your own work?
Research
Point
This was a very interesting
choice and one which resonated with your own personal interest. You mad some
pertinent references to the ways in which the craft of crochet has been incorporated
into the work of current designers and the general revival of the craft through
retro and vintage revivals.
Sketchbooks
More work is need here but
I think you know that from your comments in your learning log. The work you
have undertaken for your art class has clearly had a beneficial effect on your
OCA work but remember that you cannot submit it as part of your assessed course
work. It might be better to keep it in another sketchbook unless the techniques
you have acquired feed specifically into the development of new ideas for your
OCA course.
Suggested reading/viewing
See above in report
Pointers for the next
assignment
The next assignment is concerned with the
construction of textiles. Some of the weaving techniques can be quite time
consuming and the intention is to familiarize you with the techniques and
processes. My advice would be to keep your samples quite small and when asked
to identify possible starting points, don’t be tempted to go down a very
literal or representational route. It is very challenging to do this because of
the structure of the weave which favours a geometric or linear approach. Also,
consider what other non-traditional textile materials you could weave with and
in what ways you might combine their use.
