PE Task Two

My first year of University on the Textiles in Practice course has been an eye opener for me. I have learned that I am quite a versatile worker.

In my first unit, I took part in the construct world. Firstly, I learned to weave. I found this quite tedious and that casting on to the loom alone was such a time consuming task and I didn't feel as though the appearance of the final outcomes/samples was representative of the time spent. However, I really did enjoy knitting and I feel as though this is something that I would want to be involved in next year.

I feel as though as a textiles practitioner, in the real world of becoming employable, it is essential to be particularly skilled in one specific area of textiles, after all, no one wants to be a Jack of all trades and master of none. I think it would be really important for me to become involved deeply in knit as it was something that I enjoyed greatly. I loved the instantaneous nature of using the knitting machine and I am going to endeavor to learn to hand knit over the summer.

I also feel as though I worked well within the Textile Design for Fashion workshop and that this could marry really well with becoming closely involved in developing knitwear. I really enjoy creating fashion illustrations and developing work that could sit easily within the world of fashion. I felt that the piece below worked well and I feel as though I could improve further, including other techniques such as embroidery and digital print that could work so well with some technically great knitwear.

In the final unit, I finally created a sculptural piece that could sit within an art gallery. I really did enjoy this process too, however I feel as though I could use this as a starting point to develop my work further, drawing from it to create digitally printed fabrics that could be applied to the body and used for fashion.

I feel as though I have developed quite a strong relationship with colour too. In the first unit, I managed to use a series of bright colurs together well and then on the opposite end of the spectrum, the line up above shows that I am also able to work much more subtly with greys, creams and blues that have been accented with metallic tones.

Next year, I'm still open to trying new processes and want to be absorbed in as much practice as I can. However, it is so important to me that I refine and become skilled in one specific area and marry it with a different area that I also really enjoy. I feel as though this will put me in good stead for the future and a set of specific skills will boost my prospects dramatically.

Evaluation of unit X.

Being divided into groups of people that I did not no did not really appeal to me in the beginning. I felt as though I was being forced to work with people that I would not usually be drawn to, but I was willing to accept this and use it to my advantage.

I felt as though working with fashion students would perhaps open the door for creating work with a fashion vision that could marry seamlessly with my textiles work. However, working with film and media seemed utterly pointless. This isn't a reflection of the people that are on the film and media course, but an issue that I feel that the people who organise unit X need to reassess this. They are not creatively lead people who are constantly using the design process that TIP and Fashion students do which was soon to cause some difficulties within the group. I accept that it was not the film and media student's fault that they did not understand some of our initial concepts but they did not help matters by barely being involved in any of the group tutorials or sessions that were organised for us or internally by the group via our Facebook page.

It soon became apparent that the Fashion students felt as though they were in control of the group. I understood that there was a greater number of Fashion students so it seemed that they would be in control, but this is not the way that a collaborative group should interact. It felt almost immediately that my ideas were being overlooked and I feel confident enough to say that it was not due to the quality of my work (above).I don't feel as though the group appreciated that the work that I had created was both time consuming and meticulous, like the cut letter series.

Regardless, I attended meetings regularly and managed to convey some of my ideas and learning to compromise is definitely one of the skills that have improved greatly within the past 8 weeks. Another skill that has developed is that I have learned to convey my opinions much more diplomatically and probably more professionally. Usually, I just speak and I am unaware of how things may sounds, but I feel as though I have developed my communication skills and can speak much more neutrally.

Towards the end of the unit, my biggest challenge started to emerge. Being practically ejected from the group meant that I had to make a quick decision and take control of the situation. I learned that I needed to trust myself with decision making and I knew that my previous units displayed my ability to work alone. It was not an ideal situation but I felt as though I had managed to turn it on it's head and turn the very frustrating situation into a positive.

The time in which this situation arose also meant that I needed to make decisions quickly and decide on the most time efficient way of creating work, not only work but to the standard of a final piece. Developing my own final piece has meant that I was unexpectedly in charge of planning, logistics and the manufacture of my final piece which was also hung independently. 

Working as part of a group may have taught my some lessons and allowed me to progress in terms of voicing my opinion and making sure that my ideas are heard and noticed. Even though I was furious that in the end my ideas had gone unnoticed, perhaps it was in fact a blessing in disguise and it forced me to turn a pretty awful situation into something that saw me work well under pressure, right through from design to the manufacture and display of my work and to a high standard (right).

Overall, I feel as though I have learned to trust my own judgement and to allow myself to believe in my own ability. Even though time was tight, I knew that I had to pull it out of the bag. And I feel like I did.

Images of final piece.

Weightless

Floating

Movement

Shadow

Hanging my final piece.

As an alternative venue could not be sourced at such short notice, through no fault of my own, I decided that I would have to hang my piece on the staircase of Hilton House.

The place was filthy, dusty and had very little hanging space so this presented an entirely new set of challenged that needed to be dealt with. I went back to my flat and returned armed with cleaning product and sponged and decided that I wanted to clean the area before hanging my work in order to retain an element of professionalism.

I then decided that the sculpture could hang in front of one of the windows. This would allow the light to shine through the letters and cast shadows within the rest of the exhibition space. Leaving this window slightly ajar has meant that the letters can move and appear floating (see video). I feel as though this movement lends another element to the final piece and is really effective and in some ways is quite eerie in the way that they float and spin weightlessly.

Hanging the sculpture was probably the hardest part of this stage of the make. I was climbing all over the venue, standing on window ledges that were barely wide enough for my feet to fit on and being afraid of heights did not help. However, I needed to just grin and bear it as the piece needed hanging within a certain time frame.

Taking control of my study

As intended, I decided that I needed to speak to a textiles tutor as I have had very little contact with any tutor from my programme throughout unit X. I wanted to speak to someone about the difficulties and troubles I have had in my group and discuss how it had made me feel.

I managed to speak to my course leader immediately, which was a lovely surprise. She was quite happy to sit down and go through what I was feeling and was also happy to listen to the issues that have dogged unit X.

Firstly, I told her about how missing two tutorials has spiraled into being expelled from the group so close to the final deadline. I was obviously upset by it and even though I had been proactive and started making and had planned with what little time I had, I still felt like I was on my very last nerve with the entire unit.

She then told me that what I was feeling was completely normal, especially given the situation and that I was being brave by continuing alone and credited the fact that I have used my initiative and continued without anyone and had planned to create my own piece. She also agreed that I should not be forced or bullied into 'plonking' my work with other pieces where it was neither wanted or did not fit. This was such a reassurance to me.

Kate went on to say how she felt that this was a massive progressive learning curve for me and that it has taught me to be strong and stand up for ideas that I think are strong enough to work. She understood the issues that I have been made to deal with but she has reassured me that it would help my practice in the future and that it meant that I could stay in control.

This was probably the best thing about the entire unit so far for me and at the end of it I felt as though a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. 

Making.

I feel as though I haven't really stopped this weekend and I have thrown myself into the make of the final piece as time really is of the essence.

I intend to go and see my course leader on Monday morning to talk to her about my exclusion from the group and discuss arranging an alternate venue to show my work. I also want to just speak to someone who will understand the issues surrounding creative practice, both individually and as part of a group.

Anyway, in the meantime, I had made my letters using pva glue and thread (see left)and then needed to attach these to the invisible thread that I had purchased with the intention of hanging them from.

Hanging these letters was going to present itself with even more difficulties. I was struggling with the logistics of attaching the letters without all of the threads being tangled and becoming knotted together. This has proven to be quite an annoyance. 

I had to overcome this. So I decided to hang the hoop from the ceiling of my flat and attach the letters in the ways in which they will hang when the final piece has been completed. This seemed to make much more sense that then original method that I have been using and would allow me to hang them with much more ease than previously.

The image (right) shows me glue gunning each and every single letter to very thin invisi-thread in sequence. This had proven to be a very time consuming and quite difficult task.

Making the letters alone had taken around 10 hours. Suspending the letters had taken approximately a further 8 hours. This time does not include the time it has taken to plan, measure and prepare the hoop and threads. This task has been ginormous but I think that the effort that has been put into the piece is reflected in it's appearance- which I really am glad of.

I need to visit the venue tomorrow in order to see where I am going to hang the sculptural hanging.

Visual planning

Visually representing my ideas through drawing and small amounts of note taking has allowed me to realise my final piece without actually physically creating it. I feel as though this was the point that the final piece was beginning to take shape in my head and seeing it on paper allowed me to see it coming to life.

Planning for a final piece

I had decided that I had been influence so much by the artists that I have mentioned on my blog that I too wanted to create a piece that included my work being suspended and in a high multiple.

I felt that this reflected a lot of the work that I had created and I had experimented with suspending some of my thread letters and I felt that this was strong and worked really well. I felt that this was the way forward but I still had a lot of problem solving to do.

I then felt as though a cylindrical shape would be a good way to display a large number of the letters, but I also didn't want the way that they were suspended to detract from the effort that is put into making the letters in the first place. What could be used to hang them from? How many would I need? So many problems that needed to be cracked and fast.

I decided to use the entire code that had been developed from deconstructing the text previously. This is going to be a large task but if the work is going to be on display then I feel as though I need to be ambitious. I will need to make 168 of the letters from thread and I have decided that they will be white.

Despite the group abandoning previous ideas, I have retained the colour palette that we had decided on; whites, accented with punchy and bright green and orange.

I now felt as though I had decided and needed to visually plan.

Group difficulties

This week, I have been taken ill and was unable to attend the tutorials that we were scheduled in for. I trusted that the rest of the group would attend (as they did) and then pass on information to myself. This was not the case.

I was informed by fellow TIP member, Shannon, that the final ideas that we had decided we were going to carry forwards had changed in their entirety. So after having my back turned for two sessions, my ideas were completely disregarded and thrown out by the group- to which I was understandably furious and frustrated. 

I have been present for the majority of the tutorials and group sessions and that allowed me to voice my opinions, share my views and offer my own spin on ideas that may not have been going in a direction that I would see best. As I was not there, I was unable to fight for my voice to be heard amongst the group. I could not believe my ears to hear that NONE of the final ideas now included ANY of my ideas whatsoever. Had I been talking to myself for the entirety of this unit? Had I just been wasting my time, creating work to a high standard for it to go unnoticed?

The fashion students had clearly taken hold of the reins as the one and only final piece being carried through was a coat. I, personally cannot pattern cut and I am assuming that the film and media students also do not have any garment constructing experience so I felt that this was unfair as we could not help to construct this final piece.

I feel as though a garment led final piece was always pushed for by tutor Eleanor and this had obviously spurred the fashion students to create a fashion led final piece.

After being ignored on several occasions on the Facebook group that we had created to communicate with the each other, Shannon was oh so kindly offered to put her work within the pockets of the coat. I know that this did not give me or her the credit and recognition that we deserve for the work that we had put into this unit and I was not offered any form of inclusion. Wonderful.

Upon this, I was thrown in to panic mode and decided that it was time for me to create a final piece of my own. This was not my first choice but I would have been left with absolutely nothing to present so I decided to start developing my own ideas and began attempting to source a location of which to display. This left me with one weekend and two days before the show had been up, so naturally I felt as though the group had left me in the lurch but I refused to be defeated, even at such short notice.

Augusto Esquivel

Scale

Skill

Time

The amount of time and effort put into creating these pieces is amazing. I feel as though if we take even a part of the time and put in just as much effort, we can make the presentation of our work just as eye catching and impressive as this.

Claire Morgan

I wanted to look at ideas for suspending my letters as part of the final piece by looking at the work of skilled and experienced pracitioners.

Claire Morgan uses taxidermy in conjunction with suspended organic materials such as blue bottle flies etc to create really intricate and painstaking works that are quite frankly incredible in terms of skill and time taken.

I feel that even though the themes of capturing snippets of nature and using suspension as a camera aren't directly linked to the group work we have created, I feel as though the ways in which she has used thread to suspend her objects so carefully and considerately is something that would be beneficial for us to take on board when displaying our work at the unit X festival.

Colour workshop with Hermes designer, Leigh Cooke.

Leigh Cooke, presenting designs

I signed up to a colour workshop with Hermes designer, Leigh Cooke, a graduate from the school of art. I felt that as a textiles practitioner this was an opportunity that could not be missed.

I felt that he could give a great insight into how he works and give any hints and tips about how colours interact and work with one and other.

When I first arrived, it seemed to be more of an autobiographical talk about his early and personal life which wasn't really insightful in the practical sense and has not really been useful in influencing any of my work during unit X.

However he did go on to discuss the importance of drawing. So much so that he says that is all his job consists of.

"I do not do mood boards" "I do not do design development"

To be honest, I didn't find the above comments helpful at all. He didn't really seem to show any respect for the processes that are essential to the design process and I accept that drawing is the most important thing about design and interpretation but it is not all there is to design.

Regardless, he spoke about the importance of composition. This did make more sense. He spoke about how he could spend days arranging his subject before drawing it, which I can fully understand.

The design (above,right) show the importance of placement and composition. 

Visually representing my ideas

I have decided that it would probably be better for the sake of my blog and to show my group some visual interpretations of the ideas that we have had in order to gain some sort of vision and insight as to how our work may look.

I want to create some drawings that will be design sketches to outline important information such as formation, layout, colour and composition- all very important when creating work, particularly final pieces that are meant to represent our entire unit of work.

We are going to be creating several pieces within smaller subgroups in order to create work that we have all worked towards but reflect every ones ideas.

The picture I have included is of some notes of basic ideas that we all agreed on. The tutorial sheet below shows how our ideas started to come together and helped us all come to a decision as to how we were going to merge many ideas to suit everyone.


This tutorial helped us come to terms with using a specific location in order for our final pieces to sit within the city comfortably and were encouraged by our tutor.

As the sheet shows, we had all concluded that suspending the threads, yarn bombing and casting shadows using transparencies and my letters would all be included in the final piece, as well as Shannon from the group working with some of the fashion students to create a digital print/garment collaboration, allowing us to cross disciplines and learn techniques from one and other.

Developing the idea of using transparency.

The group have generally been interested and attracted to the idea of using transparency and shadows within our work. I have already included this by casting shadows of hanging letters onto the wall and documenting this but I felt as though it could be developed further by using photoshop to manipulate some of the cut paper letters that I have already used.

I wanted to layer certain elements of the pieces, using the transparency of the layers to give the impression that they have been overlaid and placed on top of one and other.

I feel as though the colours work well with this technique, keeping it quite muted with greys and a tea stain ocre colour but predominantly white and off white has been used. I feel as though I could get these pieces printed off on to acetate and cast a light through them- again using the idea of transparency within my work.

I don't know if this will be used by the group however I feel as though it is a step in the right direction, in developing print or something that may be projected or hung etc

I also feel that this colour palette is working well and that it could work especially well with small flashes of the accent colours that I have discussed.

Alphabet Mask.

As other people within the group have also spoken about the possibility of creating a performance piece, I felt that the inclusion of my work would be overlooked and I needed to address this. I decided that the structures that I have been creating could actually be worn within a performance.

As you can see, I decided to create a mask onto a polystyrene head, placing letters and clustering them together in order to hold them in place.

I really feel like this works well, so much so that I felt as though I wanted to play more with the composition of the letters.

I also quite like that the letters aren't too bright against the white head and that they blend together almost seamlessly.

Joining the pieces together may be quite difficult if this ideas is carried through by the group however and it would probably need to be fitted to the performer's head to ensure that the letters fit where they are intended to.

Collaborating on ideas for a final piece.

Finally, the entire group managed to get together and discuss ideas. Film and Media students had been busy with other assignments and felt that they could only return to work on unit X recently. As discussed in my previous post, this has caused some difficulty and in our latest meeting it has felt as though now we are being forced to shoe-horn in the thoughts and opinions of people that have had little or no involvement through the design and idea generation process that is so important to all design/practical work.

Regardless, we have all drawn on elements of each other's work in order to mix and blend ideas from individuals in order to create a collaborative final piece. This in itself presented some difficulties and it was impossible to please absolutely everyone.

I am planning on drawing up our ideas in order to present them visually. Me and Chris are designing a yarn bombing piece with a twist. We are planning on knitting a large piece that will be wrapped around scaffolding and unravelled. This will then be used to create the letters that I have been making from thread and will also be hung around the scaffolding.

In addition to this, Shannon (TIP student) and Tasha (F&M student) have decided on creating a quote that describes our group work ethic and hang this in an abandoned window in the Northern Quarter, fulfilling the brief to "dress the city".

We have also decided to stick to a muted colour palette of whites and greys that can then be accented and contrasted with the very bright colours that others in the group have been using, such as bright orange, hot pink and lime green.

Working in a group.

Working within a group has been quite a difficult task that I am not used to, as I'm pretty sure that people within the group are not either. I have attended the majority of the tutorials that have been scheduled in for us, as have 4 other members of the group. However, certain members of the group have failed to turn up for a great deal of any of the sessions, both scheduled by tutors and meetings organised independently by the group via our Facebook group.

This has been difficult as we cannot include people within the group and waste time worrying about people that rarely attend. The fact that certain members have not attended has meant that it has been difficult to nail down a particular idea that we would like to carry out in order to realise a collaborative final piece.

Using letters to cast shadows.

I made many letters from the code that I have developed previously. I have created them in shades of white and grey, mainly due to the fact that as a group, a colour palette is yet to be established. However I think that the whites and greys may work well as a general theme for us all to work with, accenting with some of the brighter colours that others in the group may have been working with.

I decided to take the shapes that I had made, and hang them like a decorative mobile. I then sat and waited for the sun to set in my bedroom. The natural sunlight eventually flooded the room and then I took the chance to hang the makeshift mobile and photograph the imagery that it cast on the wall.

I have achieved the mark that I wanted to by using this particular technique. The fuzzy and quite hairy mark slightly distorts the letters and I like the way that the mobile technique means that the letters are quite free and fluid, in fact I'd quite like to video the way that they move and spin and how the shapes change with movement. That may be the next job on my list but I'd also like to play with what else I could do with the letters and how far they can be pushed in terms of versatility. I could change the colours, the scale and take them to the extremes - absolutely huge letters sitting alongside tiny single strand letters.

Creating letters using PVA glue and thread.

Using the technique that was shared with me in the previous post, I decided to create letters using PVA glue and thread in varying sizes and forms.

The loose looking structure of the shapes is different to the way that I have been working with cut paper and doesn't have the same clean edge that I have been using. However I think that this new, more loose mark that the thread makes relates well to the work of Anastacia Mastrakouli.

Similarly, I wanted to use something that may be more transparent and fluid. The group had already discussed working with transparency and shining lights through translucent forms to cast a fluid mark and give that almost 'stain glass window' sort of effect. I think shadows may be the way forward with my letters.

Sharing/ Collaboration of ideas

http://1085362085.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/sandrine-pelletier.html

I have included a link to fellow group member and textiles in practice student, Shannon's blog. 

She began using thread with PVA glue, this meant that the structure that she placed the thread in was frozen by the glue and retained it's shape. I found this technique really interesting and she shared with the group an artist that works in a similar way, on quite an ambitious scale. Sandrine Pelletier has created large horse-like structures, using the same technique.

I want to be able to share processes with the group and I think that it's interesting that I may use this particular technique but take a totally different spin on it to Shannon.

I want the technique to relate to the work with text that I have already been doing. Therefore I feel as though I should make some letters using this technique.

Camille Utterback.

I have attached a video of this installation entitled "Text Rain" by Camille Utterback.

I like the playful and interactive nature of the piece, and even though the piece is relatively dated (1999), the technology is still bafflingly complex to me!

The letters that do not really exist bounce off of the silhouette of a person that stands in front of the screen of which the computerised letters are falling like rain- hence the name. I feel that the playful and interactive nature of the piece is well suited to our own theme and as a group, we could take a leaf from this installation's book.

I think we could add a playful twist to the work that we are creating. There was even talk of the work sitting outside in the public domain, allowing the general public to see and even interact with. I feel as though we could leave something within the reach of people and entrust them not to destroy it.

Anastasia Mastrakouli

I decided to look for an artist in order to progress and gain some inspiration.

I wanted to look for artists that had explored the alphabet or text and my research lead me to look at Anastasia Mastrakouli. The fine art photographer has used the body's silhouette to create the alphabet.

I think it's very innovative and the use of the body to create shapes and structure mirrors the act of interpretive dance.

I like the greys and tonal shades that the lighting has created on the body and I think that it is quite similar to my own photographs of text.

I find the fluid lines that the limbs make in contrast to the sharp points that joints create quite interesting also. The body being nude and behind a screen means that the piece still retains tastefulness and grace.

This idea and concept of using the body to create text could also be used in accordance to the group idea of creating a performance surrounding our ideas and it will be something that I suggest in a future tutorial.

Further use of cut paper

I decided to stick to my minimalist looks for the work I have been creating. I felt that it was important to look at the form of my letters rather than introducing a colour palette immediately. This helped me make the decision of using the pages within a sketchbook as the main basis for a new chapter in my journey through unit X.

The idea was to layer the cut letters over the top, so that nuances of the letters could be seen through other slices in the letters. I feel that this could have been done with a little bit more consideration as you can only see some of the letters from pages one and two, rather than three four and five. I could do this again and layer them up again to see through them, however I think that if I shine a bright light through them it will reveal a soft outline of where the other cut letters are.

This is a progression from the code that I have created, still using the same letters that can be found within the code.

I like the contrast of the stark white paper against the shadows and negative space created by the sliced paper. I also like that within that negative space some of the darkness is divided up by slices of white and other lighter shades of grey (above image)

I have been quite selective in the angle of which my photos have been taken. I feel that it creates an interesting composition and creates a sense of ambiguity, drawing the audience in. Automatically with text, you want to read it and learn to understand it immediately. In some images you can just see a few letters, leaving you wanting to construct whole words or phrases from what is given to you.

Further development using the code

The example of the left shows the code that has been created as a repeat pattern.

I like the fact that I have reduced the size of the already small letters and it makes the pattern more ambiguous. Only on closer inspection can you realise that the marks are actually lettering.

I like the irregularity of the stripes as well. This was created through me only roughly measuring the distance between each of the letters when they were stuck down rather than using my usual style of absolute precision.

When it was shown to the group, everyone that actually turned up to the meeting liked the aesthetics of the pieces that I have made and additionally they liked the processes and concepts that I had used to create my work.

Using the code to create pattern work.

I scanned the newspaper article into the computer and edited the blank cut squares and filled them in with a contrasting colour- bright orange.

This was a quicker process and I began to gain momentum and pick up the pace with the amount of work that I was able to develop. I then used the shape that was created  from filling this in to create a pattern.

I reflected this shape within itself 4 times and then repeated that pattern, which then has allowed me to use the code to create a pattern.

I quite like the fact that the pattern could not automatically be associated with our given theme or the sub-theme that is central to our group of deconstruction.(see print below)

Developing a code from the deconstructed text.

This is the code that I have created using the letters that were cut from the newspaper article on the previous post.

This was such a lengthy process and in a way I do regret spending such a long time on one piece. However it has opened a whole new set of doors and can be used as a springboard to create a whole range of other works- using this code as a starting point.

The tutors in the tutorial had commented saying that I hadn't done enough, which I appreciate but now this will allow me to create work that is much quicker to create, allowing me to develop a decent body of work.

Deconstructing a text

I decided to deconstruct a newspaper article. It was a process in itself deciding on which newspaper article to do. I took a newspaper and went to the thirteenth page and decided to use the thirteenth article from there.

It did not matter to me what the content of the newspaper article was and to be honest I still have not read the content now- it is not relevant to the work that I want to create.

As you can see (left) the letters and the font are TINY. It was a time consuming task that I undertook which involved cutting every 13th letter from the article.

That in itself took hours and this may have seemed unnecessary and laborious and in away I feel as though I could have completed more work had I not undertaken such a lengthy task and maybe the progress of my own work has suffered because of this.

As I cut each letter out, I took a note of the order that I had cut them out in so that then I could stick them down again in that particular order. This would be my own method of developing a code that all leads back to the number 175. I was almost certain that sticking them down would have been an even more time consuming task than the cutting of the letters, but I refused to be beaten by the task that I had set myself.