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.