Blog Task Thursday 19th January

        My initial expectations of this project were to explore a deeper and more personal subject matter than I had in the origins unit. By doing this I intended to stay engaged and excited about it for longer, and begin to create a personal style of working that people would recognize. Where this didn't work so well was when I tried too hard to follow a set theme that was deep and sounded intelligent, and I ended up missing interesting ideas and becoming lost with what I actually wanted.

         My focus and direction in a project have greatly improved over the past week. From the tutorial on Tuesday, I can look more simply at visual research or and idea and read and pick out the qualities to work from without needing to go so deep into the meaning that I lose my way. In addition, my work ethic has greatly improved thanks to a workshop and project which I relate to a lot more easily.
         I chose this workshop because machine embroidery has always been something I enjoyed, therefore I felt more comfortable in pushing myself knowing I already had a grounding in it. Also the material and normal machine threads were something I was familiar with, therefore I could push them more than I had the materials I used in the 3D workshop, where I felt I had only just grasped the basics in the time I had.





An example of my work with a new material to me - latex, and how I only just got to grips with it before the end of the project.

         Sketchbooks always play a large role in my work processes, and in this sampling unit, I have used two to help in editing ideas. In this way, there has been one large book where the drawings and samples which I have selected out of the rest of the body of work are presented. The other book however, has the rest of the samples presented and analysed so as to glean the most out of all the work I have done.


        Looking back, I wanted to try all of the techniques being shown, that i have ended up with too many different ideas been explored at the same time. These were not edited down early enough and I feel like my work has suffered from me spreading myself too thin.
        The most exciting discovery for me was using cotton scrim to explore my memory loss theme. I love how easy it is to manipulate and how it has shaped my style of working.



           My style has definitely grown into rough edges, organic shapes, and using the material and it's embellishments to draw with. The drawings I have done throughout the project of found marks left on surfaces have greatly influenced the type of embellishments used so more drawings need to be done to feed this.

         If I were to start again, I would focus on one idea rather than have two side by side, and pull out and edit down the qualities and themes a lot more. This would push the project on a lot faster because i would have a much simpler idea of what I was wanting to achieve.
         Artists such as Matthew Harris and Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn have been a great aid to my work.

 







Matthew Harris, a detail from Taking Time

         Both of their layering of beautiful surfaces, and carefully considered colours are beautiful. Matthew Harris especially inspired the 'patchwork' aspect of a lot of the most recent work and helped me to realize that what ideas I had were good , and that I should just run with them rather than worry too much about what i thought was expected of me.

Matthew Harris

Aoyama Window Fragments



Echo  Cloth


I like the idea of a ghost of the last sample in the next one I do. A memory of every sample leading up to the outcome. This would create a strong pathway through the whole project too.

Two opposites, intension and chance/ control and accident. My work should have an element of each. Especially with the techniques i'm using. The idea of sampling wotks well into this idea.

'Sabi' in japanese means rust, and in this context relates to the notion of beauty which is that: nothing lasts, nothing is perfect, and nothing is finished.

Christmas holiday: Natural Marks

Insect marks, marks with a purpose due to the insects feeding.They are not just an accident or out of boredom. They are like the holes in our memory. The small details that are missing that we can never remember.

Water marks down bark. Water is drawing with itself. I also love how the colour of the bark changes drastically just by adding water. Natural marks differ from found man made marks usually because the thing which made the marks have become the mark ie water/ moss. They have become the drawing meduim.

Powdery lichen. The colours are very different even within such a small space. The turquoise is so synthetic looking. It's like in a dream or memory where there is a random part which you always remember which is not actually part of the dream. It's almost surreal.

A present mark made by something now absent which is three dimensional and an addition to the surface. I like how it relates to the growing of something over the actual surface of the brain to hide or cause the loss of memory. L would like to do some research into dimensia and diseases which grow on the brain to cause memory break down.

Human marks impacting natural ones. This to me is such a disgustng mark and I hate that really every human at some point has left an ugly mark on nature. This blue is so unnatural, and the paint has clung to every fibre of the moss fusing itself completley and smothering its surface. It is impossible to live a whole life on this earth and not leave a mark, or memory on it.

Study of water dropping onto the surface of water. The water is drawing on the surface of the pond. It is a temporary mark rather than the much more perminant ones made by humans. Like a fleeting memory which is gone as soon as it came.

Another study of water drips down a tree. I love how its not a straight line, rather one which is controled by the surface underneith. Are our decisions or thought processes controlled by what's under our surface. Our upbringing, and beliefs.

Creating a texture to then work ontop of with masking tape. Something which can increase or decrease how well a material stcks to its surface.

Creating a surface using knitting and french knots. Building up onto a surface. Layering up memories.

Knitting using opposing textures of thread and a muted, natural colour scheme. It creates beautiful and more interesting textures.

Unit 2 Sampling

Drawing found marks. Surface holds the memory of the person who made it. There is a presence left even when the person is absent.

Water marks left on a table. Again the relationship between absence and presence. I love the natural looking marks made by humans .

Watermarks left on a painted radiator. I love the marks over the top of a textured surface. This works well into fabric. I like to relate surface memory to human memory and let me analyse my own memory and how wierd it is!

First machine embroidery samples. Relating to the linear marks often found in human made marks. I also like the colour palette forming, quite wooden.  

Relating to the paint streaks on the radiator. Pintucks trapping wool to show through. I like the scratching of the top fabric, it shows a bit of aggression. Its like a bad memory or just something old and wearing away. the memory isn't so crisp anymore; its frayed and showing what's undernieth.

Very ordered pintucks. To me this looks unfinished because I love to mess things up and mix up textures. This to me doesn't relate well to memory because it is so regimented. Every memory deteriorates over time, and loses clarity.

This is a small sample, in fact al my samples have been small so far. But this could work on a much bigger

scale aswell. I also like the way I have created a texture underneith which allows the top adornment to fuse to the fabric easier. This made me wonder what made our own memories last. Was it there meaning, or our time of life, or is it something actually to do with our chemical make-up.

Embellishing nto fabric. Fusing two fabrics together, like when we get memories mixed up and they all blend into one big memory and neither is unique anymore.

Mixing cutting back and fraying with sealing and pintucking. This could be seen in two opposites. The fraying could be a way of still retrieving the memories behind yet they are covered over slightly, and the pintucks could be where the memory is completely lost and there is no way of retrieving them. Or the the pintucks could represent where the memories are still crisp and realistc, and the frayed parts could imply that the memories are breaking down, and are not so detailed as they once were.

A drawing of a wall in the studio. This was created be someone trying to draw on paper, but going off the page rather than keeping in the lines. the paper acted as a barrier from the surface, so it colud not hold the memory.  There is something in the way stopping that memory to sink in to the surface.

Manchester Art Gallery

Similarly to the Dark matters exhibition, the interactive section on the 1st floor always attracts me. Reading the small tags left on the suitcases cn be really touching, but also is a shcking reminder for me of just how many children were evacuated.

Also on the 1st floor, the work of Adolphe Valette, especially Hanson Cab at All Saints 1910. I feel a strong connection to this image as I see this view over the park every day. It is an interesting idea to mirror the two different times and relate similiarties and differences and maybe merge them together.

The mixed media used in Built up Coast 1960, Peter Lanyon is inspirational to me beceause it was a way I always used to work, but haven't done since starting my degree. The layering of different materials to build up a beautiful surface is something I want to bring back into future work.

Manchester Craft Centre

I am attracted to the idea of a community of artists with small shops and workshops all crammed together into a warehouse. Each shop seems to look after others whilst they are busy, and all the artists are eager to talk.

Lilly Greenwood

The vibracny of this work really excites me, and the way inwhich she the work is able to transcend into different outcomes such as cards and keyrings.