Unit X Research

The Unit X brief is based on fairgrounds. For my preliminary research I visited Blackpool Pleasure beach, went to talks on Manchester’s heritage of ‘Belle Vue pleasure gardens’ and visited the Chethams library to view photographs and fliers from ‘Belle Vue’. I found Blackpool most visually stimulating.

Blackpool pleasure beach‘s key turning point in success was when the fairground rides at the attraction were upgraded to permanent rides such roller coasters. The significant change between the two was that the original fairground rides were collapsible. This meant that they could fold away to a small enough size for the rides to travel around and be stored on a cart. This interests me because of the structural differences the old rides would have had with the new. The new roller coasters are more substantial and much safer. I find this permanence could be reflected in strong and contrasting hues of colour and shapes in the weave and embroidery. 

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Roller Coaster structure.

    

From my photographs taken at Blackpool pleasure beach, I have found that the roller coaster structures are the most visually diverse for creating drawings and passimentrie samples from. The framework is often complex, but very regimented. I also found interest in other geometric structures and shapes found in the floor patterns and the shadows created from truss work. I have edited some of my strongest structural composition photographs in Photoshop to enable me to highlight and pick out negative space shapes.     

Photoshop Edited Blackpool photographs.

I decided to research Matisse for further inspiration on creating positive and negative shape in my work. I found that Matisse’s work is more shape driven than linear. This perception appealed to me, and I thought that this style would be a different and exciting way to look at the roller coaster structures. I found 'Nickelodeon land' inspiring for creating a colour palette. Working upon the theme of this area I decided to make my palette predominantly orange, red and pink with white for positive shapes.

Matisse's composition that inspired me.

A composition of a merry go round 

From looking at Derek Lawlor's AW11 collection, I felt inspired to introduce some knitted work into my passimentrie samples. Lawlor combines chunky structures with delicate knit which gives a dominant structure effect. I feel this compliments my idea of interpreting roller coaster structures within my passimentrie.   I decided to knit a length of open and tight knit, so that the sample has a ladder composition that is in tune with my inspiration. I then embellished the knit with chunky bobbles and attached the knitted sample to a piece of white silk organza. Similar to Lawlor's work, I feel that the sample has a combination of delicate and steady areas that relate well in conjunction to the roller coaster theme I have chosen. 

Derek Lawlor's AW11 collection.

Knitted sample on Silk Organza

I looked at Mondrian’s ‘Tree Drawings’ for inspiration on depicting structures. I chose to do this because I found my visual research wasn’t diverse enough to vary design ideas. My original colour palette of reds and oranges was restricting my uses of different drawing mediums. I have been drawing with bleach onto procien dyed paper, which has manipulated the colours in a manner that compliments the palette in a tonal way. I found that Mondrian’s mark making reveals layers in soft way but also contrast against darker colours beneath.

Mondrian Tree painting

I reworked into some of my orange toned paintings using blue pastels with contrasting affects. This gave different qualities of marks and colours because of the way the pastel sat over the colours already laid down. I am pleased with some of the moments caught in the improved paintings. I feel that the contrast of colours can emerge as highlights within my woven samples. However, I feel I have developed my work within a construct discipline so I would benefit if I collaged my painted grounds to construct a new pattern.

Sketch book page showing procion dye and bleach drawing. With layered pastel and chalk over the top. To the right, two woven passimenterie samples that have been inspired by the visuals of this sketch book page. 

    

The collaborative meeting with 'VV Rouleaux' was very insightful to the passimeterie market from the perspective of a retailer and maker. The meeting encouraged us to be resourceful and to up cycle work from previous projects. An example of this they gave was that their Christmas decorations get reused for ladies royal ascot racing hats and fascinators. The work that interested me most in the 'VV Rouleaux' collection was the horsehair weaves samples. I like the simple but regimented designs of those pieces. I feel that my interpretation of roller coaster structures could be designed and woven in a similar way by using a large weft such as waxed cord and different types of piping.

VV Roleaux Horsehair passimenterie.

My passimenterie sample with regimented waxed cord

My sample with fancy yarn and pleated ribbon

The talk with 'Dash and Miller’ was honest and inspiring. I understood that “No” doesn’t mean “No” forever. They addressed to me that collaboration is important because as a team you complement and build on one another’s abilities. They also stated how all work can cross over different flat form i.e. A weave design could be a printed textile and so on. 

I have explored different ways of drawing to broaden my visual research. I have folded some card into a form similar to the structures of the roller coaster imagery I collected. I think that creating new structures from manipulation of paper is a good source to develop ideas from, because it is very relevant to the theme I have concentrated on. I discovered a website, http://foldingtechniques.com/folding-techniques, that helped me to generate. Ideas for creating 3D forms. I wanted to do this because I struggled to work from my two-dimensional photos in the studio, because it was much more difficult to judge scale and shade from these compared to working from observation. From the folded paper, I have created collages of shaded areas within the forms. This has enabled me to create new patterns in a construct discipline that will directly affect my practice.

a folded paper drawing and collage based on the roller coaster structure.

The contrast of the shadows in this folded drawing give the form a more drawing alike affect. Drawing with shadows!