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!

PE Task 2

For the sampling unit project 'Data' I looked across a variety of genres of art. I decided that advertisement is a form of data that we are all more familiar with than what we would presume. For my project I wanted to focus on cropped images of advertisements for example font and colours to translate the advertisement into my project. I enjoyed collecting and creating my visual research to create constructed fabric samples. I found the Procien dye with bleach to be the most valuable drawing technique because it provided me with a source of colour and compositions that fed the ideas for the majority of the project. 

 Although I don't find Sir Peter Blake's work visually appealing I do feel that without his influences my Advertising concept could have being differently motivated and executed. Through the influence of his work I decided to focus on the font on the match boxes. This affected the majority of my compositions because I focused on zoomed in parts of advertisements typography.

I am fond of interior design so I want to create a pattern in construct that could be applied across upholstery fabrics, rugs, wallpaper and decorative accessories. I feel once I had found good colour proportions through experimenting with yarn wrappings and drawings. I feel that Margo Selby's work has been influential because of her use of pattern and tonal colour palette. 

My Weave design

Margo Selby interior accessoize

I looked at architecture photography for shape and form inspiration. I found the work of the Spanish architect Ricardo Bofill I was interested in the way it related with some patterns I had already started on the knit punch cards. I don't feel that my designs could work well for architecture design but I do however think that the graphic natural of this geometric building communicates interesting compositions for my pattern based work. The relation between his building and my samples is the introduction of a vibrant contrasting colour. This work encouraged me to me more experimental on the the knitting machine. I have found that the partail knit and punch card setting work well for creating geometric shapes in my samples. 

The influence I am most enthusiastic about is Claire Anne Obrien I am interested in her structural knit collection for interior design. I can visualise some chunky knitwear being used as a starting point for injection moulded plastic seating amongst other things. The could also be wool versions and interior accessories to match. I feel that my sample could make and textural knitted rug. 
I have enjoyed knitting my knit because it made the samples more structural and tactile as they hold the shape I bend them into. This is why I feel that they themselves could be interesting furniture designs. 

Claire Anne Obrien

Architectural influences

Ricardo Bofill's architecture is an interesting visual source for knitting because of the proportions of darker colours mixed with vibrant stand out colours. The photography of his work is contrasted to emphasise the geometric nature of the buildings structure. The graphical shapes have influenced my knitting patterns. I have introduced moderately different tone with 'e' wraps on my knitting to introduce the geometric shapes in the knit pattern. 

close ups of my ink composition drawings have helped me to keep the relation between my drawing visual research. I have found it useful to keep my sketch book close to me when I am creating patterns because that was the work I have already created can influence my samples.

My first week in Knit.

Before I started my Knit induction I had had a lecture with the knitter: Clair Anne Obrien. I was impressed with her contemporary use of knit in interior design collections. I am pleased to have seen her work prior to starting knit as I can see knit can go into many dimensions and categories. Claire's work is very chunky and structural. I liked her anecdote about how she didn't want to be working commercially for clothing brands so for her task at university where she was make a jumper she created one for a chair. It is that 'out of the box' way of thinking that captured my attention in her lecture.
I am excited to be learning to knit because it fascinates me the shapes and patterns that are created in the form of the structure of knit. I knitted a long yarn that I then hand knitted with my chunky 20mm needles this week. I feel that the chunkiness of the knitted yarn help to emphasise the structure.

The importance of yarn wrappings

I have muted my colour palette this week because I have revisited some of my older yarn wrappings. The wrapping are more tonal that colourful. I have done this because I have zoomed in on small areas of my drawings that have texture that can relate to yarn textures. I have found that creating  yarn wrappings has improved my work because I have considered proportions of colour that I can directly transfer to my weave samples.

 Margo Selby's work inspires me because of her colour choices are complementary and are limited in the palette. Her work is tonal which I feel my work has become, as my palette was to contrasting. I found that cropping my images of my drawings helped me to focus on the shapes and movement in the drawing and painterly marks I made.

The Beginning of Weave

By starting weave I have started to question how to relate my samples to my drawings and draw to influence my weave samples. I have selected a range of yarns that link to my mood board colour swatches. The colours look autumnal together which doesn't relate to my vibrant drawings. I have sampled some different shades of green to make the samples brighter. I found that the chenille yarn gives a good affect because of the way it fibres all reflect the light differently that gives the weave another depth.


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Levi's Series

A series of weaving commissioned by Levi's. Woven with denim scraps from the Levi's San Francisco tailor shop.
Denim and cotton yarn on copper rods.
Handwoven in Los Angeles. Brook & Lyn

Brook & Lyn's woven textiles are visually pleasing because of the way the compositions divide the space with shape and block colour. I am intrigued by the texture in their work, so i have developed my samples with some textured floats to make the block of colour and the weave three dimensional. 

My weave

My textured weave

Learning to Listen and general good practice

listening is something I that I think people over estimate how capable they are at doing it. I wasn't until my lecture with Kate Egan that I considered where I do listen properly. Listening is to hear interpret and remember, which I sometimes struggle with. In Kate's lecture she made us bring paper and a needle and thread to doodle with. I found that the passive use of my hands enabled me to interpret the information Kate gave better. I have found it useful to know that creating something when you are listening to information helps me to fully concentrate.

I also learned that having an area that is dedicated to things that you find inspiring helps me to visually communicate to my self when I am work. I can also mentally evaluate designs to help me create more.