Weave/Construct Data Collection week three



Manchester Museum spark of inspiration



stone found in drain

Grid/ Floorings of interest

 

 

 

 

During my visit to the Museum, I branched out my developments as I became interested towards two large carved pieces of stone. These pieces dated back to 1821 and was discovered in Hulme, Manchester by builders digging an ancient temple (Mithraeum). This was then the spark of my new direction in the collection brief finding these two pieces of carved stone lead me to taking rubbings off grids, staues, flooring etc the stones and began to focus more on patterns and textures. The link between this was grids as each one has its own unique design and I wish to incorporate this design within my weaving samples.

 

Weave/Construct Data Collection week two

Rubbings taken from statues and grids around Manchester an Liverpool

I began by focusing on people’s postures, body language and interactions with one another on the bus I take. By drawing quick sketches using a vast range of media such as pen, pencil, charcoal and graphite. This resulted in my drawings to appear to have a sketchy quality of movement within them. Each drawing, like a photograph captures a moment in time, as all the individuals travelling together on that bus, at that certain time, for one reason or another was now evident within my artwork. As a material to draw onto not only did I use paper but also the free newspaper ‘Metro’ which are available for passengers. I found this was another element of data collection and added a new dimension to the word Data. The viewer is now able to get information from the drawings and their meaning also able to take a small caption from the events going on in the background wrote about that particular day within the news articles.
 
 


using a choice of colour based on grid rubbings however also incorporating elements of my drawings and the Metro newspaper from that day in a way to document data collection.

 

 

 

drawing from observation on the 118 bus journey 8.15am - 9.00am

Weave/Construct Data Collection week 1

 

looking at people on buses and colour pallet based on floor/ grid rubbings

interesting floors and grids patterns to inspire my work

My first week in the weave area of construct for me has been great, as I have enjoyed using the handlooms, these are manual machines, made up of eight individual shafts, in order to use to weave with, using a vast range of yarns and materials. This enabled me to create different thicknesses to my samples and learn new techniques. At first the task in hand seemed to appear a little daunting, as there seemed to be a lot of working things out and maths involved (not one of my strongest areas) however, I adjusted to this and once worked out the sequences began to enjoy creating the individual designs, it appears to be straight forward and a more hands on approach out of all the areas I have worked in up to this point, to which I enjoy.

Weaving based on animals from the Manchester Museum however taken into consideration the patterns collected from grids.

Trip to Liverpool

Visit to Liverpool

Friday, 23 January 2015



Taking rubbings from statues in the Walker Gallery Liverpool, in order to get patterned designs in which I could then interoperate into my weaving samples.



looking closely at textures



Bluecoats Gallery looking at pattern design to include in my weaving samples

For a trip to another city my location of choice was Liverpool, this was due to not having enough funding in order to travel to London at this time, however I do plan to also visit London galleries in the near future. I started out by planning which city stood out within the world of art therefore planned my Liverpool trip by mapping out the best galleries to visit  Walker, Tate, Bluecoats and the museum and their location, distance within one another. The best way of travelling there was to go by coach, as this was the most cost effective way. I found a link with travelling by coach and what I was initially doing when travelling by bus. I was able to apply the same method as I did previously when travelling on buses and began drawing the passengers each time the coach would stop. Within the galleries themselves, I focussed on textures, animals and the actual visitors themselves. I was inspired by many artists work such as George Stubs famous paintings of animals and statues which I sat and drawn from observation. Though these I found interesting I wanted to focus more closely at artists like William Morris as I was able to create patterned rubbings using his interactive pieces of his work and also statues were also an inspiration as I was also able to take rubbings using these creating interesting and unique patterns to further develop within my work.

 

 

 

 

Embroidery second week

This week I looked for artist’s inspiration and was drawn to Alice Kettles piece of work, in the Material Matters exhibition part of the library. Alice is a textile artist whose work exploits textures and uses stitched, embroidered, figurative pieces within her work. This linked to my data collection project, as I was focusing on people and their behaviours when traveling on public transport. I particularly liked the 3d element to her piece and wish to incorporate this into my outcomes in the embroidery area.

drawing each time the bus stops

drawing from observation on the bus lead me to stopping at the traffic lights

Taking photos on the bus

 

This week I had a health and safety induction on the sewing machines however, due to illness and being in hospital, I could no longer attend the rest of the embroidery area. Therefore as a result of this not able to go onto the sewing machines in the university. This had an effect on my work, as I was then not able to join the rest of my group however, I did use a sewing machine at home. I based my ideas for this on patterns taken from rubbings off grids. I was able to create a geometric looking piece if work which linked in with my data collection.

Embroidery week one sampling unit

J.M.P.T bus

Stagecoach

Stagecoach

At the start of the data collection brief, I started in my new rotational (Embroidery) I focused on collecting as much data evidence as possible in order to translate this into stitch, looking closely at things like the journey, distance also looking at the route I was taking and the time it took to arrive at my destination. I collected information and started to take a close look at the individuality of each of the bus companies I travelled with.

looking at the colour of the tiger and applique appropriate yarns in order to get the effect of the tigers coat  

appliqued piece based on observational drawing of tiger

looking at more animals within the museum

Within the Manchester Museum, I thought that the animals and insects would be a good starting point, due to their natural, bright, vivid colours and individuality. I began by trying to incorporate this into my samples by matching up yarns and created some appliqued samples. Using hand techniques, I have learnt, such as the cross stich, backstitch, running stich, knotted stich, loop stich I was then able to produce a detailed textured set of sample pieces. Also this week I learnt how to create Suffolk puffs and used a range of materials to show a variety of samples within my technical file.

Evaluation of Origins Unit



 

Evaluation of Origins Unit

Image created on Photoshop

 

 

The process of Digital Printing

Final outcome for Mix-Media

As part of the programme of textiles in practise, at the Manchester University, I have been on a rotational scheme for the past eight weeks. As well as learning new areas alongside this I have also attended many lectures on IT Services, library inductions, health and safety, Moodle, Blogger, learning about different fibres, studying abroad and also CP1 (each week)

 I endured my first few weeks spending my time in Mix-Media, this is a practise workshop allowing me to familiarise myself with new areas and give me a taste of the overall subject area itself. Within these first few weeks already I have learnt so much, at the start I struggled adjusting to the fast pace, deadlines and expectations however I seem to have adjusted to this as times gone on and actually I'm starting to enjoy my time. As early as weeks one and two I had sessions working with Apple Mac computers using them for the first time. I found the up to date software that comes with it (such as Adobe-Illustrator and Photoshop) was a total shock to my system, as I wasn’t previously familiar with this software and new introduction of technology within my work. As previously on my foundation course they didn’t capacitate the facilities for this.

Mix Media overall for me was a great starting point and experience though I found the fast pace and technical side a problem in the beginning, since then I’ve been able to further my knowledge and progress in this area which I believe you can visually see within my work from looking at my starting point laser sessions, through my development work to my outcomes which are complex pieces that when put together resemble that of a fish. There is always room for improvements for example I could have further developments in terms of testing materials, samples and colour tests maybe, if I was to have more time in this area I could have further developed my ideas. I'm trying to portray the fact, though I may not have been the best in this area at the start I’ve found I can now use my new found skills in all areas and this was the foundations for my next rotation.  

 

Print was my second part of the rotation and if I thought for a second mix media was fast pace then this is a whole new level. Just coming to the end of this rotation at present and have experienced working with and without colour, learning about surface pattern (scattered, tossed, stripe and placement) also the many different processes and dyes a person goes  through when printing onto a variety of fabrics. As well as this I’ve also encountered extra tuition using computers I am now able to adjust, feather, shadow, combine shapes, delete sections etc all to which I am proud of my outcomes. I am still learning and developing the techniques taught therefore still room for improvement however I'm pleased with how far I’ve come overall in  the short space of time given.