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Sampling Unit Reflection

As soon as I found out that the brief was “On Location” I knew the place I wanted to base this project on. I reached out immediately to a Vintage Emporium, Pear Tree Mill, to see if I would be able to go and take some photographs. Luckily it was just after the brief was outlined in December, so I was able to go and get a decent amount of reference imagery before the start of the project. The main reason I wanted Pear Tree Mill as my location was that I really wanted to continue the theme of my CP essay on ‘The Art of the Collection – a Question of Taste, Sentimentality or Obsession’. The Emporium is filled to the brim and is a collectors paradise. I also felt that I would be able to reflect this specific location well within the Embroidery and Weave rotations.

I was very keen to explore the medium of embroidery and had a very strong idea in my head of what I wanted to do from the start. I really wanted to create portraiture style works of the trinkets, dolls and figurines I had photographed. Overall, I’m very happy with the work I produced within this rotation, however, the “Japanese Emotion Doll” is without a doubt my weakest sample. I have taken on board the lessons from this though and feel that if I were to reproduce it, I could do this to a higher standard and recreate it in a better way.

Weave was the rotation I was least enthusiastic about from the beginning of the course, so in order to counteract those feelings, I decided to throw myself into it and try to produce as much work as I could. I wanted to really explore this medium while I had the opportunity to do so, as I know it won’t be the area I choose to specialise in. I did really enjoy working in a different way, and feel like I will definitely take the idea of creating cartoons or plans through into other areas of my work, this isn’t something I normally do, I tend to work in a more spontaneous way, with the work developing and changing as it goes.

Overall I’m very proud of the body of work I have produced within this unit, I feel like I have really pushed myself outside of my comfort zone, specifically within weave, exploring multiple colour palettes and textures in an area I don’t have an affinity with or and prior experience in. I feel that I have really done this project in my own way, transforming many works into repeat patterns and exploring different ways of working.

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3D Week

This week we were asked to turn some of our existing drawings and work into 3D pieces. I decided to create a sculpture, a combination of hand-made and found objects, inspired by some of the Taxidermy in the Vintage Emporium I had photographed. In order to keep the kitsch aesthetic I’ve been working with, I used a dolls head, from my own collection, as the starting point for my ‘creature’. The body is formed out of air-drying clay, and is covered in beads, sequins and diamanté. Most of the beadwork is pinned into the clay while it was damp enough to do so. This was highly labour intensive, and although the figure is only about 15cm tall, it took around 11 hours to do the pin work alone. This all had to be done in one sitting as I needed to work into the clay before it dried too much. I really like the overall effect, it is highly embellished to the point of actually looking more like a piece of jewellery as opposed to a sculpture. This style is something I would like to use again in future pieces, although, the length of time it actually takes is something I need to consider. I attempted to glue beads in areas that weren’t thick enough to be pinned, but it doesn’t quite achieve the same aesthetic as the other areas. If I had more time, I would cut some pins for the thinner areas, but again, this will be labour intensive, and something I need to consider before taking it further. 

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Embroidery 

After completing the embroidery rotation, I’ve fallen in love with it even more! I’m really enjoying adding an extra medium to my print work, creating a more tactile quality. This is something I want to take forward into future work. 

I’ve been exploring the location of the ‘Vintage Emporium’, which I was lucky enough to photograph before lockdown hit. I’ve been using these images to create digital collages (referencing Pierre et Gilles photographic style) to then embroider into. I’ve explored a vast variety of stitches and techniques including quilting, beading, drawing with stitch and pom-poming. Looking at textured works and heavy Indian embroidery for inspiration. 

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Origins Unit Reflection

I’ve really enjoyed the freedom to explore new mediums within the different rotations that the Origins Unit has allowed. Due to the fact I ended up caring for my grandfather over in York for the majority of the Unit, I didn’t have the yarn pack that was given to us to hand and had to order my own online. He unfortunately passed away on the 4th October, so I’ve been dealing with everything that that entails alongside the course, resulting in me completing tasks at different times. To say I’ve had excess stress from my personal issues, I think that overall, I’ve managed my time throughout the beginning of the course well, meeting deadlines and completing work to a high standard.

Due to living in a household with someone with suspected Covid, I unfortunately missing one of the allocated days in the Textile Print Room (I have managed to book in a session to make up time and enable myself to experiment more, including trying out foiling, but it is unfortunately after the hand in). The extra time I had due to missing the studio time enabled me to create different, self initiated work. The fact that I missed out a week in the studio meant that I developed my lino cutting and digital print skills. I’m normally not a huge fan of working in a predominantly digital way, but I think some of my most successful work this unit has been created using this medium. 

I’d love to take some of my digital artwork and create some screen prints with the images, next week in my extra print session, I intend to do this (I’m also thinking about potentially embroidering into this work to add another level of tactility). I can see this work translating into both fashion and homeware print.

Overall, I’m proud of this body of work and am excited to develop it further in my own time in conjunction with the next unit. I’ve enjoyed getting back into the flow of university life and see this as an exciting start to my Textiles in Practice degree.

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Nathalie Lete - Mixed Medium Artist and Designer

Natalie is one of my all time favourite artists, working with a wide range of mediums to create multi dimensional pieces. Her naive painting style, subject choice and use of colour are all things I try to take forward into my own work. I love the idea of creating from found and created images to produce interesting and tactile work. Her work has been translated in a multitude of different ways including homeware (including collection for Anthropologie), fashion (notably for Gucci and H&M), stationary, print, etc. However, the thing I like most about Nathalie is that she produces work to be HAPPY, not to make money (even though she’s very popular at the moment, so is). Her work is based around what has made her happy throughout her life, including childhood toys, colours, animals and flowers. Joy emanates from her work.