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For Hollie,

Hollie, you were the sweetest kindest soul , you had an infectious personality and laugh and an inspiring motivation that kept not only me driven but everyone around you. You had an amazing sense of taste for music art and of course dark humor,

You were a fantastic friend, class mate and rep partner, we bonded over so much from sushi to Halloween costumes. You always had something interesting to show give or talk about, from eating pickled ginger from the tub or making cookies for the class you always had something to make someone happy. I remember the first time I said to myself "you are something special" When we had to make a group photo you had no problem giving ideas from the start. And that fire never ended.You suggested dominoes as the theme for our group which is ironic because your beautiful life and soul had a domino effect on everyone that had the pleasure to be touched by and for that I thank you.

Thank you Hollie thank you for being apart of my life and being my friend.

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Artist statement - Story

For my story project, I first became interested paintings and sculptures and how they have been used as an educational tool throughout the history of art. I looked at royal family portraiture, from the Romanovs to Queen Victoria I, and how they presented themselves to the public. I liked this area of research and I found it interesting but I felt that it wasn’t a true reflection of my own story and interests. I found it hard to work with a topic that I could not express myself fully through so I decided to start over.

I began to explore witchcraft and all things occult. This was a much greater representation of myself and my own interests as a practicing witch. What interested me the most about this topic was the profound negativity that followed it. Witches are often associated with evil or Satanic cults and I wanted to know why. From the Salem witch trials to Stevie Nicks, I explored how witches were viewed in society and the media. I also looked at some of my favourite movies featuring witches and became inspired by costume designers such as Mayes C. Rubeo and Mary Vogt.

I also explored symbols presented in my own tarot cards and other occult cards such as zener cards. All these combined greatly inspired my final 6 look lineup. Throughout the project I attended interesting workshops about drawing and fashion which played a role in my creative process. My story project is definitely my favourite project I have worked on this year because it is just that - it’s my story and it is the truest expression of my personality and interests as a young witch in my art work to date.

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Full ideas development sketchbook

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Complete 6 look lineup

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I brought my sketches into photoshop to determine what order I wanted my 6 look lineup to appear in.

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Look 1 and 2:

Look 1 is really fun and I love the colours I used here. I wanted to incorporate the classic white collar that is often associated with the times of the Salem witch trials and I did so in this look. Green is of course the wardrobe colour of Winifred from ‘Hocus Pocus’ and it makes a feature throughout my 6 look lineup. Look 2 is all about pattern. The sleeves are directly inspired by the symbols of Zener cards. The corset like top is worn by witches in many films and tv shows so I thought it only fitting to include this detail with my own interpretation of it. A golden moon hangs from the belt chain, and the flared pants give me Stevie Nicks vibes.

Look 3 and 4:

Look 3 had a very classical silhouette. I like the  ruched top area and I added this across my 6 look lineup. Starting to incorporate Agatha Harkness colour of choice in this look. On the chest and the lining of the dress golden symbols can be seen. These are the symbol for pentacles from my tarot card deck. Again a corset is featured here. Number 4 also features these pentacles along the sleeve cuffs. The high collar is very witchy and the tassel ends is reminiscent of Stevie Nicks following dresses.

Look 5 and 6:

5 and 6 are my favourite looks in my line up. I love the off the shoulder look in number 5, I think it works well with the high collars seen in other looks in this line up. Again I’m meshing the green and purple of my colour scheme together. And of course a lot of black. The rolled look of the material in number 6 was inspired by the ruched dress Agatha Harkness wears in Wandavision. I had to add a cape to at least one of looks and I think it worked very well with this asymmetrical dress. 

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Rough sketches of some looks in my 6 look lineup

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Resources:

https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Agatha_Harkness

https://www.looper.com/313889/wandavision-agnes-brooch-has-serious-connections-to-the-marvel-comics/

https://www.motionpictures.org/2021/01/how-wandavision-costume-designer-mayes-c-rubeo-meshed-sitcoms-superheroes/

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During the last project, I attended a 6 look lineup workshop. In that workshop, I explored shape, pattern and colour through a series of line drawings. I found these really helpful when creating my last 6 look lineup so I decided to employ the same technique for my story project.

First I looked at shape. I drew 18 rough sketches of different shapes and silhouettes I liked that got my theme. I pinned it down to 7 different styles and I’m going to take elements of each to complete my 6 look lineup.

Then I looked at pattern. These sketches were mainly inspired by symbols found on Zener cards and tarot cards.

Finally I looked at colour combinations and proportions. When examining the collage I made of different tv shows and movies cover art, I found that a lot of them had themes of blue purpose and green. Of course, I also wanted to include a lot of black in my lineup. This method helped me envision the colour scheme I’m going to take in my 6 look lineup.

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Resources:

https://www.glamour.com/story/hocus-pocus-costumes

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Drawing workshop 3

Today I attended the final drawing workshop. I really enjoyed my experience with Michelle and I value the lessons and skills o gained from participating in these calls. Today there was no drawing, instead we were asked questions and engaged in interesting group discussions about our experience over the past 2 weeks. Ultimately I decided not to take my drawings any further within my project as I felt that the path I was going in my work was vastly unrelated to Boschs birds or my ceramic mug. However, I would definitely try the drawing exercises again in future projects as they were a great aid to me during a time where I was very lost in my project.

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Symbols in my tarot cards

After researching the symbols in Annie Wilson’s Zener cards in ‘The Gift’, I wanted to look at the symbols in my own set of cards which are tarot. A Tarot card deck contains 78 cards, made up of 2 groups: the major arcana and the minor arcana, translating to the great and lesser suit respectively. The major arcana has 22 cards and the minor has 56. For my project I will be looking at the symbols in the 4 suits in the minor arcana - cups, swords, pentacles and wands. Each suit holds different meaning and is moulded around the elements water, air, earth and fire. I’d like to incorporate these symbols and their personal meaning to me into my 6 look lineup.

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Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zener_cards

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gift_(2000_film)

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A huge part of the public perception of witches is boiled down to how they are portrayed in films and tv shows. Many children’s movies are full of witches and magical references, such as ‘Hocus Pocus’, ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’ and even the ‘Nanny Macfee’ movies, and I grew up being fascinated by characters like Miss Price or the Sanderson witches. As an adult, there is even more tv shows and movies surrounding witches as main characters, featuring magic and other occult references. Above are just some of my favourites.

Covid 19 gave me the time to further educate myself on witchcraft and gave me space to practice my own craft. ‘Uncle bobs magic cabinet’ is one of my favourite podcasts at the moment and I have been binging it over the last few months. The podcast is about all things magic, mythology and pop culture and features episodes talking about and analysing all of the above movies. The 2 hosts are also fellow witches and I’ve found their podcast very informative when researching for my project. In this project I will be drawing inspiration from AHS ‘Coven’, ‘The Gift’, ‘Wandavision’ and ‘Hocus Pocus’, and examine their roles in how I myself and the wider public view witches today.

Resources:

https://open.spotify.com/show/3ACsqCTaawPPew07EGjbLo?si=AetgpC2pRZC39LJYPpxNrw

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Garment reconstruction #5

This is the fifth and final garment reconstruction I created. It’s definitely my favourite. I love unconventional fashion and this certainly screams unconventional. Again I brought in the knot detail at the back. Obviously on a practical level the knot kept the clothes on her body but I also like it’s aesthetic value. I also enjoy the cool tones and mixture of very different textures.

Overall I enjoyed the workshop but I will not be taking the designs I created further. I think this exercise can be very helpful in generating ideas and visualising an idea in real life but I personally did not find it very useful. However I had fun with it and it’s something I would try again in the future.

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Garment reconstruction #4

For my 4th look, I used a shirt and a cardigan. I liked the tie detail I did with the sleeves of the jacket in my first reconstruction and wanted to come back to this idea. I like how the tie details look in the back. It is quite a simple reconstruction but I still enjoyed creating this.

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Garment reconstruction #3

I didn’t really enjoy what I created for look 3. I think the shape is interesting and I like my drawing of it but I think the colour throws me off. The sleeves are very cool to me though so that’s why I still included this design. I had Yvette put her arms into the legs of a pants. I liked how I could reuse this piece from the first reconstruction in a different way that I ultimately preferred.