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I printed out some of my favourite compositions from the mannequin, and went back over them with colouring pencil to propose what they could look like as a final finished fashion piece. I then stuck these all together on a plain black sheet for display. I think this is a good way to capture my ideas quite concisely and cohesively.

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As with last time in fashion, my favourite way to explore my ideas this week was to throw things on the mannequin and see what sticks out. When working with my wearable sculpture, it was a primary concert to make sure I used it to its full potential in terms of how it can warp/distort the textiles beneath it. I like the bulging that this creates, I think it illustrates quite well a sense of struggle or escaping energy. With chronic pain comes a bit of an internal conflict- of having all this pent up energy, but knowing you can't move around too much or you'll just hurt yourself. I think that the textures and forms I explored on the mannequin really show this idea well.

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Photography Studio Workshop

Today I attended the "visualising movement in a studio setting" workshop with Paul Tarpey. In this workshop, we recapped the basics of DSLR photography before playing around with movement and lights to create interesting compositions. Paul emphasised the importance of visual storytelling thorough photography.

My goal for today was to get some shots of my wearable sculpture, so Niki @k00283533 helped me out by trying it on. I like the above shots as a series, showing both the various ways to wear the sculpture as well as how light can mimic its form.

Niki took some photos of me for her own project, but she pointed out that in the above pictures, the larger light makes a similar tubular shape to my soft sculpture. This is very interesting, and something I hope to explore further.

I continued using lights to mimic the form of my sculpture. I like how the pink light bounces off my hair, making it almost look like a continuation of the sculpture. This joins my body with sculpture, in keeping with my theme.

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Sculpture Day 1- A Sculpture that Attaches to the Body

This afternoon, we were given from around 12:00 to 4pm to create a sculpture that attaches to the body. Michael Canning challenged us to think of this brief in terms of an appendage, as opposed to something just "wearable".

I found this intimidating and challenging, but in a hugely engaging way. With guidance from Sarah, I set about exploring similar writhing, curling forms as I did in "movement", but using rolled up paper. I liked how the forms wrapped around my arm, and so added a bit of wire for stability.

My finished piece is ambiguous, wearable in many different ways. I enjoy this versatility. We then had a group crit, and it was interesting to see the variety of ways in which this brief was approached. I was surprised by how challenging it is to explain your ideas verbally in front of a group!

Overall I feel that, though this is very far from my best work, I am still proud of what I managed to accomplish in less than 4 hours, and I'm excited to see what's in store for sculpture in the next few weeks.

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I am posting some more photographs here of the forms I experimented with on the mannequin just to show the full extent of my thinking. I was a bit worried this week that I didn't really have a "finished" piece for fashion- I have nothing that's been properly stitched, or really wearable. However, Ruth and Giordana both agreed that this is not what is most important- ideas exploration comes first. Ruth gave me some good advice that has really been guiding me for this final week:

Everyone's brain works much much faster than their hands, but we have our entire degree to allow for our hands to catch up. In first year, we should be far more concerned with pushing the limits of what our brains can dream up and explore, rather than painstakingly crafting a single final piece.

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Textile development

This week in fashion, I had a few ideas for some more textiles I wanted to develop to further my ideas of warping and distortion. I created two samples of fabric with wool stitched and gathered in an abstract, swirling design: one on plain cotton and one on pink lining.

I then had the idea that I wanted to create even more organic warping, so I haphazardly stitched some elastic onto cotton, stretching as I stitched and allowing the elastic to spring back naturally. This created some really interesting bulging and ruffling.

Finally, I layered a couple of samples together and stitched them together on the machine. This sample is wadding, fabric that's had wool stitched onto it, and latex. I like how the latex allows the layers underneath to peek through, while also giving the sample a vaguely unsettling feel.

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Movement Project Statement

I chose to explore the theme of movement through the concept of joint hypermobility. This is a symptom of hEDS, a disability that I have, and it essentially means that my joints move further than a normal range of motion. This increased movement, however, causes chronic pain, meaning that I have to be careful to monitor how much I am moving and using my joints throughout the day. Increased joint mobility, therefore, results in restricted overall movement of my body.

Sculpture:

I began with sculpture, and found it an excellent discipline to begin exploring forms, shapes, and compositions that would inform the rest of my project. Because of my other disciplines, I figured that sculpture would be a good starting point as it would give me objects to photograph, as well as pin to the dress form in fashion. When I returned to this discipline in week 4, my primary focus shifted to using it as a means to understand how materials interact with the body. My work took on a more wearable aspect, merging it with my work in fashion.

Photography:

I completed the photography elective in weeks 2 and 5. In week 2, my aim was to continue to explore the forms I created in sculpture, without necessarily directly photographing the sculptural work. Pinhole played a key role in this, and this is also the stage where the ideas of warping and distortion of the body were introduced. In week 5, my focus was on documenting the sculptural and fashion work I had created to date, and creating a visual narrative through this.

Fashion:

Fashion and sculpture, for the purposes of my project, were highly interlinked, as I explored the realm between wearable sculpture and fashion. In week 3, I worked on creating textile swatches that explored the ideas of knotting, distorting, and tangling. This is also when the idea of entrapment or constriction began to play into my project, especially when I began pinning my sculptural work to the dress form and tying it up with string. When I returned to fashion in week 6, my focus was on continuing to explore how wearable sculpture can transform the body. I was inspired by my contextual research to continue experimentation with silhouette.

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I think this edit of three photographs accurately portrays all of my ideas together, and functions as a good final piece that shows my theme narratively.

We begin on the left with my body interacting with the sculpture. I almost look as though I am clutching onto the forms for stability (though, like my joints, they do not provide much structure at all).

In the middle, I am holding a sheet of latex, and the soft floppy folds of the material echo the bendiness and movement within my body. Paul Tarpey also noted that this composition has a decidedly feminine feel, with the latex almost giving the shape of an elongated uterus.

On the right, my sculptural forms continue to be suspended in space, with little distinction between planes. Paul mentioned that the plain background and simple white lighting give the composition an almost religious feel (which is interesting to me, if even just for the pure body horror of Catholic imagery). In any case, I think it gives a good sense of discomfort and unease within the body.

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Today, I took my soft sculptural forms into the studio to photograph with Paul Tarpey. I took a number of shots to capture both the forms and textures that were at play.

I began by hanging and draping the forms, to get an idea of how they looked ant interacted alongside one another. I like how the forms snake and twist around one another. It evokes the idea of disfigured limbs.

Given the theme of movement, I decided to experiment with long exposures and zoom. I also used a piece of plastic in front of the lens that had a similar form to my sculptural forms. These are interesting, but I think they lend themselves best to remaining as they are in a photo, rather than inspiring any further ideas.

This photograph functions as a proposal for a potential sculpture I could make if I had more time available to me. The tube forms are like stalagmites, and I think the forms would lend themselves well to being cast and moulded in materials like plaster or metal. This would create an interesting contrast between hard and soft.

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Wearable Sculpture

This past week, I (slowly but surely) finished off my wearable sculpture by covering the rest of it in the gum tape. I then painted it pink, both to match in with the fabric tubes and frills I've made in sculpture and fashion, and also because I think pink is a fleshy colour that ties in with my themes of the body quite well.

The plan for this coming week is to take some good quality photos of either me or my peers (or both) wearing both this sculpture and my tube sculptures in the photography studio. I would also like to experiment with video if possible- I shall see where the work takes me!

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After a conversation with Rebecca in studio last Thursday, I have decided to start trying to intertwine all of my ideas and find some links. I began by quite literally intertwining my imagery- weaving together photos of my home in Laois and in Limerick.

I wasn't particularly neat with my weaving- it turned out a bit haphazard and messy, but I kind of like this freestyle approach.

I photocopied my weaving and then wove in another photo- this time, a picture of myself. My work is going down a path of examining my own place in my two homes, so it makes sense to include me in this weaving.

The weaving process is definitely reminiscent of fabric and textiles, which is interesting, and also ties into my research around fashion and clothes as a material culture. Also, almost as an aside, I wear a lot of plaid and chequered clothing, which is almost echoed in this weaving.

Related to this, Rebecca recommended I do some research into tartan, and how this often ties into people's heritage. Abbeyleix, my home town, used to have a big textile industry and carpet factory, so I will also research this.

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I bought a shawl from the charity shop near where I live in Limerick, with the intention of deconstructing it to weave or crochet together with some yarn I brought from home in Laois. However, before I irreversibly damaged the shawl, I wanted to try weaving in some of my photographs, to see if I like the effect.

I cut a photocopy of my interwoven photos into thin strips, and pulled them through the knit of the shawl. I really like the structure that the thick photo paper gave the piece- I will experiment with this more once I've woven my yarns together. I overall like the effect of the interwoven photo- it feels like I'm hiding details for myself.

I also liked how the photo paper behaved when I stretched the shawl. I thought this was an interesting movement that I will maybe explore in future. It's like the photo is trying to escape or migrate.

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Rebecca Horn

"Einhorn"

Rebecca Horn is a German artist best known for her sculptural, installation, and film works, especially her body-modification based wearable sculpture. An example would be "Einhorn" (unicorn), which takes its concept from a pun on her name.

"Pencil Mask"

"White Body Fan"

Her work is concerned with the interaction between body and space, and ways of altering or interrupting these interactions.

"Finger Gloves"

I admire the simplicity of her sculptural work, really only focusing on one form or area of the body each. I think I have been overthinking the whole idea of a wearable sculpture, so it's nice to be reminded to take a step back. I also like how these sculptures only really look impressive when worn. I think working in the sculpture studio, I can get a bit self conscious about creating "art", so it is valuable to be reminded that it's okay if work is only impressive when viewed in the context it is created for.

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Today, I was thinking a lot about Bea Camacho's "Enclose", and also wanted to expand some more on my use of crochet, so I set about crocheting some cocoons. I made two different designs- one more solid (left), and one a bit more mesh/spider web like (right). I prefer the one on the right- I think it is more visually interesting, and also gives a stronger reference to the spider web crochet blanket that led to its creation.

Elaine showed me how to use wire to create a form using a technique called French knitting (essentially, knitting in the round). I opted to use the florist's wire that is coated in paper, both be kind to my fingers, but also as I feel its softer texture (as opposed to unwrapped wire) gives a greater sense of comfort and home. I really enjoyed this process, I found it very therapeutic and relaxing (which, I suppose, also lends itself to my theme rather well). I will spend this evening and tomorrow evening making a few more cocoons to experiment with.

On Thursday, I hope to cover some of my cocoons in clay slip, and fire them in the kiln. Elaine explained to me that the paper and wool will disintegrate in the heat, and the wire may become brittle, but the clay will become stronger. I will also cover some in plaster. I like the idea that the plaster will make them more permanent in their form- it will not flop around and move as much as the wool or wire would. But it will still crumble and crack under pressure.

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Sculpture On the Body

Above are 9 photos of me using my body to interact with my sculptural experiment. With Franz West, I really like the ambiguity of his adaptables: they're not meant to be worn in any prescriptive way. I tried to keep a similarly ambiguous form. What my piece has that Franz West did not is flexibility- my electrical wire wants to bend and contort with the body, whereas his were made of solid metal and plaster bandage. I think the idea of bendiness and flexibility fits much better with the themes I am exploring.

Once I have done more work on this sculptural element, and have developed it a bit more, I think it has great potential for transfer into my photography elective. I think long exposures would work well to show the movement of the body while interacting with the object.

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Draping + Drawing

After taking my photos of my draped elements on the mannequins, I printed out some of the configurations that inspired me. I then sketched over these mannequins, adding to my designs in a universe where both materials and my sewing skills have no constraints.