lancashire

I have been with family in Lancashire for most of this week.  Manchester was as vibrant as ever.  It is the tail end of Selfridges 'the Beauty project' which debated, questioned and challenged the meaning of beauty.  Sadly my stay did not coincide with any of the talks.  Good to see this type of debate.

Lots of text in the community.

Whilst there I researched neck ties and scarves in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges.  The neckties which were aimed at younger men were generally narrower - maybe 7cm across the blade - and the more traditionally designed ties were between 8 and 9 cm across the blade.  I also looked at women's scarves which were many and varied. 

What a week for women of the world.  Hot on the heels of the horror of 276 schoolgirls being kidnapped in Nigeria, a Pakistani women was stoned to death by her own family because she shamed them by wanting to choose her own husband.  A heavily pregnant Sudanese woman was imprisoned along with her 20 mnth old son because she didn't want to renounce her Christian religion - she gave birth prematurely whilst in shackles.  In the north of India, two young girls were gang raped, then hanged in trees.  International pressure is highlighting the injustices, too late for three women but the imprisoned women is no longer in shackles and is likely to be released. 

In the light of these events I have spent time designing my own craftivist event.  It throws up lots of decisions - how I can inspire thoughts about the meaning of feminism, the issues, the materials - and where the final pieces could be displayed.

As time goes by I realise that my future is likely to revolve around the therapeutic and political use of textiles rather than the commercial design and use of textiles.  This Craftivist event would form part of my MA - LO1 evaluation of current issues, practices and initiatives LO5 articulate the content and ambitions of my work.
 

graphic novels

Last week I went to a talk by Mary and Bryan Talbot about graphic novels - and in particular their new novel Sally Heathcote Suffragette which was written by Mary, page set-up by Bryan and illustrated by Kate Charlesworth.  It was interesting to hear how the pages and (mostly black and white)illustrations were set up to convey the different characters, emotions and details.



I am trying to incorporate my drawings of computer technology with text onto a background.  I don't want the background to be a flat colour but my screenprints are proving to be difficult because they are often too domineering. I have used water-soluble pastels for backgrounds.  I have wanted by designs to be colourful to reflect the energy and vibrancy of fourth wave feminism.

 

scanning screenprints

I have started looking at incorporating scans of recent screenprints into designs for ties and scarves.



 

 

The scanned image of a screen print onto fabric is less clear because the scan picks up the weave of the fabric.  See example on the left.




The scanned image of a screenprint onto paper - especially onto newsprint - has a silky and clear appearance (see right).
 

Today I spent time in the print room working on more open screen designs which were printed onto paper.

 

Too much procion pigment gives a saturated heavy image which dries to a matt dull finish.  Generally the designs were more successful on the 2nd and 3rd print - the first being too heavy and the fourth too light.

 

  

neck ties

I want to use the contrast between b/w imagery and colour in my work.  I will be using that contrast on neckties.  My current research involves the deconstruction of ties, researching styles and designs on line and in local retail outletsm and paper patterns of ties.  It seems the width of the blade is variable - even within the same collection.  

I have also been printing patterns using drawn images on an open screen.   


The images  were printed on cotton (see left) and on newsprint paper (right and below) which gives the effect that it had been printed on silk which I will investigate further.

Add caption

   

presentation

Yesterday I delivered my 'work in progress' presentation at the lecture theatre.  The presentation took a lot of preparation and it served a good purpose in focussing my intentions.

Generally I think it was received favourably.  Comments included 

• the difficulty of marrying together the theory of feminism with the visual representation in a design 
• a comment that I shouldn't call my drawings 'naive' - the viewer should decide whether they are naïve
• that my feminist quotes are not 'curious' enough
• interesting juxtaposition of b/w and colour
• neckties are an interesting idea.

  The comment about the quotes is an interesting one...I responded that I didn't want to alienate non feminists by being accusatory.  I take the point though and, as this blog will testify, I have considered using headlines or statistics. 

It was an interesting day.  It was good to see the work of other students.....I was knocked out by the research undertaken by students and I particularly enjoyed the fine art images. 

craftivism

On Sunday I was a volunteer at the Victoria and Albert craftivism event. 

It was a fabulous day... a chance to sit with people and chat in a non pressured environment and to stitch meaningful text.  The stitching provides a focus so that talking is never intense but most people had personal or family experiences relevant to the topic of 'belonging' and spoke about them.  The volunteers also had a talk from a woman who works with asylum seekers and refugees.   The Craftivist Collective was set up by Sarah Corbett - she sets up craftivist events which facilitate the discussion of serious topics but in a palatable way.  We all (volunteers included) had to embroider a label with our name and some thoughts.

Yesterday I spent the day in the print room painting and printing from an open screen.  My aim was to produce some prints that I could stitch or print over and I was pleased with the results.  I've also been researching men's neck ties - Paul Smith's neck tie blades (the widest part) are between 6 and 8 cm. 

a solution?

 

I am anxious not to be too obvious or literal but at my last tutorial Nick suggested that I don't necessarily need to 'abstract' text but that I should consider where the text appears.  I think that could be interesting and I am thinking about coat linings or facings, mens and womens accessories and household textiles/items.  But what should the words be? 

Perhaps quoting current newspaper headlines. 

I have researched copyright of newspaper headlines and it seems to be a contentious area with differing legal outcomes but it generally depends on the creativity of the headline and whether the copied text is going to be used for profit.  There seem to be exemptions for use in FE and HE.  I believe that I will not be infringing copyright.

By the submission date my work could include 3 months of headlines -from May 2014 to August 2014 - relating to women's lives which ensures the work will be up-to-date. 

It will also offer the opportunity to use stitch as well as screen and digital print. 

Meanwhile I have been making an alphabet patterned with technological shapes - see above.