Comfort Zone

Simon Periton limited edition print on glass

I have further researched the use of text in textiles - different fonts, fabrics and yarns/threads etc.

I have a developed a process for co-ordinating the above options and using them for my work.  However, I am also aware that this unit is about processes and materials and I need to think about using materials other than fabric, yarn and Photoshop fonts. 

I have selected these images from the research because the materials - glass, printed paper and freehand drawings give edge and energy.  It is also interesting tto note the impact of black and white images, the third image is also black and white but overprinted with  red.

Elizabeth Price Risograph on paper limited edition



Henrik Oleson limited edition print



cross stitch on ohp film

stitching onto transparent materials - cross stitch, running stitch and chain stitch.

Focussing

Further to the last tutorial and in preparation for the SWOT analysis, I have been focussing on the objective of my project and what I am trying to say.

Objective: To create designs which reflect my research into how older women interact in society.

What am I trying to say: We live in a youth oriented society.  I don't want to act the part of a ditsy old girl by way of apology or embarrassment.  I definitely don't want to be treated as a ditsy old girl.

This project is about how women redefine themselves as they age.

Sometimes, when I try to describe the project I can see that people don't understand what they see as 'my problem',.  To help me to define the concept, I have decided to write a brief research report which will evidence the documented research around this existential phenomenon.  

Meanwhile, I have also defined how I will progress with design and technique.  I will stitch text which relates to the research. 

I have been looking at the embroidery work of Bella May Leonard.  She often uses transparent Perspex backgrounds, embroidering with different threads, tape, rope etc.  Wonderfully free and colourful.

notes from tutorial today

LEARNING OUTCOMES

• reflective blog should clearly evidence thinking and decision making - in some depth
• make sure any evidence submitted on a USB stick is navigable by using headings
• contexts (LO1) - DOESN'T HAVE TO BE A PRODUCT.  Think about concepts eg 'how the work reacts with light'
• LO2 - evidence thinking , processes
• LO3 - what am I trying to say, what is it all about
• LO4 - textile design.  what I am doing using stitch in different ways.

Important to include thoughts and plans on how the work will progress.

I will need to submit a quantity of materials work showing progress, critical analysis and showing links which progress the work.

Plenty of work ahead but I feel positive and excited by the prospect.

TUTORIALS - it isn't expected that I should have resolved work at tutorials.  The way forward is to prepare work and some will  inspire further work, some won't.

• prepare SWOT analysis for this Thursday

I've been screen printing this week - using the colour separation technique to prepare screens.  So far I have liked the distressed effect of the screen printed text (see left) but the complete image is rather dreary.  I will work on the colours to improve the impact.

Anyway, I think the text effect coupled with the talk from John and Julia McIntyre prompted me to take needle to cloth.  

I am very pleased with the results.  I used a linen thread on linen textile in a similar colour to stitch the word 'invisible' in Courier New font using simple running stitches. I am really pleased with the result  - it is textural, it self-coloured so it is both invisible and visible, it is understated and yet it is blatant.  I can see endless possibilities -

• textures - stitches, textile, thread
• text - words, quotes
• fonts - upper/lower case, scale.

It looks dramatic with a light behind it.  Is this the breakthrough I have been looking for?  Is it too late?

photo mosaics

David Hockney, My Mother 1982

Gilbert and George, The Scream of Reason, 1980

I have been looking at the photographic work of David Hockney .  This photographic portrait of his mother (right)gives movement to the image - and has a cubist flavour in that it shows his mother's face from different aspects.

Both these images have very precise shapes and spaces.

Photomontages can be made by combining negatives (in the dark room) or positives (as above).  For me, it evokes the same curiosity as collage.



 This image by Raoul Haussmann combines photomontage and collage with ink stamp and crayon on printed poster poem.



Rauoul Haussman, Austrian 1886-1971
De Kunstreporter IThe Art Critic)
1919-1920





  

research: How do you want to live your life?

I've been in to NUA every day this week printing onto paper, acetate and fabric. 

I've still not found an expression which reflects what I am trying to say.

On Wednesday I went to a live computer linked transmission from New York by John & Julia McIntyre.  Inspiring, reassuring, energising people and wonderful magical textiles which utilise embroidery, crochet and knit. 

I am missing stitch and I'll get back to it.

Group tutorial today which I will miss because I have no work I want to talk about.

One week left before the Christmas break, three weeks break from NUA, then one week before the deadline.  I will spend some time incorporating stitch into my prints - and I am looking forward to that.  Hopefully the added dimension of stitch will provide the breakthrough I am looking for.

Reflecting on my dilemma -   I have been trying to express too many things.  Firstly the invisibility of 'older age' women but also the energy and vibrancy of 'older age' women.  I also wanted to incorporate text into my work whilst avoiding literal expression. I want to feature transparency in the form of pixellation, blurring and disguise.  I know I will get there eventually... and I'd like to think I would find expression before the deadline.

This weekend I visited Craft Central's 'made in clerkenwell' Open Studios event. 

An interesting experience, observing studio space, a range of goods (rather a lot of jewellery, price ranges (high) and the opportunity to talk to artists. 

I was particular impressed with photographer Veronica Bailey.  She has been researching a war correspondent called Marguerite Higgins in a body of work called Hermes Baby (named after the portable typewriter used by Marguerite).  She uses images of text taken from Marguerite's book using the appropriate font (not just an approximation) and printed using traditional darkroom techniques onto unexposed vintage bromide paper.  The results have a slight curl giving a 3 dimensional, fragile and isolated effect. I was drawn to her work because of her use of text but I was impressed by the meticulous research, detail and materials.  It made an impression on me. This exquisite piece has a limited edition of 5, and retails for £1,400.

images with text

I have been combining the one-word answers to my question

'As an older woman, how do you want to live your life?'

with images.

 

 

pixillation everywhere

Society of Illustrators  - Tiles



Monalisa -collaboration between make-up artist
  Valeriya Kutsan and Russian photographer
 Alexander Khokhlov



Still working on pixellation. 



Underfoot in Dartmouth

 

I have pixillated text  - I decided to use Terminal font because it is a chunky style which lends itself to pixilation .   I then repeated the text to further pixillate a pattern.  

When I asked older women how they wanted to live their lives, many used the word 'fabulous' - so that is the word I used for this exercise.  The colours were dictated by the pixelated image of an older woman's face.

I am going to experiment further with different colours and a different word.  Not sure where this is going. 

Independent study week

 

Last week was independent study week.  I have been investigating pixilation and blurring to represent the indistinguishability/ transparency of older women.  I experimented with blurring - Gerhard Richter style - by using black, white and grey pens onto photographs.

Interesting but I'm not sure whether this is a technique I can use so I reverted to testing pixillation. 

During this week I met with other students to use the drawing studio.  They know what they want to achieve and they are experimenting, testing, drawing, printing and painting with enthusiasm.  I'm feeling quite anxious because I am not finding a way forward yet. 

I think I have chosen a very difficult topic.  I want my project about ageing to be positive.  It would be all too easy to mock or ridicule ageing with all its indignities and unattractiveness (I couldn't bring myself to write 'ugliness').  However, I am writing about life in the third age before the 'dereliction' of the forth age.  'Dereliction' is a word used in academia which 'signals moral collapse ....stains, drooping hems, down at heel shoes'.  Blimey!

Anyway, back to the studio.  I used the time to paint and make marks in colours which I can use for cutting and pasting pixillated images. 

I have used Photoshop to create pixillated images (see right) but they look flat and lack impact.

I cut squares from the paintings to create a mosaic which I was pleased with.  It could be used for a border but I am hoping I might be able to use the mosaic technique to create text.

 Meanwhile I have been revising my question to older women - asking them how they want to live their life in their third age.  This has resulted in more interesting responses.  I think this is make or break week - either I give up, refer or go ahead with direction.  Hope I go ahead but time is very tight.


indistinguishable

I have been grappling with the idea of 'transparency' but the concept is being widened to include 'indistinguishable' and 'obscured'. Somehow it has opened new options. 

I borrowed books on Gerhard Richter from the library and have been immersed in research all day.  I especially concentrated on his work with photographs

• painting photographic images - ranging from blurred to photorealistic. Paul Moorhouse's book on Richter's Portraits discusses notions of objectivity and subjectivity; questions around reality and  actuality; influences from Duchamp and his readymades; monochrome and colour.   The book investigates concepts of familiarity and otherness; personal and impersonal.

• overpainting photographs - Richter either drags the photo through leftover paint or he drops paint onto the photograph.  The results are surprising - if they are good he keeps the overpainted photograph.  If the results are not good he discards the photograph.  It is a method of enhancing/obscuring sections of the photograph with textured oil paint. 

Frayed: Textiles on the Edge

 

Tracey Emin
John Craske Embroidery

 

This week I visited the Frayed: Textiles on the Edge exhibition at the Time & Tide Museum in Great Yarmouth.  The exhibition links the connection between therapy and stitch. 

I marvelled at the John Craske wool embroidery depicting the evacuation of Dunkirk.  The scale of the work and the detail indicate the patience and therapeutic qualities of his stitching.

Tracey Emin's 'Haunted' piece was lost amongst such dynamic pieces.  Emin is no shrinking violet but, to me,  her work looked insipid amongst the skill, drama and scale of the exhibition.

The star of the show is the Lorima Bulwar rant embroideries.  The embroideries positively spit out their jumbled messages - indignantly and single mindedly. 

The exhibition included a textile of stitched text by Sarah Impey.  Her work is very precise and very cleverly executed.  It seems wrong to criticise such perfection - but, for me, the piece left no room for interpretation or imagination.



Elizabeth Parker's 1830s cross stitched text is dense and unadorned.  Humble and remorseful and so very wretched.  The stitches are tiny and punishing. 
 

My practice continues - although without a committed direction as yet. 

However, the research continues with Julia Twigg's fascinating book on the links between Fashion and Age.  It includes case studies, journalists, designers and retailers.  I am also reading Lynne Segal's feminist book 'Out of Time' which is both political and cultural.

I finished my collage of the word Crone but the end result was  disappointing.  Whereas the individual letters held a bit of humour and surprise, when they were put together they took on a silly clichéd cartoon effect.  In discussion with tutor it was agreed that the images chosen for the collage were too random, they didn't didn't reflect research or depth.  The trivial quality of the collage is due to a lack of narrative.

 

Emily Charman gave a talk this week -  such a talent, it was a joy to know that her talent is being recognised.  Her advice was - take every opportunity to show your work and do some drawing every day. 

 

For the past few Thursday afternoons Holly, Vanessa and I have hired the drawing studio and taken advantage of the space and resources and, not least, the support of each other.

 

This week we were using Procion to draw directly on to textiles.  We also experimented with using chemical water and Manutex to stop the ink bleeding into the textiles.  Finally, I decided that I liked the effect of the bleeding and I painted ageing asymmetric faces and lips.

 

Sarah Angold took the group tutorials this week.  Very embarrassing because I still haven't found my direction - but it will happen...although I know it will happen sooner when I take the plunge and get printing.

 

Anyway, I have been looking back at my work and influences.  I also looked at Gerhard Richter work, with its blurred depictions which are suited to this project....transparency, anonymity, indistinguishable.

To experiment with the effect, I cut up a couple of enlarged sections of one of my drawings - cutting one into strips and the other into square then put them back together again but slightly mismatched.  This is how I am going to take the work forward - using screen prints.

  

Noma Bar

My project is partly about the transparency of older women and I am always on the lookout for images which portray transparency.

Now Noma Bar's images are not about transparency - they are extremely dramatic.  

Nonetheless he does use transparency as a technique to increase the graphic qualities of the image.

I think his images are extremely clever and effective.  His powerful portrait of Saddam Hussein (above) uses a radiation symbol for Sadam's eyes/eyebrows and moustache, simply adding a military beret and jacket.  The face is transparent.  Similarly, the image of Charlie Chaplain (right) is pared back to black on a white background, the face is transparent, with black continuous line features which results in an evocative, rather sad portrait. 

I am reverting back to collage techniques for my project.  I am behind with the work, but rather than angsting on what I should or should not be doing, I am simply doing what I feel is most creative.  Whatever the result it is better than non-productive panic.  I'm pleased with the results.

got through the day

 Lisa Levis (formerly Stickley) was guest speaker this morning.  She described her career - chronologically - which includes degree, then Masters at RCA, building her own makeshift studio and working as designer/maker.  She made excellent contacts with Liberty, Heals and boutiques selling wash bags, make up bags, ceramics and bed linen.  By giving a lot of attention to quality and detail. the company grew, staff were taken on and larger premises were found.  Sadly she inadvertently sold her name and designs following poor legal advice.  However, she has married and her name is now Lisa Levis (rhymes with Ben 'Nevis')and she is trading under the name Ada.Rose and also under the name Betty & Walter for a toiletry range at Boots.  Her work uses feminine and joyful motifs which are quite simple and appealing.  Really interesting lecture. 

Group tutorial.  Louise Richardson supported us by suggesting ways forward.  She suggested I persevere with the visibility/transparency route. 

Vanessa, Holly and I went to drawing studio.  We all worked on large pieces.  I let loose by spattering ink and bleach.  I particularly liked the pattern left on the tapes (see left).


Quote I heard today.

"Don't worry, be crappy" Guy Kawasaki, Rules for Revolutionaries -The Capitalist Manifesto

evidencing decisions

 

 

I am looking for a font which would be suitable for my designs.  I need a chunky font with serif which will retain a good shape when it is enlarged.   Emboldened Copperplate Gothic Light seems to be the ideal.

Finding direction

What haven't I mentioned so far this week?  The final Reith lecture by Grayson Perry was thought provoking, as usual - it all seems light-hearted but he discusses serious issues.  This week he mentioned the stifling effect of self-consciousness - ooh I suffer.

I've started compiling some digital images using text.

I'm still experimenting with collage images in my sketch book and I'm still researching my subject - in the process I am finding blogs and web pages for older women who 'don't want to be invisible'.



While consulting my lovely magazine UPPERCASE - the solution hit me.  The design wouldn't include text, it would be the text.  Collaged text(digital/screenprint) and handpainted text.  The text would consist of the words which are used to describe women - fishwife, woman of a certain age, cougar, bag lady, old biddy, mutton dressed as lamb, crone, harridan, old maid, old dear.

I've been researching how to handpaint textiles and I have mixed a solution of urea, soda ash and resist salt which can be used to either treat the fabric or mix with the reactive dye for painting.  The solution/dye mixture can also be thickened with manutex to prevent colours 'bleeding'.  The manutex/solution can also be painted onto the fabric to stiffen it, then painting with reactive dye and water. 

At last I have a clearer direction.  Sadly I don't have 10 samples to show at the tutorial tomorrow.

fashion illustration

I am looking at a book by Tony Glenville called New Icons of Fashion Illustration.  It shows the work of twenty eight illustrators.  I am particularly taken with the artwork of Julie Verhoeven - colourful, vibrant, painterly, collage, surprising. She accurately describes her work as 'fast and reckless'. 

I am still thinking about how I will progress my project.  I think I will find my way by concentrating on the concept of visibility and transparency.  I feel immersed in the topic but I am finding  it difficult to find visual expression.

On the research front, I am looking at Lynne Segal's book 'Out of Time' and Julia Twigg's study of Fashion and Later Life.

Today I was looking at advertising material for Jarrolds department store - a store used largely by 'women of a certain age' - all the fashion models are young. Why?

In the newspaper today I noticed a report which stated that the BBC and ITV turned had down a hit drama series about older people on the grounds that 'senior citizens were considered a viewer turn-off' but BBC later reconsidered having 'presumably woken up to the maturity of its audience'!

drawing workshop

lovely morning drawing and painting.  cutting a photograph, patching it together, then drawing it  as pattern rather than as a portrait.  Firstly with charcoal, then with marker pen, then with watered down acrylic paints - brushing the paper with water at regular intervals.

Very useful for abstracting an image and for creating a looser image - very enjoyable too.  We are trying to book the drawing studio for next week too.