WEARABLE ARCHITECTURE PROJECT

This project is perhaps the one I was most excited about doing because Textile Design is what I am considering going on to do at University. Therefore I felt the need to really excel with this task in order to prove my abilities to myself. 

The project kicked off with observational drawings of buildings, where we had to focus on the inner, smaller details such as shape. At this point I was disappointed in the outcome of my work as I felt I hadn't understood the task properly; but in hindsight, the shapes I had found work really well together and once I began to print them I was really enjoying the development of my work. I feel that this was a really successful learning curve for me, as it is sometimes hard to accept your work when you feel it is not up to your usual high standards, as I did, and the development of being able to overcome a difficult patch and twist it to make it work to the best of its ability is something I am proud of achieving and I definitely feel it will help me with future learning.

Once I was over my frustration we moved on to designing a surface pattern for printing the shapes, which you can see above. The colour palette I chose is working really well for this piece as the neutral background allows the pink and blue to pop out without them drowning each other - because I chose to also use the secondary colour purple as a highlight point. Although I believe my prints are successful there is still plenty of room for development, for example instead of using purple I could print with white paint as it would stand out even further in the print and give a sense of depth. A second developing point could be to somehow attach the stencils onto the surface of the print which would not only add a three-dimensional aspect but also enhance the 'wearable sculpture/architecture' idea. 

We then had to refer back to some of the other architectural shapes in order to design the final idea for the piece. Above you can see my range of ideas, and I feel the most successful one is the middle idea, featured in the left hand photo on the right hand side. This is mainly because I wasn't looking at the shape and trying to turn it into a garment, but instead I was considering the ergonomics of the shape and how it could work best with the body. The two designs shown in the photo on the right have the success that they both flow well with the body, however I find that the curves soften them too much and they blend too much with the body, whereas the more angular shapes stand out strong and make a statement. 

The final stage of the project was choosing a design and putting it into practise, which you can see in the photos overhead. 

CONNECT PROJECT

This project was focused on sculpture and all about considering how things are connected and what does it mean. 

Starting off with salvaged objects, we began to think about what it was, its history and what it could become. Initially I was stuck at this point as sculpture is not my specialism and I didn't know how these two objects could work together, however I soon discovered the next stage.

This is just one example of the three I made for the series, however I feel this best shows the connection of the wire spiral with the plant pot. It was the most successful piece I created as I experimented with placing the wire in many different places before choosing its final place. By twisting and manipulating the wire, it creates really interesting shapes and forms that change when you view it from different angles, and this helps the audience to question how it is connected. As a development it would be good to place this sculpture in a white room and cast different lights at it to see how different shadows are formed. I felt that by keeping the sculpture the 'terracotta' colour, it was still being viewed as a plant pot, at which point I decided to paint it white and I feel this gives the audience a whole new perspective when looking at it.

CONCEAL PROJECT PART 2

Further on into the project we began to look at faces and methods of construction; including drawing, printing and sculpting using wire.

With these two pages we were practicing drawing in different medias and without looking at the page. This taught me how important it actually is to spend 80% looking at the subject and 20% at the paper, as this allows you to slow down the drawing in order to capture as much detail as you can. It has also shown me how layering up drawings can be quite effective in creating new shapes and forms. 
I feel that the light blue felt pen drawing (right hand image, left hand side of page) is unsuccessful in this group of drawings as it doesn't fit into the colour scheme and stands out too obviously, creating an unwanted focal point. It could potentially be overcome by experimenting with cutting up the page and rearranging to create unrealistic faces. Or I could attempt another drawing with scissors to cover up the majority of it. 
                              

In spite of this, these drawings were the basis for our stencil printing, which turned out to be really fun and experimental to create.

      

With the two images above I have selected what I believe are my most successful and unsuccessful prints. With the left hand side print (green on green) I feel the monochromatic colour scheme is really strong, with the pale background causing the darker facial features to jump out into the foreground. However, the red and orange print is a lot more subtle, I think it is the clash of the colours that lets this print down, but in saying this the upper left side with the texture is working really well, and a good developing point would be to reprint this with the white texture running all the way through the background. This would then allow the orange print to be more visible. 

Above you can see my 3 wire faces I sculpted. The top face is the first one I finished, and upon finishing the other two it has become my least favourite. By trying to create the outline of the whole head, I have accidentally created a 'cartoon like' face which was not my aim, however once I had looked at work by my peers, and I furthered my artist research, it helped me to focus on the finer details of the face and create a much simpler solution. By creating these faces, it helped me (along with the drawing at the top) to concentrate on looking at the subject, as I was able to hold up the wire to try and get proportions right as well as shapes and angles. I believe a good way to improve these sculptures would be to experiment with media other than wire, such as string or flexible plastic tubes (e.g. straws?).