The printing process took a fair amount of time as each layer of the print had to dry before another was added on top. The opaque fabric printed through onto the backing cloth, creating interesting faded prints. I experimented with my colour scheme through the ground and the dye, each creating a different style of print.
My final screen is made up of 4 parts (images below). These 4 parts have been designed to interlock to create layered prints or simple prints on their own. I want to print with them matching with each other, but also explore the patterns they will make when they are rotated round in the spaces.
I went to the Michael Brennand-Wood exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre in Wales recently. The exhibition documents his work over the last 40 years. It exhibits his unseen work, new work and his most important pieces.
When entering the exhibition, the main thing I noticed was the large areas of bright colours. The walls were filled with giant blocks of colour and shapes. The piece 'I know you know and I wish you'd tell' (above image) was really captivating, from a distance the contrast of white to pattern across the wall caught my eye. Once looking up close the work completely changed, the pattern is actually carved wood and the colour is dyed fabric stuffed into the gaps. It creates a detailed, textured surface up close yet from afar looks like a painting.
With the images I made with acetate I can multiply it round to create a larger, more detailed piece.
From this design it can be repeated to create pieces like the image below. This could work well on coloured grounds to make interesting fabric pieces, wall papers, statement wall hangings etc.
To create a screen print design I've started creating my work on acetate so I can see the layers I will need for my final print. This design can be created through a mix of mono-printing and direct printing.
After making my tessellated design, I wanted to add to it to see what other shapes it creates when some of the lines are drawn together. I've found that it creates a good, solid shape for an outline. This drawing has given me more ideas on how to create my final screens.
Hand drawings and geometric line drawings have been repeated and tessellated to create these designs in the style of mandalas. I prefer the designs with circles in them and colour. The top design looses the line work when reduced to this size. For my screen I will need to make the lines thicker and less condensed.
I'm creating my designs in the style of Mandalas. They are interesting patterns and are similar to the tiling in Morocco. The temples and walls are very detailed in their tiling. I want to tesselate my designs round to make my screens, allowing them to be repeated on fabric.
With the geometric style of drawing, I want to create a limited colour palate to work with. The main colours that I want to use are the rich mustard, deep red and electric blue. I have collected these colours of dye from Morocco, therefore I can dye my own fabric and screen print on top.
The lanterns in Morocco were what caught my eye the most, the shape, the colours and the light transparency. I started with free hand drawing with inks, but then moved onto more geometric shapes. From these images I can make more defined designs.
After travelling around Morocco, it has influenced my work greatly and given me the basis for my art project. The vast amount of rich colours and pattern work there has been the primary source of my inspiration.
"You can find inspiration in everything (and if you can't look again)" - Paul Smith
Inspirations
My summer project is going to be a visual record of my summer and the influential things that occur through out these few months. It began with a 3 week trip in Croatia, thus allowing a vast array of new images and sites.
Water
On my trip I spent a large amount of my time either in water or near by, swimming, diving, on boats etc. From being so close to the sea, it has given me a great starting point for my project. I am going to base my work on water, the patterns it can create and the colours it reflects. My photography is from above the surface and also from under water.
We wanted to create a video that showed the patchwork cultures of Manchester, with the use of temporary clothes that can instantly change. This idea was made a reality with the use of projections, using animations of our drawings and samples. The video really came to life with the use of a dancer, it enhanced the bright colours and brought it all together with the addition of music. Overall our group really worked together and created a unique and collaborative video that we are all proud of.
Today we shot our final video, using a dancer to be our model for our projections. After our last shoot we have gone back to our idea board and decided we needed a blank canvas for the projections to be applied onto. From this our model has been styled in a all in one white suit completed with a white mask. These are some stills taken from the shoot, the projections were very clear and vibrant and worked well with our dancers shapes.
When looking into videos that show projections on bodies, I was shown this short film from the Urban Media Festival Cologne from 2009, from a friend who took part in this project. This video was made with the collaboration of a few people from around Europe, all taking elements of their cultures and creating one final piece. It has shown me what a group of strangers can accomplish when working together, which is similar to our group work. We have all brought our individual styles and ideas together and have created a concept that involves us all equally.
After filming in Hotspur House we realised that we needed to use a
room that was completely dark. We wanted our video to give the illusion
that the model was walking across the screen. The aim is to have a few
models walking across with the projection and layer these together into
one piece of film.
The set up inside the studio worked
out exactly as we had planned, the projection was clear, the background
didn't detect the projection and the model looked as those his clothes
were virtual. This took a lot of blacking out and moving furniture around, creating the space that was needed.
These
still frames show how the projections show up on the model, using our
images and samples to create unified clothes. We all agreed that the
video should be set to music, but at this moment we are undecided on
which song will fit best to our images. We used "Skrillex - Kill
Everbody" for this sample shoot, it fits well but isn't completely what
we envisioned for it.
