Throughout my final year at university I have been working towards my very own exhibition at my degree show at CCAD Hartlepool.
It took me a while to establish myself and understand who I am as a designer. Now my time at university is over I feel like I am my own person with my own ideas.
This is a new chapter in my life and I can't wait to see what happens next, but for now I am extremely happy with my final show....
What a fun day I've had! The mark making workshop with the brilliant artist Stephen Wright has been so inspiring. Using the most weirdest, strangest implements to make marks were used from old shoes to dolls arms. Although I was wondering what the hell I was getting myself into I am so happy and honoured to work with such a lovely and talented artist. The day consisted of the freedom you can achieve from splashing and rubbing ink randomly on the paper. It looks easy to create mess but it's actually really difficult to let yourself be free. I love the fact that there doesn't have to be reason behind the marks it's personal and quite liberating!
Today has been a long day but a good day in the print room. My final collections are coming together nicely one of which is my flooring design. Using spare wood flooring I found in the garage I used my polka dot and mark making silk screen to build up various layers using emulsion and pigments finished with specs of foil.
As part of my degree show I have volunteered my time and efforts to help create a promotional pack. This contains the work and CVs of talented level 6 textile students from CCAD. The pack will be taken to Premiere Vision in Paris and Indigo Maison in Brussels, each pack will be given to prospective employers in the design industry.
Constructing the pack was time consuming and challenging but worth while in the end. I personally think I took on a leadership role within the group by setting strict deadlines for students to submit imagery to allow me to format it on Photoshop. I also took the initiative to source appropriate printing costs, this challenged my mathematical skills as working out costs and keeping them low was difficult. The cheapest way to print the A6 postcards was on the university printers and sourcing card to print on to. So far it was pretty straight forward however, as the card had a coating on it, it slipped during the printing process which resulted in the borders being uneven. To prevent more costs by reprinting as a group we made the decision to cut the borders off. The end result still looks very neat and professional but if we had more funds and time to print again we would have liked a white border around the imagery.
Overall the process has been difficult as some members of the group participated and contributed less than some other members. This did not however stop us producing something that we can all (level 6 textile students) be proud of. This has been a worthwhile task and hopefully this pack could lead to a job interview for someone after we graduate.
Last week I took some time out of university work and travelled to London for some inspiration. Shoreditch is my new favourite place with the Cereal Killer Café and the vintage shops being a must see!
The street art in the area tell stories with each one being as quirky and bizarre as the next. Mixed media against textured/uneven bricked surfaces provides an organic ground to work on. This has inspired me to think about scale and composition whilst considering appropriate paper based grounds to work on.
#BrickLane...
I had the pleasure to meet the artist Stephen Wright when he came in to my university as a guest speaker.
I found him particularly inspiring as he talked about his struggle with dyslexia. As I myself struggle with dyslexia I was keen to ask him how he copes with simple things like being able to put his ideas into words. His response to my question was to create work that speaks for itself, things don't always have to make sense.
What inspired me most was that art is a personal thing. Art can tell an obvious story that people will understand and it can also make no sense at all. Either way as a textile designer I should create work according to my own tastes. Art is an expression of various feelings and emotions. My aim is to do what I want to do and not worry if it doesn't always make sense...
Whimsical Mushroom design entry for Feathr.com I would appreciate it if anyone would vote for it at www.feathr.com/wallpaper/whimsical-mushroom/
