Week 3

Day 6 - 07/03/22

Though I felt quite unprepared for today (as I’m still a little behind with my research and project proposal) I was pleasantly surprised by how productive the day was overall. THe most helpful part of the day was definitely my tutorial with Dom: he gave me some pointers towards synthesising my ideas and creating a more dynamic project.

Tutors Notes:

I could research garments that contort the body, and mimic the shapes of older individuals
i should get out of my collages and sketchbook a little more and use a mix of mediums to continue presenting my ideas
its never too early to sample!!
Interviewing Grandma might be very productive, her perspective
Experience what it is to be an older person, dress like an older person and walk around London?
I should find more of a narrative within my work
Research he suggested: Germaine Greer (owns sexuality), Advanced Style Documentary (Chanel 4), Fabulous Fasionistas (book, should be in the library)
steer away from camouflage prints, don’t want to be too on the nose with the keywords visible/invisible

Walking around this morning and seeeing my peers work was very helpful for placing the quantity and quality of work relative to them: it’s been a little difficult to see how much work I should complete where its so self guided. Though walking around did make me realise that my ideas have not been resreached enough or to a good standard, so I should definitely be actively researching, with a variety of sources this week. Consequently I bought tickets for the Louise Bourgeoise exhibition for the 9th, and have started to look into the advanced style research reousrces that Dom suggested for me.

I also got feedback on my project proposal so far, but I think I’m currently my worst enemy with it: I’m not scared of writing it and completing it, but I just don’t feel that my research is completed enough to create an acceptable bibliography. Though Rachel on my table was very helpful and provided some constructive feedback:

Paragraph 1:

Try and go more in detail about what your goals are (maybe try and establish similarities between FT and Fine Art and talk about those a little?) or maybe if you can’t then talk about what you hope to achieve from this project
I think you reflected really well on your process (you had ultimate examples of how you improved, but kept them short and didn’t drag on your points)

Paragraph 2:

I really like this paragraph (your ideas are very well expressed and communicated, I also really like how you mentioned your personal link to this project with your grandmother)
My only suggestion would be to talk more about how this project will help you move forward (I know you’re not continuing with art but then maybe relate it with what you’re doing later on), just because the last two sentences feel a little rushed

Paragraph 3:

Just finish off paragraph 3 (talk about workflow reflections, paddlet, workshops)
analyse magazine covers?

Day 7 - 08/03/22

I created this Action Plan late the night before, and spent this self directed day addressing some of the more patchy elements of my project. Though I really needed to add more research to my page, I found that I was extremely uninspired and unmotivated by the resreach that I started and couldn’t make myself do any written work. As a result I decided to just leave the more contextual research for tomorrow and instead do some materials and techniques research into knitwear. I looked into some more textural, 3D knitwear techniques such as bubble knitting which was a challenge for me as i had to teach myself how to hand knit again from scratch. I made LOTS of mistakes and dropped a painful number of stitches, but the muscle memory came back and then I made some cool new samples.

I already feel that the trajectory of my project is shifting! I don’t want to explore the words visible/invisible anymore, because i just don’t feel that I have interesting ideas or thoughts to express about it. On the other hand, looking at the metamorphosis of the body as it enters old age is something that I think has lots of potential to explore, and will be a reality for most people as they grow older. For now Im going to continue looking at the anatomy of the elderly body adn explore the various forms of deterioration we will all experience. Consequently, my keywords might change to:

Elderly
Androgynous
Metamorphosis

Day 8 - 09/03/22

◦How are you using drawing in your work? Be Spesific -( techiniques and materials)

So far drawing has taken a back seat in my design process, as I’ve been ‘getting out ideas’ and experimenting with 3D forms and samples. Though I’m realising that I should definitely be doing more mark making throughout, as a form of continuous response to what Ive been making. Therefore, in the next week I will attempt to incorporate this process more into my work and consider how I can use drawings I make to inform my samples (the reverse of what I’m currently doing). As for specifics, it’s hard to say anything as I really have done very little

◦Have your keywords changed?

Yes, Dom spoke a lot today about mood words and action words and on reflection I definitely do not have any keywords that inspire action. So I put some thought into it throughout the day, and have realised that the word ‘ deterioration’ captures the action that Ive explored for the entirety of this week. Then this word evoked the words, metamorphosis and fragility. So therefore my new key words are:

elderly
androgynous
deterioration/fragility
metamorphosis

While I imagine this will probably evolve still in the coming weeks I feel that these words are clearly related to my work, and better capture what Ive explored up to this point. Better yet I’m excited about the trajectory of the project moving forward as the word ‘deterioration’ will allow me to respond to the samples Ive made so far and distress, destroy, remake them.

◦What aspects of your research and exploration are successful and why?

Thus far I would argue that my research has been successful, as Ive called on a variety of sources (including documentaries, scientific articles, sociological explorations, visual/textile artists, exhibitions). My work feels informed by a more expansive set of research that can challenge the static feeling that doing only aesthetic based research creates. Although, I could definitely include more primary research within this: I wanted my project to be something personal at its core and I just feel that I have been underperforming in this area, and I’m nowhere near completing that goal.

◦Have you planned visits on self directed study days. Why?

Yes! This week especially has been focused on practical research: places and spaces. I visited the Louise Bourgeoise exhibition, and I will be going to the British Museum for some historical research on Saturday with one of my peers. At both I am involved, and enjoy observational drawing, as the condition and speed allows you to be comfortable with making mistakes and ugly things while also developing your technical skill. But beyond this, so far my self directed study days have been one of the most beneficial areas of my research, as Ive found that reading and looking online can make you feel somewhat disconnected from the material that your looking at.

Day 10 - 10/03/22

While I started the week very motivated and willing to put in all my time directly into producing samples and physical pages, this has halted a little in the second half of this week. I can mostly attribute this to the project proposal being due on Monday: once staring it earlier this week I realised that my project was simply not well enough researched, so I had to put my foot on the breaks and go back to the foundations of my project and get back into the brainstorming phase. Consequently I spent more time looking at visual artists and textiles designers (as there was a gap in my research here). I know I will be attending the British Museum on Saturday, so i can get some more historical research involved. I desperately need more primary research in my work but I’m a little unsure of what to include: I know I want to interview my Grandma, but I have to write questions and decide how to conduct an interview so I have not yet done this.

I went more into depth with the resreach I did today: I wrote a lot about the Louise Bourgeoise exhibiton I attended a couple of days ago and started to write a list of different resreach that I might complete moving forward (looking at a variety of media and resources).

I think I should be careful of being too self critical at this stage, as ultimately I had a very productive and motivated week: hopefully I can keep this up moving forward. The quantity of my reflection for this week alone is a testament to the quantity and quality of work Ive completed: I have lots to talk about and reflect on.

Day 11 - 11/03/22

Louise Bourgeoise Exhibition: ( attended on the 9th of march)

I realised that I had completely forgotten to write a reflection on this piece of research I did, and I think it would be beneficial to go back and do so, because it’s inspired me massively. I wrote a large amount on my workflow reflection page regarding the exhibition because I found it so revealing of what I want to do with my project. I brought a sketchbook with me to the exhibition to truly allow me to engage with the exhibition: I used a mix of mediums and spent no more than 5 minutes on any drawing: in my opinion though there’s no better way to truly observe art than drawing it in this way. In the coming week I’m going to attempt to emulate some of Bourgeoise’s techniques in my work: her figure studies and materiality resonated with my deeply and studying her will hopefully broaden my skillls within textiles. Though I’m now more settled in FT, I still feel wildly lacking in skill level compared to my peers, so paying closer attention to the successes of infamous textile artists that I admire, is something I will continue to do in order to learn more skills myself. Though I think the exhibition is also a reminder that I am a skilled fine artists and I should honour this more in my FT work: Bourgeoise does this well in her exhibitions; her creations feel dynamic, stylised and are easy to draw because they feel composed and curated (like fine art). I want to be able to achieve a similar thing.

Day 12 - 12/03/22

British Museum

Reflections 3

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