A2- Links with my Art and Textiles

Design brief

I have been approached by the independent boutique ‘Aqua Couture’ with stores in Leeds and London to design and create a one-off range of garments based on the architectural designs of certain buildings in Leeds. The shapes, colours, patterns and structures will be used in the design process to make sure the link is subtle but noticeable.
The designs must be unique and thought provoking. The garments will have a social conscience being constructed from mostly recycled materials depending on constraints. This will ensure sustainability and reduce environmental impact. I will choose one piece from the range to manufacture which will be shown in the fashion show opening the spring/summer eco-warrior collection at aqua couture. This means it must coincide with other designs the retailer sells and fit in with a similar theme.

The garment is targeted specifically at women aged 18-26 as the market for fashionable, recycled garments is lacking in this area and this is the age range Aqua couture supplies to. As the garment is going to be made mostly from recycled materials I will highlight this on all promotional graphics linked to my product to generate interest.

Outcome

This dress was inspired by the Corn Exchange in Leeds city centre. This relates to my art work because my coursework was all about blending the body with architecture. Now I have designed a dress to mix fashion with building design. The raw version of what the whole garment is designed frrom is shown on the right. This is used as my promotional graphic for the project.

My art work influences the work that I do in textiles alot. This is mainly in the presentation of my designs and folder work. Art teaches you alot of helpful tips in presenting work.

Art has also led me to realise how Art Deco this garment is, from the inspiration of the Crysler building in New York. The two subjects work hand in hand with giving a borader knowledge of design and using creative media. I am sure that without one I would not have achieved so well in the other.

I have found the study of buildings and architecture very interesting this year and I am very excited about studying architecture in full next year. Besides this I will miss both my textiles and art lessons incredibly much.

Thank you so much Mr Low, Mr Green and Miss Sadler for been the best art teachers I could have hoped for!

Year 13 EXAM- Exploration and Discovery

Using brief to gain ideas

The brief is 'Exploration and Discovery'. From this I decided to look into the exploration into the mind and discovery becoming insane. I had the idea of looking into the progression to insanity focussing on a idea relating to the poem Miss Havisham by Carol Anne Duffy which I studied in year 11 English.

Beloved sweetheart bastard. Not a day since then

I haven’t wished him dead. Prayed for it

so hard I’ve dark green pebbles for eyes,

ropes on the back of my hands I could strangle with.

Spinster. I stink and remember. Whole days

in bed cawing Nooooo at the wall; the dress

yellowing, trembling if I open the wardrobe;

the slewed mirror, full-length, her, myself, who did this

to me? Puce curses that are sounds not words.

Some nights better, the lost body over me,

my fluent tongue in its mouth in its ear,

then down till I suddenly bite awake. Love’s

hate behind a white veil; a red balloon bursting

in my face. Bang. I stabbed at a wedding-cake.

Give me a male corpse for a long slow honeymoon.

Don’t think it’s only the heart that b-b-b-breaks.

Taking My photos using inspiration.

I have always found this a very poweful poem and decided that it would make a good piece of art work. The starting point for this project for me, like many other projects, was in taking my photos. I managed to source a distressed wedding dress which was ideal and I think it really makes the pictures what they are. I went to a dis-used lorry park in the place of a demolished factory. I wanted the photos to look aged and rotting. the slime on the wall worked perfectly. As shown in my previous project I have an interest in geometric pattern so I chose to incorporate this into this art piece with the white tiled wall in the background. This also gives a clinical apperance which some would associate with mental asylums and prison cells.

To make the character look even more insane I set up a living room in this rotting area to give the impression that these are the horrible conditions she lives in in reality and in her mind. I places a mirror in the background which has many connotations to insantity, self-worth, ageing and is in the poem.
The photos are taken with low exposure to make them look darker and even more depressing and emotionally dark. My model had very dark make-up on to excentuate her cheek bones and to set her eyes deeper into her head. All to make her look aged and fragile.
The most successful images are where my model really let go and tried to be as insane as possible. The tension in the fingers and the deeply pained expression is quite disturbing to look at. When she actually screamed I got the most genuine feeling in the still. A few photos are shown below:
Her husband has died and her baby is gone. She is living in a dream world trying to keep the memories alive. I am depecting the time that she realises that it is not real life. She is in deep pain and defence.

Art History relating to my work

Before continuing with this project I decided to study 'The woman with the crow' by Picasso. This shows something that I want to portray. This frail old woman is protecting and showing affection to a bird which symbolises death and bad omens. This is an eary painting as the two things don't match and have a strange feel of disjointed connection. Sinister hidden details give a feeling of insanity. Its not always very apparent untill you notice it. The crow is similar to the doll in my photos. The doll has no hair and is quite damaged but in alot of images the woman shows alot of attachment to it.

The colouring in the work by Picasso is of interest to me as sets a mood I desire to also set. This is with the grey tones of the face and deep shading in the recesses.

I found the image to the right on the internet. It is by Bernado Strozzi and titled 'Old woman at the mirror'. It is hard to tell in this image whether the woman is looking at herself with dissapointment at her loss of youth. She still dresses up glamorously but knows she doesnt look heself anymore. Or whether she is admiring herself and is full of pride. I think that the worry in the eyes and symbolism of the flowers refers to the first idea. The mixture of the mirror and the decadent outfit relates well to my photos and theme. I made a copy for the old womans connection in the mirror with carbon paper and ink.

Francis Bacon was an obvious artist to make connections to. His screaming pope series depicts the same emotions I wanted to show in my outcome. I have done a copy to the right. Everything in this painting screams insanity to me. The dark background, the frame around the body, how the pope is clutching onto his arm rests, and of course the face. Also the vertical lines (along with the frame) give an idea of a cage. The man is trapped, maybe in his own mind. The colours in this are very interesting. The brash contrasting tones add to the crazy feel and the dark background gives the impression of lurking secrets and a dark mind and soul. It almost looks as though the pope is on a rollacoaster (not something you see everyday) and it becomes quite funny when you look at it for a while.

I have also looked briefly at the artist Sally mankus, Quinten Massys and Edward Kienholz.

Sally mankus is good at showing ageing and decay of objects which seem to have a sentimental value. This is similar to my dipiction of the tatty wedding dress and links into the location and set up of my photos. She uses food in her work for example the biscuits on the table in the image to the left. This links well to the line about the wedding cake in the poem. Also sally mankus is an installation artist which links in well with my final outcome.

One image I have found by Quinten Massys shows an ugly deformed old woman. She is dressed well but her face almost makes her look like a demon. The appearance of age and uglyness fits into my work well.

Edward Kienholz is also an installation artist who has quite a quirky nature. One piece called the Wait, shown on the right, is something similar to what I want to portray and is linked almost perfectly to the poem. The elderly are just waiting to die. Especially in the case of my character where hur husband has died and her baby is gone and she can not see any way of living normally anymore so has turned to insanity to try and re-live her past. The moment I want to show is when she realises that this is not real life. The clocks for faces is an interesting feature of Kienholzs' work.

Developing my idea

From my photos I created a few pieces of art work in the progression to my final outcome idea these are shown below.

The piece of work on the right is an oil pastel copy of one of my Photographs. The interesting thing about this image is the way she is stretching the veil over her face. In the copy it almost looks as though she is pulling the skin on her face, once again relating back to insanity. It is done on some brown card which is torn and burnt at the edges to give an aged look. The only problem I can see with this work is that it all looks too neat and not dark enough in colour or emotion. I have learnt from this as is shown in my next images.

The piece of work on the left is an acrylic copy of one of my images. I have excentuated the sickly colours in the dress. The image is painted in a mirror frame which, as mentioned earler, has many connotations to insanity and dual personality. I also reflects back to the art history of the old woman looking in the mirror. The thick frame makes her look trapped and enclosed. This pose is defensive as she is hiding behind the veil and clutching this as well as her fake baby. 

I wanted to show the progression to insanity so I painted a series of 3 faces from the photos I have taken. (Below) They are painted in more detail on the face but I wanted to keep the hair rough and messy, she is crumbling around the edges. It is painted on corrugated plastic which bends and folds in interesting ways. Also, it gives a nice background striped texture and the semi-translucent is an interesting feature. I have closen to use sepia tones to give the look of aged and yellowed, old photographs.

 The piece to the right is painted on the underside of a table which gave an interesting texture to paint on. This was rough and very absorbant. Once again I have put alot of work into bringing forward the sickly colours in the dress. Because the topic of the work is so not sweet, the colours are quite contrasting and eary. I have used the inspiration of Picassos work to give the face a grey tone. I have also used Bacons vertical lines giving the feeling of prison bars. In this case, because they are applied with wax it also gives an aged look. This is something that Mankus does in her work.

The pose is mysterious but the strong connection in the eyes almost beckons the viewer.

 The piece of work on the left is drawn on some old-lady style floral wallpaper. I have burnt the edges to, once again age and distress the work. Burning is a symbol of destruction and something I think links to the loss of memories and the loss of her own sanity.

ICT manipulation 

The Image on the left uses the idea of reflection and distortion through multiple personalities. The Piece on the right shows the spinster fading out of existance whilst desperatly screaming and clutching onto her life. The image below is showing the scene of the cracked building blocks as her mind with all of the multiples of herself living inside it. This brings acrss the idea of schitzophrenia or a bi-polar personality.

The Exam and final outcome

I have been very lucky in being given the option to complete this piece of work on the wall of the inside of a white tiles cupboard in my school. I decided to use the image that had most overall raw emotion so this is the image of my model screaming. The progression of my work is shown below, I completed all painting in the first 2 days of work.

 I am overwhelmed by the final result of this project. The impact on the veiwer is sinister and frightning. Since it has been completed I have seen loads of people looking in saying how scary it was. This is great as I now know that I have achieved what I set out to do. I have installed a floral curtain wich is something which may be seen typically in an old womans house. I also spray painted a little round table to look old and distressed. I also edged this in the same fabric as the curtain. There is an old fashioned lamp on the table which casts and eary light on the cupboard when viewed from the outside. I have applied some old fashioned wallpaper to the tiles and have distressed this by tearing it and dripping paint down it. This has given a similar effect to the Screaming Pope by Francis Bacon. The vertical lines give an impresion of prison bars. She is trapped inside her cosy living room/a prison cell/a mental asylum/her own mind. All of the objects in the room give an impression that they have been there for years and years, completely untouched. Like she is afraid of moving anything incase she loses her memories. She is in a confined space so it gives a deeper impression of being trapped. I have painted the figure with excentuated colours once again to give a sickly sweet appearance in contrast to the dark mood. I have exaggerated the shading of the darker tones to make it look like she has a small light source. This also matches the positioning of the lamp quite well. I have made the face a grey/purple shade after studying the Picasso image above. She already looks half dead. The eyes are blackened out in the photo which has worked well in the final image. If the eyes are said to be te gateway to the soul then her soul is dark, empty and cold.

My final outcome is very expressive and moving to the viewer. The expression and body language is almost disturbing to look at and after spending about 10 hours stairing at it I know it can also make you feel like your going insane too. The pain and tourture within this woman is very apparent. It is haunting and spooky.

I couldn't be more happy with the outcome.

Year 13 Life drawing

Cross sectional split on page to distort image in chalk and charcoal (30mins) A2

Warm toned oil pastel life drawing of woman on back (40mins) A2

Oil pastel drawing of woman sitting.
 Drawn over masking tape which I removed to drip paint down the image. A2 

Bauhaus method of drawing.
Drawing by indicating changes in direction with dots then joining them together.
Charcoal drawing from life. (30 mins) A2

Black and white pencil life drawing (15 mins) A5

Moonlit style chalk and charcoal sleeping man. (35mins) A2

Black and white acrylic painting of sitting woman (30mins) A2

Chalk and charcoal high contrast drawing of sitting woman (25mins) >A2

5 different one minuet poses of one man in black pencil. (5x1min) A3

Moon lit dead pose of man in chalk and charcoal. (35mins) A2

Chalk and charcoal drawing of manikin from life (20mins) A2

Year 13- Faces and Buildings

I was given a brief of the Human body and could take this is any direction I desired. Due to my interest in architecture and buildings I decided to combine the two.

Gaining Initial Inspiration and Ideas

   My first inspiration for this was found when visiting Cartwright hall art gallery in Bradford. There was an exhibition on by Anne Desmet. I was very inspired by the way she used tiny built structures to then build and overall larger image and it was only that you looked closer at the image that you were able to see the details. I was also very interested in her use of reflection with in her art. as the image above on the right shows, Desmet has a skill for making industrial building work appear in an organic way and this is very suitable for my project.



Oxtoby face made with buildings

 

From this I drew my own slightly different version using an Oxtoby image and my own imagination for the buildings. this is shown on the right.

This idea made me want to have faces hidden within the architecture and I was aiming to create something ambiguous where you had to stand back to look at the image to see the face



Oxtoby face hidden in geometric shapes



I decided to look into the idea of faces hidden in geometric designs. The image above on the left shows my practice of this in oil pastel. I feel this looks quite futuristic and angular and I really like how the face becomes camouflage into the background. Once again I used  an Oxtoby image for the face. this is because I feel Oxtoby shows huge quantities of expression and emotion in his art. This is something I want to portray.

Because this images structural design has been made up with my imagination I decided to look into true building designs to use and camouflage my faces into. Below is a picture generated by carbon papering images of my school at different angles on some triangular graph paper. I added to this vortex of confusion by layering splashes and streaks of paint over the lines.

School carbon paper images

 The image below is a copy of a piece by the up and coming artist Luke Rudolf. This is a further development of how to make a face hidden in geometric designs. This plays on the psychological fact that humans will always look for faces within shapes because it is their first instinct. This is because a babies first sight to trust is their mothers face and since then it becomes instinctive to look for one.



Luke Rudolf copy



Taking My photos 

I decided to take some photos of my sister dresses up with face paint on in a geometric design .  The theme of the photographs was on fear. As I had the idea of having faces hidden in the geometric designs I had to think why the person would be hiding. The reason people use camouflage is usually due to the fear of being found. I wanted to show fear in my pictures and give the effect of hiding. I also decided to use aggression as this can come out when a person or animal is afraid.

 

 Developing Ideas From my photos

I then began to experiment with how I was able to turn these photos into artwork. I have made a pencil drawing copy of the image and decided to continue the lines painted onto the face. This was in an attempt to hide and camouflage the face into the background. I think that to improve this I should continue to fill the background with a dark shade to really hide the face.

 Using the inspiration by the artist Caragh Thuring, who's art copy is shown on the right, I created a hidden painting of my face. I continued the lines of the face paint and formed a caged effect. This was also inspired by steel construction in buildings. The bright colours add to the futuristic appearance and disguise the face further.

Willem de Kooning copy

Willem de Kooning seemed like a good artist to look into as he often hides the figure withing shapes and colours. on the left there is a copy I have painted with acrylic with the image I have copied alongside. I like this method of painting and the obscure and hidden effect it gives however I want to use shapes which are more geometrical with an architectural nature.

 

 



Yuri Pavolich Annekov

I found the Artist Yuni Pavlolich Annekov who is a Russian cubism and futurism artist. To the right is an art copy of a piece of his work. this is very good for my theme as it uses architectural shapes to disguise the face and uses many angles of the face in one image. I find this very interesting. Making this painting also allowed me to do very skilled work which I enjoyed a lot. The image I copied is shown with other work by Annekov.

This piece of work made me want to generate my own version. I took some photos of my dad dressed in a suit and a bowler hat with the architectural shapes of my house in the background. The outcome of a trial piece is shown on the right. Instead of making it completely a painting I used the original photos slashed and mixed different versions togteher then connected them with my own painting. I also looked into other ways of distorting the face by cutting up photographs. The other image on the right bottom is a mixed media piece blending faces and architecture with a range from photos, pencils and pens.

I wanted to look more closely into architecdtural design so created this collage of buildings in leeds I have photographed. It is inspired by the Bauhaus movement. I felt I needed some skill drawing of real architecture so I have drawn this pen copy of the clock in the town I live in. I especially looked into how line shape influences the texture of  the image.

Taking more photos

I was extremely happy with the outcome of these images. The main aim was to give a sheek editorial look with alot of geometric lines framing a face with a geometric haircut and outfit. The lighting gives a feel of drama and makes it easier to paint. I now needed to work out how to turn these into a piece of art work. An oil pastel copy is to the left and a pencil drawing is to the right. I painted the faces over a city scape of Leeds (original sent to manchester university) This is shown below:

To the right is a mixes media piece of art using external construction to build the architectural design out. I initially painted the faces leaving masking taped lines for more geometrics. I went over some areas with oil pastel and white spirit before cutting cadboard into regular shapes to stick on the painting. I applied cut corrugated plastic to the surface to give more depth to the piece. This links back to my idea of hiding faces and bodies in architectural design. I am using these geometric shapes as camouflage.

For my portfolio for architecture at Sheffield University I had to create a piece of work entitles 'My street' The outcome is shown on the left. I came about this idea when looking at the connection people have to their houses. Doris is a lady who lives on my stret in some really ugly council owned flats. When I visited her I was actually impressed with how cleverly the flats had been put together to be incredibly space conscious. It led me to realise that architecture is just as much about practicality than interesting and innovative design.

In my personal study I have studied many fascinating modernist architects such as Daniel Liebeskind, Zaha Hadid and norman foster. As well as looking at the work by Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers and Frank lloyd Wright. A few images of their work are shown below.

I then decided to focus more on hiding the face in geometric shapes. Cubism seemed like a useful art movement for me to look into due to the simplification of the human form by straightening curves to straight edges and only using some main details of what the artist can see. To the left is a copy of on of my own photographs of the girl with the frame. I found that getting a cubist impression on your work is done by giving hints of the emotion through the complicated angles of the facial muscles. This is especially apparent in the eyes and the lips. The image I have done shows worry. I have learnt these methods by looking in to the work by Piccasso, Delaunay and Leger.

 

Using inspiration from the Bauhaus and Russian constructivist movement I created  a series of card structures. The aim of this was for me to get a feel for what making architectural models is like. From my research into architects i found that a lot of their work is based on one rough initial shape idea and the building design and functional features comes after. These acted like my initial shape ideas. It was very interesting to work out how to play with the angle positioning to get the best outcome. Photographing these objects with a spotlight gave me some very interesting stills. The shaddows and shading on the objects is ome of these photos are shown below. I made 4 card structures in total and one using a clay mould with plaster of paris.

To analyse the light reflection and form of these confusing shapes I copied a selection below. On one of them I have merged together the same shape at different angles. This gives a confusing vortex of shape and shaddow. Playing with the dimensions of space and light by just changing a few angles was highly interesting.

 I have also made a face out of wooden blocks. This brings the aspect of pure construction back to the initial idea of blending architecture with the humand body and form of the face. This is shown above.

I copied an image of a Michael Angelo sculpture but I have cut the details into angular shapes. This is related back to the work by the cubist artists. This tought me about how to simplify the complicated features and angles of the face into a more basic design whilst still getting across the same image. This is shown in the area around the eyes and nose as well as the flowing beard.

Below Are some ICT photo edits which are all attempting to blend the face with the buildings in the background.

All of these images are made with this inspiration of this image found in a Sunday Times magazine. I then decided that this would be good to make a lino print with. I would have used my own designs however it was really important to get the definite straight lines of the original.

A selection of outcomes of my lino print are ahown below. I feel the most successful of the lino prints use a lighter colour for the first print and have the colours built up in a tonal sequence. Although it was interesting to stray from this rule and for example, print onto blue paper.

Scream

I felt as thought I had used the feature of blending the face withing buildings and architectural shapes so I decided to look at it from a different angle. I though of new ways that I could incorporate geometric shapes into the body and came across the idea of either screaming or crying out the angular piences. The scream seemed to be a better idea to me as it would link back to the Russian Constructivist movement with the communist posters of girls shouting for example the Rodchenko on the left. I thought that the angular shapes could have a similar meaning to the constructivist pieces. She is shouting a message. The message I wanted to be souting would have to be, in a way, violent and angry if i wanted to make the shapes pointy.
A selection of photos are shown below.

From these images I did a series of copies in oil pastel, arcylic paint and on an etching. The images of these are shown below.

 I experimented on how the geometric shapes could come out of the mouth to make it look like they are visual images of a sound. I really liked the 3-dimensional shapes but prefered it in a triangular form.

I was inspired by the work of Arne Quinze. He makes fluid 3D structures from match stick like forms. One of his pieces of work is shown on the right.

The outcome is shown below. I am very happy with the impact it brings to the veiwer. I faded the colour of the triangular shapes from black to white. This is because what she is saying is becoming diluted the further it spreads out. It is also heard quieter and makes less impact when not given directly from the source.