Posted by Agnes Iley , Sunday, January 23, 2011 10:28 PM

Tutor report form
Overall Comments

You have responded very well to the assignment requirements, Agnes. You have shown a growing ability to select appropriate and suitable starting points from which to develop your ideas and there is evidence of valuable experimentation with a range of techniques and processes. You have a developed good level of technical skills associated with dyeing and printing. The presentation of your work is orderly and progress is well documented in your learning log. It is always a pleasure to look at your work. I look forward to receiving your next assignment.

Feedback on assignment

Project 3: Colour

Your analysis of colour and colour relationships is accurate and perceptive. You are able to recognize subtle tonal differences and you articulate clearly the effects that colours have on one another when they are juxtaposed. I loved the way you tackled the fabric matching exercise. I initially had difficulty recognizing where one ended and the other began. When I looked closely,I could see that there is a slight graying of the paint tone. I’m sure this wasn’t there when the paint was still wet. Some of the difficulty arises because of the pigment in the paint and the fact that fabric printing ink, unlike paint, is absorbed into the fabric fibres and remains locked there.

The Kandinsky painting was a good choice. It made you analyse the colours very carefully and demonstrates the point that sometimes, an image can appear deceptively simple. You might like to look at Auguste Macke’s paintings. They have a similar quality in terms of subtle use of colour.

Funny that you should mention Auguste Mack. Although I didn’t really grow up with art, I remember that there was an outlet bookshop that used to sell folders with art prints. I got Auguste Macke’s prints and his paintings of horses were on my wall for a long time.
I do like his work, but there is something that annoys me about it too. He’s painted many ladies and they always feel so demure, maybe even sub servant. Always with the head bowed down, always very modest, never looking at you. Now this may have been a sign of the times he lived in, but makes me feel like I need to get out on the streets and demonstrate for these woman’s rights.

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In the colour moods and themes exercise, you made good use of the computer programme to quickly create a range of patterns with which to experiment. You were then able to focus on the colour dimension and allow this to dominate your thinking. It would be interesting to apply what you have learned in terms of colour and mood to commercially produced fabrics. To what extent are they really fit for the suggested use/environment?

That’s a very interesting train of thought, the application of colours and patterns in commercially produced fabrics. Interior design and fashion first spring to mind, but I am also thinking about commercial institutions that try to create an atmosphere with colour and patterns (and even smells), to get their customer in the mood to spend. I will need to dig a bit deeper into this, maybe incorporate in my next “Understanding the textile world”.

The coloured stitch sample was very interesting indeed. The use of complementary red/green maximized the contrast and remarkable differences were apparent in the blocked colour as opposed to line. You commented on the ochre colour which seemed to magically appear. Like you, I tried creeping up on it to catch it unawares, but every time it was there! It is a great example of optical colour mixing. If you mix the three primary colours, you get a brownish shade, not unlike ochre. By mixing primary red and secondary green (primary blue and primary yellow) you optically created ochre. Alchemy!

I never thought of that! You’ve solved the mystery!!!
Now this ofcourse asks for more experimentation yellow/ purple and blue/ orange.

Your pointillist sample was a labour of love and I appreciate how much time this would have taken. Did you subsequently discover who the painter was? The optical colour mixing is most obvious in the harmonious ranges i.e. blue/purple, orange/red. In other areas, the breaking down of colours into contrasting areas reminded me rather of Pop Art painters such as Andy Warhol. A great image with very expressive use of colour.

The ‘accidental shoe raises questions of different people’s perceptions of the same image. I looked at it and thought that it was landscape/rock strata. I never saw the shoe, only the build up of texture through line and shape! The combination of stitch and weave works well with this sample and you controlled the soft colours perfectly.

Understanding the textile world

 The textile piece you chose clearly has a very personal meaning for you. It’s interesting to speculate on the associations between textiles and memories.  What would people select if they were asked to identify textiles which defined certain events in their lives? Could be a great starting point for a series of related images. It would be good to research your textile a little more in terms of cultural significance. For example, are there certain traditional patterns used for some textiles? Are there common motifs or symbols reflected in other cultures e.g. the paisley or tear drop motif seen so much in Indian textiles and also Scottish textiles? You might try to have a look at the book suggested below.

I did try to find out more about the symbolism in Thai textiles, but didn’t get very far using just the internet. I must admit that although I’ve got a nice collection of textile art books, there are not (m)any about the history of textiles. So I really appreciate the book suggestion. It’s on order right now. And to get a little more “in touch” with the textile world I’ve also signed up for “Fiberarts”, I buy that magazine whenever I am in the US, and only just found out that it’s quite cheap to get a subscription in Europe and for “Textiel plus” a magazine that is published 4 times a year by the Dutch textile foundation. Hopefully that will help me find out about textile exhibitions before they’ve been and gone.


Project 4: Developing design ideas

 The first exercise gave you a chance to explore compositional elements and this stood you in good stead when selecting images for pattern manipulation. Your 88 butterfly was a modest image and I’m pleased that you didn’t go down the route of trying to represent it realistically. Your preparation work for this also demonstrated the power of different media to depict very different qualities e.g. the soft oil pastel and the more graphic torn paper collage. You chose well and the latter gave you a good starting point for the kaleidoscope programme. Having looked at the power of colour and mood to stimulate a feeling or connection, you demonstrated this admirably with the reference to your grand mother’s 1970s wall paper! I recognized the association immediately. It’s the brown and orange combination. However, when changed to the bright green it became a different image altogether.

 I liked the distorted image very much. It really did appear 3D. It also reminded me of Florentine or bargello canvas work although this is a much more formal and controlled textile technique. It also bore a resemblance to marbled paper. I wonder if you could use a similar technique on fabric? With the net overlay, it had a snakeskin quality. If you have time, I think you should try this on fabric and then work into the surface.

The final pattern moved further away from the original drawing and for me had other, very different associations. It reminded me of Gustav Klimt’s work. You also consider stitching into this piece. I think you should. Whilst you are at it, have a look at the work of Hundertwasser and Nikki de Saint Phalle. You may have to give up the day job!

If only….
I like Klimt’s work, but sometimes I find it a little too sweet.
But I love the naïve edginess of Hundertwasser  (I am probably describing this in words that make you cringe, I just never had to describe how I feel about artwork before). As for Nikki de Saint Phalle, her work represents one of live little disappointments. In Rotterdam, years ago, there were plans to build a museum about the workings of the human body. The museum was going to be inside a giant statue of a woman by Niki de Saint Phalle. I was so excited about this, couldn’t wait to see it! Until the people came up in arms, too expensive, ridiculous, horrible looking building, etc., I couldn’t believe it. The plans where trashed and I was highly disappointed.

Project 5: Painting and printing.

The fabric book was an inspired idea for presenting all the work in this section. Your green print demonstrated the power of a single motif used in a simple repeat. Further experimentation would be interesting to see how the feel of the pattern changed with say, a half drop repeat. You could also experiment with overprinting the image in a slightly different shade. However, this worked very well. The gold highlights and red stripes lifted the print further, emphasizing the rounded shapes.

The smaller experimental samples worked less well. The monoprint needed a greater contrast of line and the rice print could perhaps have been extended by the use of a second colour.

I agree with you, I’ve added them to show that I tried a wide variety of techniques and not all of them successfully. I will go back to these and try again. Especially the mono printing, I know there must be a good picture in there somewhere.

By contrast, the shibori was beautifully executed. Although you used black dye, you obtained muted greeny greys. The composition was tight and the dropped motif at the bottom right hand corner created a really exciting dynamic feel. I think this is a technique that you should go further with if you have the time. I kept thinking of rich mosaics, metallic threads. I could go on…

The window is a haunting piece and demonstrates the power of colour to affect the mood of a piece. You effectively combined a number of different techniques in the same sample and there is a strong feeling of directional light coming fro the left hand side. I was reminded of Edward Hopper’s paintings.

I also liked the lino cut. I wonder what this might look like if it was simplified slightly and then printed in the negative as well as positive?

I’ve been thinking about that too. This was a complicated picture. A negative and positive are very interesting. I was also thinking of maybe echoing two the same prints, slightly off set, almost like a shadow.

The blood red sky is a scary piece! It is atmospheric and menacing. Did you ever see Hitchcock’s film ‘The Birds’? The use of a touch of yellow was well judged. It provided a focus to the print motif.

I wanted this piece to be haunting, that’s why I found it important to get the right colour red for the sky. And yes I did think of Hitchcock’s birds while I was making this piece. At first I wasn’t sure about adding the beaks, so I cut a few out of paper and laid them down first. Then the decision was easily made.

The bleach discharge formed a good end piece to the fabric book. The regular repeat has a pleasing rhythm. You might take this further by offsetting or changing one motif in the same way you did with the shibori. I think it would benefit from a clearer focus in this context.

I would like to experiment further with the bleach, I did find it hard to control.
Even the thick household bleach is quite runny. But I was worried about thickening it, not sure about what chemical reactions this might have caused.
Also the speed of the discharge took me by surprise, I wasn’t finished yet with painting the last shapes or the first ones needed rinsing. With a bit more practice I can see some interesting gradients developing.



Learning logs/critical essays

Your learning log gives a very clear indication of your thinking and choices associated with the development of your work. You express some concern over limited or safe choice of fabrics.  You chose appropriately for the particular sample. I would urge you not to throw away samples. They are an important part of your work.

In terms of your doubts and uncertainties, we all have them! You are naturally an instinctive and intuitive worker. What you are gaining from this course is the ability to analyse what you are doing and why. Although you feel your ideas are already formed in your head, the process of working out how you are going to achieve this and the changes you will make along the way inevitably alter the final outcome. A good example of this is the way you tackled the pattern manipulation. I have already seen a change in the way you express your ideas in your log book since the last assignment. Your thinking about your work is beginning to change.

You are very honest about the time issue. It is very real for everyone and is one of the burdens as well as the joy of working with textiles. If you can spare the time and are happy, that’s great. I never have enough time to do everything I want to do.

Sketchbook

Your sketchbook is well integrated within your coursework. If you are intending submitting for assessment, I would try to extend this element if you can, to include additional work not directly associated with project development.

I am still very happy to support the submission of your work for assessment even at this early stage.

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