16/03/21

Introduction to our Final Major project - first day

My initial thoughts having looked at graduate work

My very initial thoughts about part 3 are that I would like to keep the topic of sustainability as a main concept in my Final Major project. I would like to further explore the natural processes I used in part 2 e.g. plant dying to change the surface colour and texture of a fabric. My contextual review was titled: The intertwining of the material and the living, where I explored my opinions on bioengineered materials, materials making use of surplus waste fibres and how plants could be integrated into fabrics. This is something that todays research on graduate work has made me think about. For example CSM graduate Seunghyun Yoo’s textile work titled Japanese Garden, which fuses plant life with textiles: https://showcase.arts.ac.uk/projects/2718/japanese-garden-seunghyun-yoo/cover. However this work has also made me think about the practicality of relating this sort of work to the real world. Does this sort of work have to be contextualised? Could it be activist art, a way of telling stories? It has also made me think about the practicalities of creating work that involves the growth of real life organisms. I would be relying on the plants to grow from my textile in order to achieve an outcome. What if this was unsuccessful? Seughyun Yoo talks about how she created kombucha leather and bioplastic. Were these the materials that her plants were grown from?

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Another CSM textile gradate: https://showcase.arts.ac.uk/projects/300/slimy-futures-laura-robens/cover Laura Robens also investigated biomaterials, but it was her use of natural dyeing processes and ion oxidation printing that caught my attention. Could these be processes I could investigate to change the surface qualities of my material? I thought it was particularly interesting how she had dyed her biomaterials with processes like indigo dyeing and madder root dyeing: https://robenslaura01.myportfolio.com/kombucha-fabric.

Eve Belle Wilson from last year’s final project foundation booklet also used these sort of rust printing techniques to create her final garment: https://issuu.com/csmtime/docs/fad_f_t_web

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Today has made me think about how I could be inspired by nature’s forms and shapes. Instead of using nature directly within my work, could I take inspiration from the colour, texture, shape and form within it to create an inspired outcome. Could this outcome be printed like RCA postgraduate student Meredith Wood’s work? Her work investigates the forms of algae and uses natural screen printing inks made form algae. This has made me think about how I could create prints that take inspiration from nature but unlike Meredith’s works, steers away from the idea of inventing something new e.g. a new dye, fabric ectra. https://wip2021.rca.ac.uk/students/meredith-wood

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Another project by Laura Robens investigated the forms of insect anatomy creating beautiful woven samples: https://robenslaura01.myportfolio.com/layers-up-cycled-woven-collection. Could I create these mesmerising rippling forms without using large equipment?

Could these be taken from inspiration of forms within nature. Could these forms be extracted to the point where they become just colours, textures and shapes, inspired by RCA student Amy Tidmarsh’s work that explores ‘What can we learn about how a body connects to an environment through functional textiles?’ https://wip2021.rca.ac.uk/students/amy-tidmarsh

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I have never really created a garment for the body, as throughout part 2 my investigation had been more about the textile becoming its own installation… Could a garment be something I could create in this project? Like RCA gradate Lisa Nauheimer’s raffia gown https://2020.rca.ac.uk/students/lisa-naunheimer. Could the materials I use be recycled, repurposed…?

Reflection

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