Assignment 2: Stage 3 Recording colours accurately – exercise 3
This exercise was similar to the previous one, though we used a postcard (or image) instead of a piece of fabric. we had to mix the colours and paint them to record the colours used in the image/postcard
this was done using watercolours also, as it’s all I had with me at the time:
Assignment 2: Stage 3 Recording colours accurately – exercise 2
For this exercise, we had to find a piece of fabric, stick it to a piece of paper, then mix colours to match the fabric border and paint next to the fabric to try extend the fabric colours onto the page, seamlessly.
I enjoyed this exercise. though the hardest part was mixing enough colour to use on the whole border. I found that I had to mix some of them more than once and then ran out of paint. so, it’s not perfect. but it was a good exercise to try an match the colours as closely as possible
here’s the fabric and painted border. I used watercolours at first as this is all I had with me
here’s the paper I used to test the colour mixing:
Assignment 2: Stage 3 Recording colours accurately – exercise 1
This exercise involved mixing colours—from page 62 of class notes:
You can dilute colours with white to obtain paler tints.
initially I used watercolours as this is all I had available to me at the time.
mixing colours — guache
then, later I repeated the exercise with gouche paints.
for some of them I mixed the colours directly onto the paper:
A2: Stage 2 Colour perception – exercise 2
In this exercise we had to cut different coloured squares and put smaller grey coloured squares in the centre of each larger square.
A2: Stage 2 Colour perception – exercise 1
In this exercise we had to cut different coloured squares and put smaller squares of a single colour in the centre of each larger square. to see how placing one colour against another can change the perception of the colours.
Assignment 2: Stage 1 Introduction and preparation
In this exercise we were introduced to the colour wheel as well as tone and saturation. We had to paint / create colour wheels. it was a good chance to practice mixing primary colours to make secondary colours.
making a colour wheel
primary colours:
primary & secondary colours:
painted onto a coaster:
I recall earlier this year there was a large discussion about “International Art English” (IAE) on some of the mail lists – on empyre-l, nettime-l, and articles on triple canopy and hyperallergic & the guardian newspaper site.
there was a conference held this year on the topic also — “Critical Language — A forum on International Art English”. I’ve posted the blurb below for reference. I’ve asked them if there was a recording of the sessions to listen to. will add links if they reply.
some other articles about it:
users guide to international art english — on the Guardian website
When Artspeak Masks Oppression — on hyperallergic
International Art English — on triple canopy
Grayson Perry talks about it in the 2013 Reith Lectures
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Critical Language
A forum on International Art English
155 Freeman Street, Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, April 6, 2013, 4:00–6:00 p.m.
$5 suggested donation
http://canopycanopycanopy.com/programs/84
“International Art English,” published in Triple Canopy in July, has circulated widely and generated debates about the relationship between language, legibility, and power in the art world. The authors of the article, Alix Rule and David Levine, analyze a corpus of press releases circulated by e-flux in order to describe the language of contemporary art. They trace the particularities of this language to English translations of critical texts published in the 1970s in journals like October. The widespread use of the Internet has, they argue, accelerated the development of IAE, turning it into a kind of lingua franca; the proliferation of international variations—French IAE, Scandinavian IAE, Chinese IAE—ends up diluting the authority of critics, “traditionally the elite innovators of IAE.” Given these developments, Rule and Levine ask: “Can we imagine an art world without IAE? Without its special language, would art need to submit to the scrutiny of broader audiences and local ones? Would it hold up?”
With this forum, Triple Canopy hopes to provoke a critical response to the article, consider questions and perspectives eschewed by the authors, and solicit the perspectives of those who work with (or resist working with) IAE, whether they are critics, curators, educators, or publicists. Specifically, the discussion will focus on the political implications and uses of IAE, within and outside of the art world. “Thanks to International Art English, the artist can still appear vaguely subversive and the host state committed to openness, a mutual saving of face,” writes Mostafa Heddaya in a recent essay for Hyperallergic. How does such “critical” language direct attention away from the suppression of political dissent, especially when employed by institutions—and their proxies—operating in environments marred by human-rights violations, such as China and the UAE (or even the US)? How does obfuscation slip into propaganda? And do those who regularly produce IAE experience the language as burdensome or liberating, a welcome tool for the diffusion of power or another step toward a global standard of ambiguity and opacity?
The forum will be facilitated by Nathalie Anglès, Wenzel Bilger, Lauren Cornell, Mariam Ghani, Mostafa Heddaya, David Levine, Alexander Provan, Yael Reinharz, Alix Rule, Lumi Tan, and Hrag Vartanian.
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I had a listen to the first lecture of Grayson Perry – The Reith Lectures 2013 a couple of weeks ago. I loved his comments and disregard (?) of the artworld and his analysis of International Art English language.
since coming across this, I heard also that Grayson Perry and Brian Eno are working together. I can’t wait to see/hear what comes of this collaboration!
the BBC blurb:
“The award-winning artist Grayson Perry presents the 2013 BBC Reith Lectures, titled Playing to the Gallery. Across four programmes he discusses what makes him an artist, the limits of contemporary art, how to gauge the quality of new artworks and the future of the avant-garde.”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/reith – podcasts of the lectures & related material
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03969vt – Democracy Has Bad Taste: Grayson Perry: Playing to the Gallery: 2013 Episode 1 of 4
I see that the first lecture is also available on youtube
Grayson Perry- Reith Lecture No.1: Democracy Has Bad Taste http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtehJ3O3vMk
Textiles 1 — A Creative Approach — Assignment 1
student name: Kathleen (Kath) O’Donnell
student number: 511607
Assignment 1 — Reflective Commentary
(based on assessment criteria points)
also available as a downloadable PDF file — 77Kb, 2 pages
Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills materials, techniques, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills
Whilst working on the class exercises, I learnt many new techniques, including mark-making with various materials, hand embroidery stitches and how to do machine embroidery. I began to see patterns and marks whilst I walked around the city, and began to see shapes that could look interesting when stitched. Once I learnt a few embroidery stitches, I began to see them everywhere in the streets, in my hotel rooms and in in ordinary, pataphysical objects. I’m still working on my sketching, as I still don’t feel as confident doing this, but I enjoy taking photographs of different patterns instead. The class exercises did help in “freeing up” my drawing skills and ways of thinking.
Quality of Outcome content, application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas
I am happy with how some of the embroidery / stitching mark making exercises turned out, and the one’s I don’t think are very good I am treating as practice exercises in freeing up my thinking and work leading up to the final samples. In a couple of the exercises I couldn’t stop at the sample — I had to finish a piece as I wanted to see how it would look and if I could manage to translate the image in my head into a finished piece. I think I need to practice presentation of the work on my blog — in most cases I posted photographs or scans of them and often they are too large for the page, and there is little text describing them. I feel I need to work more on writing descriptions of the work and techniques.
Demonstration of Creativity imagination, experimentation, invention, development of a personal voice
I tried to experiment with some of the mark-making techniques in the exercises using paints, paper, and threads and stitches. I was following the guidelines of the exercises and some of the books and websites I’d visited, but these did lead to some experimentation that I thought of myself, such as the final embroidery exercises where I experimented with circles and stitches to create small art-samples.
Context reflection, research, critical thinking (learning log)
I enjoyed researching different artists and noticing the strokes in their paintings, such as the short lines that make up lines and swirls in Van Gogh’s Night Paintings series. Also I read about some of the female artists from the Bauhaus Weaving Workshop and some of Paul Klee’s work from the late 1930s – early 10490s which I think would be able to be represented in stitch as there are very pronounced lines and shapes attuned to stitches and blocks of colour in the background that could be represented by swatches of fabric layers. More recent embroidery artists I read about include Sue Stone, Junko Oki, Audrey Walker of the 62 Group in the UK. Once again, I feel I need to work more on writing up my ideas after reading about other artists’ work so I can note what catches my eye about their work.
Sketchbook
Sketchbook — downloadable PDF version (up until November 2013 – 35Mb – 50 pages)
Class exercises
here are a couple of ways to view my class exercises:
1. View or Download PDF File of all my class exercises (blog pages) : Assignment1 – class exercises and blog sample work — downloadable PDF file (PDF file ::: 9Mb ::: 113 pages)
or
2. View directly on my blog via the following links:
Project 1 — Making marks
Stage 2 — Making marks in an expressive way
Exercise 1
Stage 3 — Using marks to create surface textures
Exercise 1
Stage 4 — Working from your sketchbooks
Review
Project 2 — Developing your marks
Stage 2 — Exploring marks and lines through stitch techniques
Stage 4 — Preparing to create textures
A Creative Approach — Project 2 Developing your marks — Stage 6 — Using thread and yarns to create textures
In this exercise we had to use different threads and yarns to create textures.
front side:
rear side:
I tried another – with different layers of fabric, different stitches and different/multiple threads of varying weights.
close ups:
rear side:
I had made some small sketches (finding I like the A5 size, small but handy to carry around), so the stitching above is based on some of the shapes in these sketches.
Reflection:
• Can you begin to see the relationship between stitching and drawing?
yes, definitely. I can see it more and more since working on these exercises. I think I have even started to draw/sketch with stitching in mind.
• Were you able to choose stitches which expressed the marks and lines of your drawings?
yes, I learnt a few stitches including running stitch, back stitch, blanket stitch, stem stitch, chain stitch, cretan stitch, satin stitch and was able to adapt some of these to match the marks in some of my sketches.
• Did you choose the right source material to work from?
I think I chose the correct sketches to work from. though they were new sketches that I’d drawn after doing some of the embroidery exercises previously. I’m not sure that most of my previous source material (mark making exercises) were suited to stitching — I can see how some of them might work well as stitched pieces, but not all of them.
• Do you think your sample works well irrespective of the drawing? Or is your sample
merely a good interpretation of your drawing?
yes, I like my sample as a standalone piece even if it wasn’t based on some of the shapes in the mark making sketches. I think it has interesting shapes and styles. I tried a few different stitches and threads of varying weights and colours which I think adds interest to the piece and makes a person look more closely at it to see the detail and to see the mistakes/hand made properties of it.
• Which did you prefer – working with stitch to create textures or working with yarns
to make textures? Which worked best for you and why?
I preferred working with stitches to create textures as I could layer the stitches and combine them in different shapes and patterns. I only had limited materials/threads with me (whilst traveling) so I felt my combinations of different yarn types was more limiting. also, some of the couching using gold foil paper was so delicate that the foil ripped easily which made it harder to work with.
• Make some comments on individual techniques and sample pieces. Did you
experiment enough? Did you feel inhibited in any way? Fix them into your sketchbook
if you want to or start a separate book of sample references.
my favourite technique was using blanket stitch in circles (based on Junko Oki’s work — though mine ended up looking different to hers). it was fun to stitch circles and change the direction of the stitch rows slightly so they were more organically aligned. I think I experimented with a few new stitches (new to me), but I probably could have tried more materials and threads. it’s just I was enjoying making the circles so much I didn’t worry too much about trying more threads (plus, the limited supply of them in my travel case).
• Do you prefer to work from a drawing or by playing with materials and yarns to
create effects? Which method produced the most interesting work?
I prefer to play with the materials, yarns and stitches and see what they lead me to rather than doing a sketch first. I think my casual experimentation worked best.
• Are there other techniques you would like to try? Are there any samples you would
like to do in a different way?
I’d like to try more Japanese darning and creating netting. with the samples, I’d make them similar again, though I would try having some as they are and others with more overlapping layers. I didn’t add too many layers to the samples at this stage because I liked how they turned out. but this means that I missed out on seeing how they would look with layered stitches on top of each other.
• Is there anything you would like to change in your work? If so, make notes for future
reference.
yes, add more layers, and try different sized circles. I’d like to try some netting also. and also a portrait, or image from a photo where I convert to greyscale/black&white and then enhance the outlines and try stitch that. ie something more realistic.