Week 1- Initial Research

This week was the launch of the new project brief. We were given the option of 4 starting points for our research tasks. I chose the brief Urban Influences. I started my project by gathering as much research as I could. I started first looking online to find a wide variety of inspirational images. These would create the starting points for creating my drawings. After collecting images online I thought it would be a good idea to gather my own first hand research. I looked at my own surroundings and started by walking around Manchester taking my own pictures of things that I found interesting in the urban landscape. I have started creating a variety of drawings based on my initial research. I have tried using a variety of media in my work but I feel like I should try some more experimental techniques. Below are some examples of my initial research.

Manchester Cotton Board- The Manchester Art Gallery

During my summer when I returned to Manchester, I visited the Manchester Art Gallery to view a textiles exhibition. The exhibition was based on British fashion design using cotton in the 1950’s. Particularly looking at the cotton board based in Manchester.

The cotton board in Manchester was an organization set up in the 1940 to oversee and promote British cotton manufacturing. The best way for them to promote British cotton was to have it used by the fashion industry. Cotton at this time was viewed mainly as a hardwearing and washable fabric, this made it perfect for things such as children’s clothes, work wear, men’s shirts and underwear. The cotton board were trying to secure a place for cotton in the fashion industry. They planned to do this by using it in the evening gown and cocktail dress market. They enlisted the best British fashion designers of the time to create these new high-end dresses using British cotton.

From visiting this exhibition I couldn’t believe that the stunning designs that were created were actually all made from cotton. I didn’t realise the different possible outcomes you can get from cotton. Personally when I previously thought of cotton I also saw it as a hardwearing everyday clothing material. But now after seeing it in this more elegant and sophisticated way I have realised that cotton is a much more versatile fabric than I once thought.

I was particularly interested in the prints on the garments. I was surprised at how well the prints worked with the fabric. Personally if I was printing I would usually use a lighter and more elegant fabric for a dress but after this I now think that I want to be more experimental with the different fabrics and printing techniques that I could use. I find what the fashion designers have created using only the cotton is quite inspiring. Here are some images I have taken of the garments in the exhibition.

Daniel Buren Exhibition- Baltic Gateshead

Whilst I was at home in Newcastle for my summer I visited The Baltic Center for Contemporary Arts in Gateshead. I was very excited to go and view their current Daniel Buren exhibition. I feel very privileged to have seen his work first hand as to many he is considered as France’s greatest living artist and one of the most important and influential figures in contemporary art in the last 50 years. 

In the1960s Buren developed a form of conceptual art, which he called a ‘degree zero of painting’, creating works which draw attention to the relationship between art and context. Buren abandoned traditional painting methods and created an 8.7 cm wide vertical stripe, which he used as a visual tool to help him create his work. Made out of different materials the stripes appear in his interventions in museums and galleries. For almost 4 decades he has chosen to work in situ, responding to a particular location and colouring the spaces in which they are created.

While the stripes have become a recognisable and intrinsic element of his practice, recently his works have become more sculptural and architectural in form, experimenting with the use of light and colour.

I was mesmerized whilst walking around the exhibit by all of the colours and shapes that were created. I really like the variety of exhibition because it can look so different depending on where you stand or how the weather outside changes the way that it looks completely. I was really inspired by the whole exhibition by the way he works in such an unconventional way to create something truly magnificent and unique.

Here are some images of the exhibition that I have taken.