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PE Task 2

I started my project by gathering lots of visual research, not only from textile artists but also looking at gallery artists and designers. By gathering this visual research it helped me create my body of drawing work that would inspire my embroidery samples. Throughout this project I decided not to narrow my options down to one topic or theme. I continued to look at all of the visual research I had gathered and use the imagery or themes that inspired me most to influence my embroidery work. The main themes that I drew my inspirations from where graphs and charts that showed data, constellations and block lines influenced by the work of Tom Hackney and Mondrian.

One artist that I was particularly inspired by was Emma McNally. I think what first struck me most about her work was that it was all black and white. I thought that this was quite striking because I'm always more attracted to black and white work than coloured pieces. I also knew that I needed to keep a neutral colour palette for this project so I thought her work would be perfect for me to draw inspiration from.

I found this piece of artwork by her really inspiring because its based on constellations which I had already been researching before I had looked at her. What I found really interesting about this piece was how some of the white in the drawing is so crisp and clear and the other white is soft and blurry. I think the contrast between this crisp and soft white on such a dark and deep background creates so much depth within the piece that makes me want to keep looking at it further.

Whilst researching graphs and data I looked at different ways of gathering and collecting data and one person that really caught my eye was Etienne-Jules Marey. He was a scientist, physiologist and chronophotographer. He captured movement by taking and recording consecutive photographs. I found his work so interesting by the shapes he has captured through his photography showing the clear steps of movement that we over look until we see this broken down into steps.

Another theme that inspired me whilst researching data was the use and importance of straight lines to depict so many different things. I think my initial spark for this inspiration was looing at bar charts and line graphs but this led me to look at artists who used lines and blocks in their work. I first looked at the work of Tom Hackney who created his pieces based upon chessboard and moves made throughout a chess game. His work then reminded me of the Artist Mondrian who based his artwork on aerial views of the streets of New York city. I find both of these concepts very interesting and they inspired me to create embroidery samples incorporating stitches of different size, width and length lines to create patterns.

Tom Hackney

Mondrian

Sampling Week 8

This week i have tried harder to make the fabrics I'm using more interesting by altering them before or after i have sewn into them. I have mainly used ink on my fabrics in different ways to try and create different effects. Although these samples are quite simple i think that these are the best hand samples that i have created during the unit. This is because i think they look more interesting than my others and reflect my initial drawings and my own drawing style the most. Using ink to dye and mark the fabrics i felt gave me a lot more freedom in what i could create with embroidery, and i feel like if i had been more adventurous and experimental earlier on that i would have enjoyed doing embroidery a lot more than i have. 

Sampling Week 7

Not only have i been using the Cornelley this week i have also carried on creating hand produced samples. This week i tried to vary my fabrics more to make my samples more interesting, although i think that next week i will try some more experimental techniques and media to make my samples more interesting and tactile. I have painted emulsion on a loosely woven fabric so it sort of fills in the gaps in between the weave to make it more textured and solid. Im really pleased with the result of this because it makes the fabric seem more layered. On the bottom sample i have used drawing ink to texture the sheer background to compliment the dense couching on the fabric. Next week I'm going to try and be more adventures with my fabrics and see what effects i can create using ink.

Sampling- Cornelly

During my second week of hand embroidery i was inducted onto the Cornelly machine. At first i found it quite difficult to get the Cornelly machine to do what i wanted it to. I found it confusing that i controlled the machine from underneath it. I liked the way the chain stitches look on the Cornelly more so than the moss stitch because i think it leaves a really interesting and delicate mark which is much more controlled than the moss stitch. With this moss stitch sample i tried to see if i could create a straight line using the Cornelley which was much harder than i thought it would be. Although i thought that i managed to control it quite well. 

Sampling Week 6

This week our groups swapped over and i started my hand stitch part of the project. Based on the initial drawings i have created of data, i started to try and visualise how these could translate into embroidery samples. I originally found it quite difficult to find interesting ways to express the themes of my drawings through embroidery, and i became quite uninspired because of this. So i feel that i didn't get off to the best start with my hand embroidery samples. I think these samples are the most interesting ones that i have created this week because they also relate the most to my data drawings.

Sampling Week 5

This week i learned how to use the double needle and tested this on different types and weights of fabric.  I liked the way that the same stitch on a different fabric would create a totally different effect by the way it tucked in-between the 2 lines of stitch. I found the way it made the fabric warp really interesting. This week i tried t use the techniques i have learned to try and relate my samples more to my initial drawings.