ESSEX UNIVERSITY VISIT _

   First thoughts- there is no way I am setting foot on that double decker bus. So the whole journey was spent with an irrational fear of the bus toppling over . What a wonderful start to the morning. 
   Startled. The grounds for the University were on a massive scale, it made me feel lucky to have such a close knit community at my campus. 
   Once in the lecture theatre, we were told about the resources on offer to us on that campus.  However I felt it was a bit of a negative experience, and was left feeling a bit deflated. Most of the talks were about what we couldn't get involved in, and this was highlighted more than what we could do. So to me, it seemed a bit of a wasted trip and couldn't get my head around why they had invited us there. Was it to gloat at what fabulous resources they have that we don't? I feel our resources are a lot more sufficient for what we need.

ITS JUST THE BEGINNING _ an introduction to our project.

The morning panned out as expected- introducing us to the course and the marking criteria. However the exciting part was the pace ( and a little but horrifying) and got stuck in immediately.  What is trend? No one wanted to voice their opinion, me included. I've never been good with speaking to an audience, so when  team work was mentioned, my heart sank (I'm more of an I dependant worker). It was only discussing our made up trend, but my mind went blank- since when have I become such an unconfident person? Something I can definitely improve on, and I'm sure there's a lot more of voicing our ideas to come throughout the course. 
I was intrigued at the odd array of objects hanging from the wall- from bird wings to rubber gloves, you could only find this on a fashion and textiles course. All very confusing, but I think it became sort of clear when the current trends found on WGSN (world global style network) were discussed and the objects were tied in. So these were to be the source of inspiration! My busy brain didn't let me rest for today, and choosing one trend was hard when I had interesting ideas for many of them. I think what settled it for me was the subtle use of bird wings and feathers, from which I derived taxidermy, something I'm passionate about. This was based in the trend 'reworks of art', which included florals, binding with rope, peeling and revealing past artworks or eras and texture. My initial thoughts were to cover skulls in print, cut out skull shapes and develop a print from floral paper and so on.  I really did enjoy the prospect of working on this further and developing my ideas, maybe including crazy print and the idea of tying something up to manipulate the shape.

Afternoon soon came- I had a good feeling about this. The class consisted of drawing and mark making, an area that excited me. It was a wonderful session and I gained valuable drawing techniques  that would help me get my ideas down on a page, expressing my opinions in a creative way. The idea was to work in a big way, and focus on small areas of an object through a view finder. I just went with it, and the big mark and textural lines really came together. I liked the way we were encouraged to work on top of our pieces using different media, for example I created a pen and ink floral piece, scratchy and feathery, and then worked on top with bleach, which turned the colour almost yellow/gold and took away pieces to reveal an eye catching piece. It enlivened the drawing and I felt the watery feel from the bleach contrasted with the hard scratchy lines worked well together  Another technique which was really successful was continuous line onto a textural surface. The continuos line gave a sort of flow and cycle, but the textured background broke some of the biro line up, creating a really interesting contrast. 

I was probably a bit rusty, not having put pen to paper for a long while. The key is definitely practice practice practice, and of course I'll probably look back at these drawings and see how far I have come. That's the plan anyway, always striving for improvement me! 

WHAT IS AN ART SCHOOL?_

   A question I have never really asked myself. What does being part of an art school mean? I guess the word school made me assume to learn, to gather information and use that in order to get ‘good’ grades. But what place does the word art have? Does this one word have the power to change the concept of school just by putting them together? Especially when it is considered one does not go to an art school to learn, but is already an artist/ designer, gaining skills and bettering themselves in their chosen path. My understanding is that you don’t get taught, so why is there a grading scheme? Doesn’t this defeat the object of an art school, and if one is already an artist or designer but receives a ‘bad’ grade, does this mean they are no longer an artist/designer? This is all very confusing, but I feel the restrictiveness of education does not compliment art. As an artist, you are already a free spirit, and although that doesn’t mean you know your exact direction, the imprisonment (in my opinion) holds said designer/artist down and doesn’t allow them to flourish.

   I feel the idea of an art school is to overcome the misconception of what art is about. What’s the first thing that comes into most people’s head when art is discussed- Still life, life drawing and the old nude painting. But these are dating right back to the 1800s, and although still influential, the art movement has changed dramatically. Artists such as Manet and the work Olympia have been starting points to the change within art, causing controversy along the way.

   An art school is everything people think it is not. Art school is no longer a site for the replication and past standards, but is rather a laboratory for finding out again and again what art and design is or could be. It’s experimental, it encourages you to come out of your shell and explore new techniques, but most importantly, it incorporates everything around you into the work you do.

“Art is taught, but no one knows how.” Daniel Birnaums, Philosopher of the Stadeschule.

FASHION WEEKS- Who. What. Where_

NEW YORK. LONDON. MILAN. PARIS.

 

   Designers show at certain cities because each city is know for something different, and people look at the collections in their own thoughtful way, meaning some designers are more successful in each of the capitals. The designers have to be accredited to show in the Fashion weeks, so for new designers it’s very difficult to get into that high demanding world. And unfortunately, a lot of it is down to money and how successful a designer is.

   Fashion weeks vary, and are recognized for different things. Take the Spring/Summer 2015 collections from each of the capitals, they are all widely different. In New York and Paris, practical/ ready to wear clothing is prominent, whereas in London and Milan, the more artistic, unconventional, eye catching approach using playful colours is taken in the hope to sell their collections. New York is known for its commerciality, and while there are still hints of this within London, the collections are more couture and artistic, meaning their aim isn't to sell their collections but make a statement or tell a story. Paris has a definite split from the other three cities. It concentrates on organic shapes and versatility, including some beautiful sculptural pieces. The collections are often rather expensive looking, couture based, but still wearable.

   Maybe New York and Paris are aiming higher than London and Milan, purely based on the fact they are creating wearable collections and are hoping to sell the garments.

I found this article rather informative and interesting www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2009/mar/14/fashion-shows-designers-couture

INDUCTION WEEK_The start of something new

Induction week: 29^th September – 3^rd October

   

    I was pretty apprehensive about starting university- I have never been good inside of education, always feeling too restricted. So with a bad experience behind me, I wasn’t confident about getting on with this course. Well, even someone as stubborn as me can be pleasantly surprised, as I found myself enjoying the week.

Once the first hiccup of forgetting my student finance letter was out of the way, I allowed myself to relax and get involved. Of course it was going to be hard getting back into the swing of a constant workload (after all I did have 3 months off), but even from the first day, it felt like a fashion course. It felt natural to me.

   

    Me being myself, I was very eager to get stuck in, maybe appearing a little over enthusiastic and possibly annoying. The print workshop was one I was extremely looking forward to, as I wanted to explore the textiles side, and would like to incorporate both fashion and textiles in my work. It was extremely welcoming, and I got to grips with the print room instantly- I clicked, as if I belonged there. The task was to print onto an apron so we had a personal one for our time at uni. The techniques were screen printing, flocking and foiling. Never have I had a great chance to experiment with any form of print, so it was all a bit hit and miss. The two colours used for the screen printing complimented each other, and was amazed at the simplicity to be able to create such a professional looking print. I was really pleased with the outcome, and proud of myself for getting stuck in and enjoying myself, instead of worrying and not taking part. Definitely keen on learning and experimenting with new printing techniques.

    Lecture theatre- It finally felt like a uni course, however the lecture confused me. It seemed to have no context, not at this point in the course. I felt it needed to be explained with our personal course along side it to break down and understand where the marks were coming from. Although it was informative, I guess it could have been introduced a little later on when we had got to grips with our project.

    I have used the industrial machines before, but had forgotten the sinister noise they make. I am clumsy at the best of times, so the pressure you had to put on the pedal to me a few attempts to get right,  many times roaring through the fabric. In the machine induction, we were introduced to simple stitching, threading the sewing machine and winding a bobbin, and also how to over lock. This enabled us to make a simple but useful equipment bag. Perhaps I wasn’t happy with the outcome, as it wasn’t as neat as I would have hoped for- probably due to the fact I was a bit hap handed on the machine (I’m sure I’ll get plenty of practice throughout the year). I couldn’t get to grips with sewing in a straight line; it was all a bit curvy and wonky, but for a first attempt, it was sufficient. To improve, I feel the cause of a lot of my problems is due to the fact I’m always in a rush. Maybe if I slowed down I could focus better and produce work to a standard I was happy with.
    
    The induction week was a positive experience- I liked the fact it was hands on, not just information handed and spoken to us. This was, by experiencing the processes for ourselves, we understood more thoroughly and retained the information. The sessions were really well organised, especially considering the group size. It was a nice touch to make things we could uses throughout the year and be proud of (or look back and see how far you’ve progressed!)