Student Work: AS Textiles Paper Dress

As part of the introduction to their exam theme 'Covert and Obscured' our AS Textiles students began to explore the possibility of using recycled materials and transforming their meaning by recreating something new. The students looked at origami techniques and were inspired by 'junk fashion' and Gary Harvey when creating their dress and played around with heat transfer techniques too. We think the finished experiment is beautiful! 

A2 Textiles: Exhibition Leaflet Part I

The following post is for our A2 Textile students lesson

You have been asked to collect 30 images to get started on your exhibition leaflet. To save you printing out each of these images we're going to create a virtual collection in the format of a pinboard using pinterest. Follow the instructions below to get started....

Pinning from your own laptop/computer: In the video I showed how to install the 'pin it' button on safari. If you have trouble installing it check which browser you're running and watch the appropriate video:

chrome // firefox // internet explorer 

Once your set up you should follow us (Coulsdon Visual Arts Pinterest) on Pinterest! 

1. LOOK: On the board you will find 'pins'. Look for the ones with your name next to them - these are works by artists/designers that I thought may be relevant for you to research following our one to one in last Fridays lesson. 

2. RE-PIN: Find the images I have suggested for you and re-pin the ones you think you would like to investigate further 

3. 3W: Each time you 'pin' an image you should annotate it using the 3W's...

WHO is the work by and what is it called? 

WHAT materials/techniques have they used? 

WHY have you chosen to look at it? i.e. what do you like about it! 

4. FIND: Find and pin your own images - start by pinning work you've already looked at for your project! After that continue you could look at our boards here or here, browse pinterest using the search box or check out some of the websites below which are full to the brim with inspiring stuff! 

//Visual Arts Blog Fashion Designer & Textile Artist directory //Print & Pattern // Mrs Textiles // Telegraph: Fashion // V&A // I Heart Teaching Art // Trendland // The Jealous Curator // i-D //Amelia's Magazine // Dazed & Confused // Pattern People //

Next lesson we will begin to curate (edit) your collection of images into separate boards developing 'themes'/'rooms' for your exhibition leaflet.

If you enjoy using pinterest you could create additional boards to gather imagery for your practical work! 

competition: graduate fashion week

Graduate Fashion Week is an annual event which showcases the best upcoming fashion designers graduating from degree course from across the country - normally it's just a chance for graduates to showcase their talent but this year they've got an open call looking for talent of any age! 

They are currently looking for writers and photographers to contribute and work with them in the run up to and during Graduate Fashion week + they're looking for illustration submissions to be used across social media networks!  so if you want to get involved get in touch - you can see all the details HERE. 

If you want to see what they've been doing so far check out tumblr, twitter and facebook. GOOD LUCK!  

Inspiration: Sian Xeng

Sian Xeng is a Textile Designer who has created an array of wonderful things, from fabrics and wallpapers to illustrated stuffed bears and we think her work is fantastic! We particularly like her magnetic wallpaper (above) which can be customised and played with, she describes the work as.... 

“Inspired by the changeable nature of fairy tale stories, where frogs can suddenly become princes and princes can become frogs, this work is concerned with visual narratives that can be altered through interaction. I have created a collection of narrative wallpapers that allow users to move magnetic characters on the wallpaper, write on the speech bubbles and place them anywhere they like." Sian Xeng

Her work is playful, fun and beautifully illustrative - be sure to check out her full portfolio it's amazing! 

Exhibition: OLEK

This week is your last chance to catch the amazing Olek exhibition at Tonys Gallery 'I do not expect to be a mother but I do expect to die alone'. Olek is famed for her crochet rooms and we've posted about her brilliant work before here on the blog! For this exhibition she has taken inspiration from her experiences living in the UK, you can see this reflected in the work which includes a crocheted black cab. It's going to be a fantastic show and is well worth a visit. Have a look at the website to see some great photos of the show and watch the video below to see Olek in action guerilla installing some work onto the wall street bull in New York... 

OLEK AND THE CHARGING BULL ON WALL STREET from olek on Vimeo.

Where: Tonys Gallery, Shoreditch

When: till Friday March 23rd

Cost: Free 

Inspiration: Video Books

Hans-Peter Feldman // Paris from haveanicebook on Vimeo.

Have a nice book have created these beautiful videos that allow you to engage with books in an innovative digital format. Each video takes you through an artist/photography book page by page and even have has accompanying music. Check out the full collection on their vimeo channel!

Inspiration: Me Studio

frontiers of reality - test film from me studio on Vimeo.

How incredible is this video by Me Studio made entirely by hand with string!

Tutorial: Pom Pom

one bhldn paper pom-pom tutorial, via Poppytalk, two amazing ideas for using pom-poms by honestly wtf, three more amazing ideas for using pom-poms by honestly wtf, four tulle/net pom pom tutorial from Martha Stewart, five even more amazing ideas for using pom-poms by honestly wtf, six yarn pom pom tutorial by Bella Dia, seven fabric pom pom garland tutorial by modern motive

This week's I'm loving pom poms - I found so many tutorials I couldn't stop at just one I've  found seven different tutorials and/or ideas for things you could create with pom poms. Pom pom's are great you can make them out of paper, fabric and yarn - and possibly even more. There's so much out there on pom pom's and what you can do with them I'm sure you can find some other awesome stuff out there too, enjoy!

Exhibition: Donna Wilson at YSP

We wish we was in Yorkshire! We don't often feature exhibitions this far our of reach but Yorkshire Sculpture part are currently showcasing this fantastic piece 'Endangered Species' by knitwear designer Donna Wilson and we love it! The piece is made up of knitted trees and creatures using her trademark patterns and we think it looks fantastic.  The exhibition also includes a range of ceramic pieces and limited edition screen prints and hand-drawn illustrations. If you can get to Yorkshire to see this I think it would be well worth a visit. Donna Wilson is great her work is clever, playful and fun - how great are the photo shoot pieces we've featured above for her items? For more information on Donna Wilson have a look at her website, blog or flickr. For more information about the 'Endangered Species' exhibition visit the Yorkshire Sculpture Park website. 

Where: Yorkshire Sculpture Park 

When: now till 26th February 2012 

Cost: Free (if you can get to Yorkshire!)

If you can't make it up there why not watch this great video which gives a virtual tour of the exhibit and has Donna Wilson herself being interviewed in the space... 

Donna Wilson at Yorkshire Sculpture Park from Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Vimeo.

Inspiration: Kirsty Whitlock

image source

Check out the work of mixed media textile artist Kirsty Whitlock. She takes inspiration from political cartoons, news headlines and documentries and uses recycled and reclaimed materials to challenge 'throwaway culture'. She uses machine embroidery to add imagery and text to her found materials to transform the meaning of the material, like in the pieces above 'Bags of Aggro' and 'Tomorrow the World'. You can read more about Kirsty and her work here and see her portfolio here. 

Event: Free Fashion Fusion Workshops

The Fashion and Textile Museum are now taking applications for their free Fashion Fusion courses. The courses are available for students aged 16-18 (if you have become 19 since 1st September you will still be eligible for a free course) and you must have lived in the UK or EU for at least three years. The first course you take is FREE and any after that are £100. 

There are four courses to choose from: Fashion Collection, Fashion Career, Fashion Photoshop and Fashion Sketchbook. For full details about what the courses involve and the dates they are taking place visit the Fashion and Textile Museum website. To apply for a course download and complete the Fashion Fusion Application Form and email it info@ftmlondon.org

These courses are great and students that have been to them in the past have produced a fantastic body of work and really enjoyed themselves! The places book up quickly so make sure you apply asap! 

Website: Amelia's Magazine

We love Ameila's Magazine. Amelia's Magazine used to be just that - a real life magazine that was printed biannually for 5 years from 2004-2009 comprising of 10 issues in total. The magazines themselves were exquisite.  The magazine is now in the form of a regularly updated blog. The blog is divided into various sections from art to earth and the fashion section is always full to the brim with articles about upcoming designers, fashions weeks, exhibitions and more and the what's on listings pull out the quirky, unusual, off the beaten track type of exhibitions and events going on in and around London. We love Amelia's Magazine and hope you'll enjoy it too!

Inspiration: The City

one Clare Toughs Graduate Collection, two Freddie Robins 'Knitted Homes of Crime', three 'Vertical' Sharon Elphick, four 'Letter Landscape 9' Jette Clover, five 'Trellick Tower' People Will Always Need Plates, six 'A Tale of Two Cities' Charlene Mullen

These are a few artists/designers who have taken inspiration from 'The City' when creating their work. Our AS students last year used the same them so if you have a look back through old posts you'll find previous posts that might relate to your project or give you inspiration; like these posts about Matthew Harris and Hella Jongerius who both create textile wall hangings!

inspiration:Gingibersnap

We are loving these soft sculptures/plush pillows by Stacie of Gingiber Snap

Inspiration: Francesco Vezzoli

Francesco Vezzoli, Portrait of Lady Gaga

Artist Francesco Vezzoli combines the art of film and the art of embroidery to create his work. His best know pieces are these serigraphs in which details of the images are hand-stitched using petit-point embroidery techniques in shocking colours. There's an interesting interview with him over on FlashArt Online, here.

Petit-Point is a needlepoint stitch similar cross-stitch but it's worked on canvas and is even smaller in scale. If your thinking about embroidering onto images it's important to think about what you will stitch into - photographs? fabric? etc and what embroidery techniques you might use; there's lots of them! This post on Craftster is a great starting point to explore different techniques and Mr X Stitch is a great resource for inspiration! 

Inspiration: Megan Whitmarsh

Junk Wall, 2010, 80"x50", embroidery thread, fabric, batting, vinyl and yarn 

Neon Constellation, 2011, Embroidery Threads, Spraypaint, Marker and Fabric

Megan Whitmarsh creates these incredible mixed media wall hangings using everything from spray paint and markers to fabric adding touches of detail with intricately embroidered sections.  Her website showcases the full range of her work from the 90s right up to now and also has a great selection of press articles. To find out more about Megan's work why not watch this interview Giant Robot Magazine did with her back in March 2010. 

Inspiration: Jane Deschner

Artist Jane Descher creates these beautiful pieces from found photographs. She embroiders quotes from writers, musicians and philosophers onto the photos, as well as using the photographs as fabric to construct garments like the pieces above. Last September she was featured in Fiberarts Magazine and she described her practice as apporpriating everything, "Photographs taken by others; words spoken by others; fonts and embroidery stitches created  by others. My contribution is to gather, then combine these disparate elements into something more than the sum of their parts" you can read the full article, here. 

Exhibition: Tommy Nutter 'Rebel on the Row' LAST CHANCE!

image source

This Saturday is the last chance to catch the Tommy Nutter Exhibition at the Fashion and Textile museum! The Exhibition looks at the Nutter style and it's contributions to bespoke tailoring as well as the marketing and branding of a Saville Row company. A range of suits will be on display from the late 60s to the 1990s. 

Where: Fashion and Textile Museum

When: until 22 October 2011

Opening times: Tuesday to Saturday, 11am-6pm 

Cost: £7 (or £4 for students!)

Inspiration: Vivienne Westwood

I've gone a bit Vivienne Westwood crazy this week! I've found another great video, this time it's the  Red Label SS12 catwalk show. To have a look behind the scenes at the Gold Label show have a look at our previous post.

Inspiration: Vivienne Westwood

This video is great! It gives you a sneak peak behind the scenes at Vivienne Westwood's Gold Label SS12 show! The collection had 3 main influences; China, The Desert and 17th Century corsets and you can read more about those influences in this article.