I have really enjoyed this unit. Although a lot of my work
was very laborious, time consuming and mildly eye-sight destroying, I am really
proud of the samples and final pieces I have produced. I feel like continuing
my project using my colour based research from practice unit, meant I had a
chance to really develop my stitch work.
Experimenting with different fabrics has been interesting
and I found using machines to explore the qualities of my hand stitch to be
very satisfying. I was pleased I managed to achieve the same intensity of
colour with machine embroidery as I have in my darning and could make them at
ten times the speed.
My final pieces are not what I expected to produce, but were
reached through experimentation and I love the outcome. They reflect what
initially inspired them (traditional embroidery samplers) and they offer the
white space needed to allow you to focus on the detail.
Being entered into the Colour Competition run by the Society
of Dying and Colourists was an excellent opportunity to learn about how to
present my work for a specific brief and although I’m not sure what I entered
was entirely appropriate to the brief I was forced to come up with creative solutions
to avoid mounting white on white, keep within the four A2 board limit and trying
to show my work as appropriate for a sustainable fashion context. I was very
pleased to receive a judges High Commendation Award.
Having learnt from the Colour Competition I have created a
well presented portfolio that allows you to see the front and back of my
samples and gives each sample enough space to be appreciated. I have also been
able to make sure you can see the narrative running through my work, being sure
to include visualisation and drawings.
Although I really struggle with presenting my work, because
of the hand drawn qualities and lack of uniformity, I feel like this unit I
have made leaps with my presentational skills. Window frame mounting was not my
favourite task, however it seems only appropriate that time-consuming presentation
would be required for time-consuming samples.
I was also fortunate enough to have my samples picked to be
displayed in the TIP in Progress Show which helped me see my samples in an
exhibition context and gave me inspiration for how I might present my work at
the Degree Show.
Finally having shown my four final pieces to the curators of
the Gawthorpe Hall brief from Practice unit I have been offered the chance to exhibit
in the Knit and Stitch Show 2016 alongside Manchester School of Art students
and staff. I have been asked to create a larger scale, around 2 meter square
piece with lots of my little pieces of darning. This is an exciting opportunity
and will keep my practice ticking over after graduation, I plan to man the
stand at both the London and Harrogate show with the hope that more opportunities
will arise.
