Assessment Monday 20th February

Throughout the last four weeks I have faced a number of technical difficulties and limitations.
I have been based in the weave area, and been using a more advanced loom than I was used to before. As it was a new machine it took a lot longer to get used to the technicalities and methods of production. Not only did I find it difficult to grasp the technology, I had chosen a soft cotton yarn to use in my warp. THIS WAS A HUGE MISTAKE. The soft cotton yarn was INTOLLERABLE. I have spent soul destroying hours upon hours fixing snapped ends and trying to re-thread up the loom. I will go as far as saying I have spent more time in the past four weeks trying to FIX the warp rather than MAKING anything. By the time everything  is fine again, SNAP SNAP SNAP and more ends have broken. Needless to say I have been quite frustrated in the weave room. If I were to repeat the workshop I would definitely NOT use a soft cotton in my warp, but something a lot stronger that can withstand the tension of a loom.

Despite these annoyances I have been working independantly on producing some more hand processes samples to translate my ideas. I knew that by the time it came to cutting off my warp, there would not be as many samples. I have been looking at dyeing my fabrics with tea, working with shibori and experimenting with manipulating the surface of a fabric. I have found these exercises both more productive and enjoyable.

I feel that I have put in a lot of effort with the weave workshop that has not payed off due the regular problems I have been faced with. I did not feel that it was easy to translate my drawings into a weave sample, I felt restricted. If I could have had another week or two I feel that I would have a stronger collection of samples. Despite this I feel that I have some strong samples from weave that possess some of the same qualities of my earlier drawings.

If I could repeat the last four weeks I would not have used the weave room. I would have furthered my knowledge of print and created some more visual work. However I have discovered that my patience and persistance can be  s t r e t c h e d  when tested and I am proud that I persevered and pushed myself to carry on working with the restrictive loom.

Drawing Workshop/Ann Wilson

Below is a photograph of my own drawing produced in the drawing workshop. We had to contrust a drawing "tool" using anything we wanted and garden sticks. I chose to tightly bound 10 biros onto the end of a garden stick and at arms length create drawings on A1 paper. After a few tries this was the outcome:

 

I am very pleased with the result, I would never have produced such a drawing had I not attended the workshop and it has opened my eyes to the versitility of tools that you can actually use to draw with. I am keeping this tool for future use!

After our drawing task last week I have looked at "Topologies" by Ann Wilson.

Having been to one of her lectures I feel that I understand her work quite well. She uses mainly black lace and pint to construct these "drawings" onto table tops. She has collected the lace from all over the world, a few she listed in the lecter were:

London

San Fran Sisco

Belgia

France

She has even collected lace from lengerie. She will contrust the Topologies on a table top on site of the exhibition, so each time she moves the work it will change. I found this collection surprisingly relevant to my own drawing in terms of linear qualities. I also believe it to connect on another level. If I tried to reproduce my own drawing, it would not be an exact replica, similar to the way that Topologies changes each time as it is constructed. 

Eileen O'Rourke

I found this work by Eileen O'Rourke in the Cornerhouse gallery, line 'drawings' on fabric (which I have found out to be sections of bed sheets) held in embroidery hoops made with human hair that has been collected and dyed. I particularly like the subtlety in colour and line, how delicate the drawing appears to be. The drawins remind me of a kind of web of lines, which is similar to the way I think that tree branches look. I would like to create my own drawings exploring this delicate intricacy. When asked about her drawings, she has said that the lines are accidentally and that she removes her "authority" of make making. She will allow the hair to move in its own way around the 'page'. The use of bedsheets and hair unintentionally provokes thoughts of the body.

More conventional drawings from Eileen O'Rourke:

Lucy Ridges

Lucy Ridges is currently exhibiting this work in the Cornerhouse gallery. I really liked the use of photography, and the way that the tree branches have been positioned expressively, especially on the final photograph. The use of black and white relates to my earlier work, which I have been thinking about going back to. I would like to focus on flat colour, black on white, or my chosen earthy colours. I think that this collection of photographs has made me think more about focusing on LINE/FORM rather than COLOUR.