Design Development

From my initial visual research, I have developed designs to be stitched out on the Multi-head machine with a view to abstracting some of the drawings in the process to appeal to people interested in interior markets as I feel my concept of 'Anatomy', if done literally, would not be suitable in this case.

Annemieke Mein also uses birds and insects within her embroidery, with a more muted palette than Timorous Beasties do. Her work appears slightly outdated and old-fashioned in my opinion if it was to be used within an interior space, whereas Timorous Beasties concentrate more on their colour use rather than specific details which I believe make them a greater influence for my work. 

Timorous Beasties use graphic imagery of animals and insects within interior design ideas which I find unusual but memorable compared with other designs that I've seen before. They understand that floral patterns are relatively popular within the interior markets, but they add their own stamp to it by including birds and insects with bright and unusual colours to their prints. This could influence my work because of the colours I could take from their designs as well as the idea of 'anatomy' being adaptable to interior spaces. 

I have used the colour picker tool in Photoshop to define 4 different colour palettes from Timorous Beasties' work for use in my own designs using the brushes I created. I have tried to be abstract and keep the interior market in mind when doing the digital designs by putting the brush stamps into half-drop repeat. I have created brushes using parts of my drawings that are relatively abstract, such as the arteries of the heart, eye and hand nerves and parts of the ribcage.

Locating - Visual Research

Throughout the first two weeks of this project I have visited Manchester Museum to gather images from their Siberia Exhibition including full size animal and human skeletons. From these images I have concentrated on developing a series of drawings based around the concept of 'Anatomy'. They have a graphic, linear quality to them as well as abstract shapes so they could be translated effectively onto the Ethos Software and Multi-head as well as the possibility of laser cutting parts or engraving them. The colours I've used in my drawings are relatively subtle, although some are more brightly coloured, but within a colour palette that suits the idea of 'Anatomy' - reds and blues (like veins) and oranges and whites (like bones). I have manipulated some of the drawings in Photoshop to enhance the best bits of the selected drawings and merge elements together to create new drawings.

The edit above appears as though the hand is squeezing the heart and the lungs are being pushed out the side. It was a bit of a 'happy accident', but I like the mix of abstract smudges in the background with the graphic lines in front. I think if I was to use the same visual research for the 'Engineering Embroidery' brief I would have to make the shapes more abstract so they would be suitable for the high-end car interior market - my focus over Christmas. The colours would also have to be subtler or cover less fabric to be appropriate for the market.

I intend to develop the concept of 'Anatomy' into designs for the Multi-Head machine that become more abstract compositions so I could also use the ideas for the live brief 'Engineering Embroidery' as samples to fit in a high-end car interior. After discussions in my tutorial, I now intend to create more drawings using acetate so I can really explore the idea of human AND animal anatomy merged together (similar to the frog skeleton image above) - this will be my focus for the Christmas break.

Visual Research Development

After my last tutorial, my group and my tutor suggested that I begin to come out of my comfort zone within my sketchbook and start to create some 3D pieces from my drawings, in order to push myself forward. Similarly, with a context in mind of costume or set design, we all thought that creating something 3D would be more relevant and would relate more closely to these industries, as both involve working in a 3D manner as they design. It was also suggested that I begin to look into window dressing, as it involves both the body and interior space.

I researched into a couple of designers; Rei Kawakubo and Issey Miyake who both create unusual garments, some using organic shapes and some geometric. Out of the two, I prefer Issey Miyake's work (below, right) as it is slightly more structured, and appears to use stiffer, more industrial materials than Rei Kawakubo (below, left), which appears to be made from softer materials, which are manipulated and stuffed to create unusual shapes.

Matt Shlian designed a shop window display for Levi's made solely out of paper, which also was made up of geometric shapes such as hexagons and pyramids. From this, I realised the works I have looked at over the past week would assist me in considering my audience more closely - such shapes could be used in both costume and set design, as well as installations in shop window dressings - see below.

I have begun designing compositions from my drawings using 3D geometric shapes similar to the ones that Matt Shlian used in his Levi's installation as well as Issey Miyake. 

The mix of colours with the figurative elements from my drawings, I think, work well as they make the shapes look even more abstract. In contrast, it also adds depth and sharpness to the 3D shapes. Moreover, with the mixture of dark and brighter colours, this would suit the audiences I mentioned before as costume and set need to be bright in order for them to be clearly defined under lighting. In contrast, a shop window display could be plain, dark or colourful, depending on the client and their store vision.

Intentions - Visual Research Week 1 - Urban Influences

To start my visual research I began searching for artists on Pinterest that work using architecture and the urban environment. I found several artists that use geometric shapes in their work as well as other artists that take a more abstract approach - fitting in perfectly with the drawings I worked on over the summer period.

Dario Moschetta and Karen Benedetti

I have thought about the concept that I adopted over the summer project - 'Disguise and Cover-Up', and by using the urban environment to cover and disguise other things I have managed to include concepts such as; homeless people, new buildings covering old, and detail covering abstract which all still link to my summer concept.

During this first week of the visual research task, I began to collect images of buildings that had geometric shapes in their architecture so I could draw the lines (working in a figurative way). I wanted to find buildings that had an older quality and some that are relatively modern, so to do this I visited Manchester City Centre and MediaCityUK to achieve the contrast I desired. 

After doing several figurative drawings of both buildings and homeless people, I felt my work lacked colour and, as I am an embroiderer, colour is a very important element. Using different wet media and my Costa Loyalty Card, I created backgrounds in which I could layer the drawings over. This is in keeping with my concept 'Disguise and Cover-Up' as the paper dims the colour down slightly in areas.

Whilst thinking about the composition of the architecture in my backgrounds, I picked out elements of detail on the buildings for the foreground. The way the abstract and figurative are collaborated, I believe, make the drawings more interesting to look at and also underpin the concept effectively because of the media used.

Disguise and Cover-Up - Summer 2014

Amy Judd's work is uniquely 'weird' in a sense that she almost creates a disguise by using animal features such as butterflies and birds to cover up the human face. 

'Ascending Athena' and 'The Weight of a Thousand Feathers' (above) are two of her pieces that particularly sparked ideas in my head for further development. I linked this with another one of her pieces where a butterfly covers a girl's face by using segments of a butterfly wing to fan like the feathers on the other images I found. I think her work could relate to either gallery work or the costume industry as it involves the human body as well as animal features.

Using Judd's work to influence my own, I used butterfly wing segments in order to create a feathered effect like in her pieces with bird feathers.

Extending a section of a butterfly wing using watercolour and acrylic paints. This drawing works well because the textures and colours can be related to embroidery relatively easily and effectively. This piece of work could be improved by working in a more abstract manner, using similar colours, and collaborating figurative drawing with abstract colour smudges.

Reflection of Summer Work - Feedback

To begin the new term, we got into groups and discussed how we thought the summer project went for us and showed the rest of the group some of our work - the good, the bad and the downright ugly. 

These were the favourite pieces from the discussions due to their diverse nature - figurative and abstract.

My peers liked the abstract, textural drawings and the colour combinations which I used throughout my drawings the most. They also agreed that my underpinning concept was strong which helped me to develop my artwork further through the summer. They gave me some further ideas however, such as layering texture over my own images to create abstract drawings which depict the idea of disguise and cover-up through other means. This could be done using tracing paper or printing onto acetate, for example. 

Some of the artists that were suggested to me to look at were; Maurizio Anzeri (above) who uses the human face and geometric shapes to create abstract qualities and Lucien Day and Angie Lewin who both use simple prints with linear features within their work.

The group all said that my drawings could be used effectively through embroidery as some were graphic rather than abstract, which could be mixed to create some interesting forms including backgrounds and foregrounds.It was also suggested I consider working in 2D and 3D methods to vary my outcomes.

Influences and Inspirations (2)

After researching images relating to disguise on Pinterest, I found that the ones that inspired me the most were the three in my previous post.

I went on to create collages of faces (as seen in my previous post - Waldemar Strempler) by cutting up the facial features of the people in magazines and rearranging them appropriately to create a new face - a 'disguise'. Some of the people look abstract, whereas others quite suit their new features. 

I mixed the idea of disguise with peacock feathers again to create more drawings - using the shapes of the peacock pattern to cover the eyes of someone, for example. I also used similar spherical shapes to create a collage covering the eyes of someone (above top right) - similar to Anton Bundenko.



Looking back at the work of Januz Miralles again, which I found earlier, I have distorted my own collages and found photographs of the human face (in the style of Waldemar Strempler) in order to create some more drawings. Adding different media such as acrylic paints and ink to the distorted images makes them more abstract and like a 'disguise' or a 'cover-up' and relates to the work of Miralles, also. 

I wanted to investigate the idea of disguising the face using other methods, such as covering up aspects of it with an object, or replacing features all together with something totally different - see my Pinterest (http://www.pinterest.com/rmlhaigh/disguise/) for other inspirations from artists such as Amy Judd, who uses animal features to cover the human face. Below, I used the ideas behind her work, teamed with the concept of an image of Twiggy that I discovered on Pinterest, to create my own piece.

I would say my work could be tailored towards the costume industry as I enjoy working with unusual concepts, in a three-dimensional manner. I like working in an abstract way as Miralles and Strempler do, though I am also inspired by unusual and shocking images like Amy Judd and Anton Bundenko create.

Luly Yang is a designer based in Seattle, USA, who predominantly creates gowns and bridal dresses, however, she also is involved in making Haute Couture fashion pieces such as 'The Monarch'.

 It is a custom silk taffeta butterfly print skirt and corset bodice, embellished with hand placed Swarovski crystals and black ostrich feathers. 

Development of Weave Samples - Research

This week I set out to develop the samples I created from last week by relating the weave patterns and yarns more closely to my drawings and visual research from the archive visits. 

I gathered trimmings and yarns from fabric shops which relate closely to elements of the photos I took from the archives such as tassels and pom-poms which I will use in my woven samples. 

Experimenting with colour and arrangement of lines

I have learned to appreciate the ratio of colours within my work and how this relates to my drawings. I have been heavily influenced by different yarn qualities such as texture and compositions when arranged next to each other. I have also been strongly influenced by the tassels from the curtains of the 'Wonderful World of Entertainment' image above and my colour palette is tailored slightly more towards that image than others. 

I have attempted to experiment with different patterns on the loom, incorporating the colours and compositions from my drawings - the chevron pattern has interlinking lines which link to the majority of my drawings. The texture of the tassels in my original images and drawings is depicted through the use of pom-poms in all of my samples, whether they are brightly-coloured to symbolise fun at Blackpool Pleasure Beach or darker which represents the lack of fun and a darker side to fairgrounds such as Belle Vue.

Visit my Pinterest page to view some of the things that have inspired me through the start of this project along with contextual images. I feel that my samples would be tailored towards the interiors market, or perhaps as smaller pieces in the fashion sector such as collars or cuffs, for example. 

I wanted to experiment with the composition of my woven samples in order to refine my ideas and identify what has worked best so far in the project. 

I developed two more samples which are reflective of this; one being 'fun' like at Blackpool and one  being 'dark and scarce' like at Belle Vue.

Beautiful VS Ugly at The Fair...

Throughout the week I have visited two archives and I have discovered the beautiful side to fairgrounds, but also the ugly side to them too. Blackpool Pleasure Beach allows people to escape reality for the day and is a magical place for all the family. There are bright lights, thrills and entertainment for everyone. 

Belle Vue was magical at the start; an escape from reality after the war, seeing live animals and being able to dance in the ballrooms. However, dig deeper and the problems behind it were enormous. Belle Vue could be a dark place. The animals being mistreated and the sheer disregard for safety and public health are extremely worrying factors behind the masterpiece that was Belle Vue. 

This made me think of other reasons why fairgrounds could be dark places. The Chernobyl disaster happened on 26th April 1986 and was a catastrophic nuclear disaster that released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere. This killed thousands of people and the effects afterwards could not be imagined. Many people became deformed due to the radioactive material in the atmosphere. There is a Ferris Wheel still there today that was part of a fairground due to open on 1st May 1986, (5 days after the disaster), in Pripyat, a city near where the power plant exploded.

The images are shocking and demonstrate how abandoned the scene became. A place that was supposed to be fun instantly became very scarce and lifeless.

Belle Vue Archive

 The Belle Vue Archive Visit made me aware of the darker side to the fairground and entertainment industry. The park was operational between 1836-1980, founded by the Jenison family and was described as being 'bigger than Disneyland'. It was one of the biggest successes in the entertainment industry at the time and the Jennison family made a huge amount of money from it due to making everything themselves - beer, designing signs and catering for example. There were things featured at the park that people hadn't seen before such as wild animals in the zoo and impressive fireworks to exhilarating rides and dramatic circus shows. Belle Vue was advertised to be something really beautiful, but it was a dark place sometimes - it had an 'ugly' side. 

The animals in the zoo didn't survive very long due to being mistreated and worked to death. Once they arrived at Belle Vue the animals only lasted weeks/months. 

In addition, once an accident had occurred (such as a member of the public being decapitated on a ride because he stood up), the Jenison's didn't acknowledge it or enforce any safety procedures. Another worrying event was when George Jennison (grandson of the founder) was bitten by a Chimpanzee, so he shot it dead in front of the public. A famous chimpanzee called 'Consul' was also made to smoke and ride a bike, but only survived 5 years and was replaced with a replica chimp to deceive the public. Baring in mind chimps live to be 30/40 usually, this was horrific.

Other attractions included, 'The Palace of Strange Girls' which was suspected to be either 'fat' or 'dwarfed' girls that the public went to laugh at.

The park was sold in 1920 and the new owners built a fairground on it which was successful for many years due to it having the fastest and highest roller coaster in the world there - the 'BOB'. However, the popularity of the whole park declined around 1960 due to better places being available to go. 

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Archive

The trip to Blackpool made me realise how much thought goes into the entertainment industry. The man giving the initial talk explained that the Pleasure Beach as a business have to keep updating their rides and attractions in order to sustain the interest from people seeking thrills. He also explained  how this influenced people after World War 2. I believe that the park was part of an escape from reality after the war and allowed people to escape from the real world for the time that they spent on the rides. I also believe that the rides allowed people to experience thrill for the first time in a long time.

Bright strobe lighting

Exploring the park enabled me to view the structure of the rides and the way that they all interlink with each other across the park. I also noticed the bright colours of the rides and the graphic text on the signs around the park. I particularly liked the lights that hung around the park as I feel it makes the park look magical and mystical. This adds to the feeling of escapism and being in a land of wonder and dreams. 

Roller coasters are mainly simple primary colours. I find it fascinating how the track swerves back through the centre of the coaster and loops round.

After being shown the costume collection that they have there, I found that the colours were, again, bright and would make anyone stand out from the crowd. I loved the designs that were pinned on the wall in the studio too, due to their bright, graphic quality. 

The costumes were the most interesting part of the visit for me. I liked the carnival feeling to them and the bright colours used on some of them.

One of the head wear pieces reminded me of the famous fairground snack candy floss due to its feathery, light consistency.