With all the work handed in for the first MA modules there is time to reflect. It had been a bit of a challenge coming from a different discipline into textiles.
There are so many possibilities, facilities and techniques that it all became a little overwhelming throughout the first few months.
Colours, fabrics, yarns
Weaving, knitting, sewing, dyeing, printing
Then there were all the facilities in the Digital Design Hub, where learning to use Adobe Illustrator is pretty much a MUST.
Lazer-cutting, digital print, digital embroidery, sublimation printing
It has not been possible to learn everything without starting back at year one BA in Textiles so I am trying to keep with some things I know about such as concentrating on printing .
Weaving was a new technique for me and having given it a try I soon realised I was enjoying the process and ideas were forming. I was loving the textures and weaving with just yarns as well as incorporating papers, plastic, sticks and so on. My next ideas will incorporate maps and some of my natural dyed fabrics.
This is my first attempt at weaving and I can’t wait to do some more.
Although I was having fun with experimenting still I knew I was going to have to think about where it was all leading.
I thought about what had inspired me to study and MA in textiles rather than illustration or fine art. What was I doing it for? What were my goals and aims?
It was being pushed to really think about what I would write about for the dissertation which made me look back and try to answer these questions. A combination of working in the print room and being an artist in residence at Artcore were the main reasons. The theme for the project at Artcore was ‘a celebration of 70 years of Indian independence’ and as a printmaker I chose to look at Indian printed fabric and look at how it was made and the motifs they used. I made works on paper inspired by indian block printing and the symbolic imagery they used in their textiles. Working in the print room I could see some amazing printed fabrics being created by the textile students.
My goals and aims are still a little vague but they are becoming clearer. I will incorporate techniques I enjoy working with in my future work. These are all hands on techniques such as printmaking, weave and dyeing. I sometimes feel I should embrace the digital a little more. There may be time for this later.
Below : A few prints and woodblocks from my Artcore residence
At the Melbourne Festival Art Trail last month, where I showed some of my prints, I received a lot of good feedback about my elephant printed wallpaper. A possible fabric to pursue.
Taking weave further I needed to learn how to set up a loom from the beginning, a bigger task than I expected.
Three hours later I was almost there until it was pointed out that some of the yarns were crossed. I am currently in the process of re-threading it.
In the meantime I have been making some mono prints which began with intention of being reworked as screen prints so that they can be repeated onto fabric, however It soon became apparent that the prints were looking like they were inspired by the textiles I had been working on and not the other way around. I was pleased with the prints and intend to continue working on them alongside the weave to create collections of prints and woven textiles that work as a cohesive body of work.
Nicki Dennett 