Final Evaluation

Final Evaluation

Firstly, for the live brief project “Mother & Child” I researched into family photographs exploring the connection personally between my me and my Mother. I struggled at the start of the project to achieve a theme as I was unsure how I was going to interpret the project personally to be developed further into primary, secondary and contextual studies. However, I discovered a variety of photographs taken from family holidays which included trips to Blackpool and amusements such as Disneyland Paris and Pleasure Beach. I have a strong connection between Blackpool as I have family who live there which makes it a personal place of where I grew up as a child and the relationship I have with the resort with my Mum up to the present day. Also, the resort is personal to my Mum as she also visited the resort growing up as a child with my Grandma and Grandad. This was a big impact towards my inspiration for the project as it allowed me to expand my ideas further which lead to a detailed mind map of areas that I researched into. These photos were especially inspiring as it was fascinating to explore how amusements and Blackpool has developed over the years but still continues to include similar attractions and advertisements which are appealing towards families. From my researched obtained from family holiday photographs, this allowed me to expand my ideas and develop an idea of looking towards the theme of seaside resorts and fairground attractions. For my primary research, I collected previous images taken at Glastonbury Festival which explored the “Kidz Field” that allowed you to explore your imagination through sculptures, shows and characters. The area allowed you to relive your childhood and explore dreams that appealed to everyone. This was an inspiring area within my sketchbook as it explored a different aspect of “Mother and Child” exploring dreams and specifically childhood. However, it connected to my theme as it resembled childhood which is a major theme running through my family photographs and development into seaside resorts. Also, this research was useful as it included attractions within the “Kidz Field” and “Circus Field” which was fairground rides. The fairground rides included a giant “Helter Skelter” which was an important feature for me as it followed the theme of amusements but also a sense of childhood as it is an exciting attraction to explore and experience. Glastonbury research also appealed to adults personally as it allowed you to interact with characters which were presented in my sketchbook but also thinking about positivity with quotes including “pretending to be an aeroplane is permitted in this area”. The primary research obtained from the festival had a major impact and influence within my work. Also, for my primary research I visited Leeds and Manchester Christmas market to observe amusements and attractions around the area. This included observing fairground games, dodgems and carousels which were interesting to observe. I was inspired by my colour schemes around these attractions and I was pleased with the outcomes within my sketchbook. I continued to use research taken from my family photographs as they were a main inspiration and starting point towards my project. This included portrait photographs of my family taken from weddings and special occasions. These are my favourite pieces within my sketchbook as it has allowed me to develop my confidence of portrait drawing to capture family members including my Grandma which is very personal and an achievement for me. Family photographs also included pets, Blackpool, Scarborough, Disneyland Paris and theme parks which all contributed to my personal develop of the project and understanding of theme. It has also allowed me to learn about my family history and the places we have visited when I was a child. At Christmas, I went to Blackpool to visit family which was a perfect opportunity to collect photographs around the resort and to compare them to family photographs taken previously. For my primary research, I collected photos on the sea front which incorporated Blackpool Illuminations, Blackpool Tower, advertisements and Food Stalls. I also visited amusements to capture games, prizes and traditional machines including a “Fortune Teller”. It was interesting to see a different perspective of Blackpool as well which was a dull and tasteless areas compared to positive photographs from family holidays. Finally for my primary research, I visited the Civic Gallery to visit Sam Shendis “Mother & Child” exhibition to observe the artist’s work and gain observational drawings. From visiting the gallery it allowed me to understand the artist’s work in depth detail and how the colour “blue” was used within his work to present a struggle that mothers face raising a child. Photographs were taken from the exhibition but also observational drawings which included techniques quick sketching and continuous line drawing to build up textures and the minimal shapes. The “tasteless” inspiration taken from “Blackpool” was also incorporated into my artist research which explored the “kitsch movement” and specifically the artist Jeff Koons. The artist has produced a variety of large scale sculptures exploring balloons and cartoon characters which is similar to pieces found at Blackpool within shops and amusements. The artist has had a big influence within my work as I have taken inspiration from balloon characters and toys to be developed into my own prints and layouts. Also, the artist has had an influence through my work as he gave me the inspiration to create a mind map of photographs that were objects I found to be “Kitsch”.  Finally, the artist has had a big influence throughout my work as he gave me the confidence to use bold, striking colour to impact my work and make specific pieces stand out. Also, for my artist research I obtained information around the artist Yayoi Kusama who is an abstract artist that creates artworks with a repeated pattern of dots. At first I disliked the artist with the choice of colour schemes but I have continued to research further I found her work inspiring around defining infinity with beautiful installations. The repeated dot pattern had an influence towards my work as I incorporates repeated patterns and used the pattern to build texture within my design work. Also, the artist was inspiring towards me experimenting with bright, striking bold colours for my visual sheets and experimentations. After discussing with the curator at the Civic, I researched the photographer Martin Parr who captures society in a humorous and irregular way through perspectives. This included a collection Martin Parr created around Seaside resorts and Benidorm which was inspiring me to observe the photographers perception of the places. The emphasis of bold colours and strange perspectives was inspiring to me and influenced my work for colour schemes and layouts. Finally for my artist research, I looked into Textiles artists which included Jo Butcher and Shelia Hicks. Jo Butcher is an embroidery artist who creates delicate intricate patterns based around the countryside and nature. This was not influential towards my work but gave me the confidence to develop my embroidery skills further. Shelia Hicks is a weave artist who creates large installation which was also not influential towards my final outcome but gave the confidence to experiment with weaving through the artist but also my own samples.  To develop from my research I created moodboards which incorporated secondary research from my Pinterest moodboard of “Fairgrounds”. This allowed me to identify which areas are most inspiring to be developed further into the project but also continuing to use artists influence. I identified that Blackpool would be most important area towards my development as I achieved most research from the resort and I have knowledge about the area too. To develop my research into my visual sheets I collected specific areas I found most inspiring in my sketchbook to be transferred and created into my own surface design patterns. Through both design sheets I collected inspiration from food and drinks found around Blackpool as it was striking and appealing to me when collecting research. I also collected elements I found iconic when collecting research which included donkeys, sandcastles and horses which are found around seaside attractions. This would allow my piece to be more understandable for the client to connect to the final piece. Also, for my development towards my visual sheets I also created patterns which explored imagination and dreams that included mermaids, spacemen, tea cup rides and helter skelters. All of these designs I believe will connect to both generations of mother and child but also clients visiting the gallery. I wanted to create a piece that everyone visiting the Civic Gallery would understand but also allow them to think about memories of visiting seaside resorts and fairgrounds. Throughout the development I considered the elements of textiles which also made my initial designs unique and individual. As I wanted the final outcome to be a repeated pattern I considered this requirement throughout my design process and creating the layouts of my visual sheets. The layouts of my visual sheet were inspired by a triangle shape obtained from a carousel ride collected from my family photographs and a circle shape inspired by “Yayoi Kusamas” work. Inspiration from artists have been included within my visual sheet and development process. When discussing with the client about my work, I developed and expanded my artist research to explore the photographers work Martin Parr as he suggested it would be inspiring for me and the theme of the project. I was pleased that the client suggested this artist as I enjoyed researching about his work and observing how it demonstrates society through humour and a variety of perspectives. The client developed my understanding of my theme further through this suggestion and I was pleased with the outcome. It allowed me to gain the confidence to talk about my work and progress to the client which achieved positive feedback and an interest for my design work and project outcome. The client didn’t not change or takeaway a part of my design but gave me a restraint which I followed throughout my design process. For my constraint, the client told the studio that we couldn’t use colour “blue” in our design process and final outcome of the design. This colour was chosen as the artist Sam Shendi used the colour blue to emphasise the struggle and area that the mothers faced with children. This did have an impact on my design as I used the colour and a scheme through my moodbaord as it associated with the Colour Sea and elements around seaside towns. This did have a big impact as I realised that the colour blue was featured several times within my sketchbook pages and colour schemes. However, for the design process I followed the restraint throughout the task and allowed me to consider my colour schemes in further detail and experiment with different tones. As the colour blue is familiar around seaside’s it allowed me to look back into my sketchbook and primary images to discover different colours that are frequent and inspiring for my scheme and theme. I never worked against the client’s requirements as I wanted to gain the experience for working within industry and learning how to adapt to restrictions required. Personally, I work better with clients as I enjoy being set challenging and adapting my ideas in order to suit the requirements and deadlines needed. If I didn’t have no client constraints I would most likely have used the colour blue as it a big influence within my work and suits the final chosen colour scheme for the final piece. I believe that I would have used the colour through my samples and experimentation for the project but I followed the requirements in order to fit the live brief. Another constraint was the size requirements which didn’t impact me as my design layout could be adapted to fit any sizes and be repeated if a large scale piece was to be produced. I would of used the same samples and fabrics used within my experimentation process and the finish of my digital print as it gains a professional appearance with a protective and glossy finish. The type of customer did influence my design as I previously asked the client who was the target audience which was everyone. I wanted to create a design which appealed to all audiences and especially children as it reflects imagination dreams and excitement with the positive colours and layouts presented. I also want the older generation and adults to see my final piece and allowed them to think about family holidays and visits to amusement parks. By the target audience being varied the customer did influence my design to some aspects but also giving me the freedom to create my own designs reflecting my research but continuing to follow the client’s requirements. Whilst experimenting with my final design with samples, I faced a problem with the expose of my screen and layers. Firstly, my first outcome was less effective as the measurements weren’t accurate causing the design not to fit accurately onto the surface to achieve an effective 3 layers. However, each separate design was effective which allowed me to generate samples and experimentations. To solve the problem I went back to my tracings and connected them accurately to be transferred back onto the expose machine. As the layout was a circular shape, it caused problems with measurements with my tracings but I solved the problem and created an accurate outcome. Sadly as I exposed the screens they didn’t achieve an effective result through blistering and blocked outcomes. Also, the jet wash took away the small intricate details which had a major impact on the design and damaging the layout and appearance. I repeated the process 6 times but it didn’t achieve success. To solve the problem I transferred my design layout to a digital print which I have previously used within my past project. This was positive problem solving as it allowed me to transfer the design onto fabrics and high quality papers with excellent finishes. I felt frustrated with the exposure of my screens but it worked out effectively to create a good quality digital print that can be transferred onto a variety of fabrics easily if the client requires more samples.  To achieve the digital print, I placed each individual tracing under the scanner to the transferred onto the computer to be fitted together to create the layout. This was repeated for all 3 layers of my design outcome and they were combined together to create a final piece. As the design was for a gallery, I printed the digital outcome onto a paper print with a glossy finish to protect the design from damaging. The size is A2 which is suitable for the gallery as it can be transported easily and be placed into a frame if required. The digital print is also suitable for a gallery as it can be repeated multiple times, change in scale and can be adapted to be fitted onto different fabrics and paper surfaces. For the processes of my project I used a variety of traditional and machine Textiles techniques in order to create a variety of samples which explore my designs and colour schemes. As my final screen was not successful, I was worried about creating samples for the project that explore my design themes and layouts. To solve the problem I used miniature screens and transferred two on my designs with all 3 layers for sampling. This was an effective process as it allowed me to create a variety of large produced miniature samples exploring my theme and colour scheme. For my experimentation within screen-printing I explored how the colour schemes appear on different materials. This included experimenting with Calico, Cotton Azeta and Habotai. For my final chosen colour scheme I decided to have pink, purple and white as these harmonious colours capture each design section well and complement each other effectively. They have been inspired from colours taken in my visual sheet and sketchbooks.  For experimenting I focused with transferring this colour scheme onto different surfaces and discovered that cotton was the most effective. The design didn’t show well on Calico but worked effectively with other colour schemes including “purple,red,black” and “yellow, red, black” “yellow,black,white”. From my screen-samples I developed my skills further and used puff binder to create texture. This emphasised particular areas and developed texture through mixing colours together. However, puff binder would only work with one layer which is less effective. Next, I used puff binder to experiment with Azeta which is a black material that emphasised the design layouts well. Also, within the Textiles workshop I used Devore which wasn’t successful as I couldn’t remove the excess chemicals causing the fabric to stain. I also dyed fabrics which was interesting to create as it allowed me to experiment with colour choices and how the screens were layered. Batik was also used to create further samples through free-hand drawings of my designs and I continued to develop my confidence with a sewing machine using lettering and patterns. Through this task I have developed my skills with hand knitting which is a skill I have been learning since the start of the year. I used my colour scheme for inspiration and worked independently to join colours together to create a giant sample. I was very pleased with this outcome and will continue to knit within Textiles. Next, I used my samples taken from screen-printing and worked back into them through the build-up of metallic threads and traditional threads. This emphasised characters and make the screen outcomes more effective. I generated a sample on the knitting machine which allowed me to continue to experiment with my colour scheme and problem solve regrading thickness of wool. Finally, I created weaving samples which allowed me to experiment with developing my own patterns through weaving a variety of colours together, creating a repeated pattern ad continuing with my choice of colour scheme and outcomes. I decided to create this final outcome for the project, as I wanted to develop my skills further within surface designing as it is an area what I am wanting to achieve in the future as a career. I am wanting to specialise at within this area of Textiles and gain the skills that I am wanting to develop further at University and the future. The final outcome gives me a sense of independence through exposing screens, coating screens and using a variety of techniques within this element.  Throughout the project I believe that I have managed my time well within the studio and specialised workshops as I have worked towards the client’s deadline and the set weeks provided on the live brief. This brief has allowed me to keep on track each week so that I can create and experiment with samples before moving onto my final piece. I have balanced my time well between the specialised workshop and independent student and caught up with work in my own time. I have also been coming in extra which has been useful to generate further samples with the equipment provided at college. Personally, I haven’t done my time management diary accurately as I have misplaced sheets and left them at home when going to college. I am going to improve on this area within the next project and set myself tasks as I have discovered that has worked well for the live brief. However, I have completed my time management sheets with set targets that I have completed outside of college and in my independent study. I have maintained my blog well throughout the project highlighting skills I have achieved in the specialised workshop areas and reviewing my gallery visit to the “Sam Shendi Mother & Child” exhibition at the Civic Gallery. It has allowed me to express my opinions further through my blogs in this project and I am going to continue to write reviews around gallery visits. To improve my blogs I am going to incorporate more videos and images of myself completing workshops tasks.  Overall, I am pleased with my experience of working with someone out of college to complete a live brief. Personally, I believe that it work better for clients and companies because I can interpret themes well and consider requirements and restraints in order to fit the task and brief. It has given me the confidence to ask for requirements and talk about my work personally and my thought processes. The positive feedback has inspired me to develop my theme further to create the final outcome but also gain new knowledge from learning about designers and artists from recommendations. I have enjoyed working towards a live brief and client and I believe that I will continue to develop this skill in the future as a career working in industry. Overall, I have enjoyed this project as it has allowed me to look into a new theme and adaptation of a task given. I am pleased with how I have adapted the theme to suit my personality, interests and thought processes. It has given me the confidence especially within portrait drawings and has allowed me to continue to develop skills within the Textiles environment. My strengths have been Textiles sampling as it has been an area I have needed to improve on and I believe that I have achieved this .