Contextual Reference. Lucy Orta.

Lucy Orta's Refuge Wear series questions human spacial awareness and interaction through high-tech expedition materials. Using PVC, Polar fleece and aluminium polyamides, to name but a few, Orta creates wearable personal refuge spaces which question social interactions and space. This piece from 1993 titled 'Habitant' was developed with the homeless in mind, asking how as a textile artist/designr can she affect the situation of homelessness; could fabrics be the way forward to reintegrate the homeless back into society instead of traditional means of architecture and housing. I love Orta's work as it merges art, design and social awareness. Her creations have the ability to isolate or include.

Contextual Reference. Roger Hiorns.

Goldsmiths graduate Roger Hiorns uses materials and chemical reactions to transform found objects and to explore social encounters and urban situations. Using crystal formulae, melted plastics and burnings he creates evocative pieces of work. This project from 2008 titled 'Seizure' saw Hiorns pump 75,000 litres of solution into a London council flat to cover the floors, walls and roof in a copper sulphate crystalline growth. Hiorns takes the mundane and makes it glitter and shine with these chemical growths. Similar to Latino's work, I'm really interested in developing my work with crystal like shapes.

Contextual Reference. Lucy McRae.

Lucy McRae is an artist/designer who explores similar themes to that of Tilbury. Her work centres more around extensions and prosthetics of the body and how the natural silhouette can be morphed. McRae uses substances like foam, feathers, paper, and wood to construct extensions to the human form. Her jagged flesh-blade hybrid shapes caught my eye the most; it reminds me of the structures Jonathan Latino was creating but applied to the human form. The deformed bodies intrigue the viewer whilst also making us feel a little unnerved. These mutations could be replicated using laser cutting and 3D printing approaches.

Contextual References. Jonathan Latino.

Jonathan Latino's work explores space and extension through his beautifully formed crystal structures. Latino his BA in Studio Art from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvanian in 2006 and his Masters in Fine Art from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2012. This piece 'Emerge' clearly questions spacial awareness and scale. The artist has created something which looks organically beautiful whilst also retaining a structured body. The crystals which would form naturallly in caves has been intentionally placed in that exhibition space, juxtaposing the organic chance of the crystals with man-made intentions.  I am interested in creating similar shapes in my own work with alternate materials and fabrics. 

Contextual Reference. Nancy Tilbury.

A designer I've always had a fascination with is Nancy Tilbury. Tilbury is a pioneer in the world of fashion and textiles, pushing the boundaries in accepted thoughts of what defines a textile and how the field will evolve with technology. Tilbury that believes in the modern age it is paramount that fashion/textiles develop with it, and she envisions a future where apparel will be an ephemeral and effortless experience. Her work focuses on the relationship between what is digital and what is physical. Her work explores ideas of digital skin being able to grow at our will from our bodies, giving us the ability to change our appearance with digital impulses or ingestion of reactive chemicals which change the texture, colour and shape of our skin. The picture above depict how genetics could one day be engineered to develop foot wear or jewellery. I am inspired by her way of considering the body and the materials used as one combined unit. These depictions are beautifully thought out and excited me to try out projection, liquids and latex in my own work.

Laser Cutting Induction

This week we were inducted into the 3D CAD room, where Adan the technician demonstrated the 3D printer and laser cutting services. We got an overview of the machines and were told what programmes to use to digitally render our creations, like Solid-Works, CAD and Illustrator. We learned that when using illustrator to prepare for the laser cutter that red lines would be processed as a cut and blue lines would be processed as an engraving. Today we got a chance to practice the laser cutting on some 15x15cm plywood tiles. The session was very informative and I know now to perhaps develop and push my 3D thinking a bit more and also practice on my Adobe Illustrator skills. 

Ch..ch..changes.. My Transition from Fashion to Textiles

To most, changing course is a scary and risky move, and thats usually in your first year of uni; so the shock and concern on some peoples faces when I said I was switching course in second year made me feel like a bit of a mad man. To me however the transition from Fashion to Textiles has been a fluid one, reassuring that I am the right track, or more so 'a' right track. Something that I've come to learn is that there isn't one smooth go; there's bumps and turns in the road something you just have to embrace instead of sitting in auto-pilot all your life. So I made the wrong decision, so I wasn't enjoying my course. Do I look at the past year with regret and disappointment, or do I take it in my stride and simply accept that it was a year in which I learned a lot about myself. Looking back at my work from Foundation in college my I can see my work was a lot more about generating fabrics and materials aimed towards fashion, opposed to fashion work for fashion. I can also see a lot more passion and joy in what I was doing opposed to feeling the need to tailor my work to fit a Fashion Design syllabus. Textiles in Practice is such a broad and open-ended course, offering teaching for skills that lend to a variety of fields. Textiles for the body is definitely something I've always had an interest in, but I have not yet fully explored textiles applied to an installation context, which is something which interests me a lot. Im excited to embark on this new chapter of my life.