Creating a 'Mock' Final Piece + Problem Solving and Idea Exploration 22/5/21

Morning: Tate Britain LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE Exhibition

Afternoon:

With just over two weeks of the project remaining I though it would be valuable to make a small scale ‘mock piece’. This would allow me to experiment with shape structure and materials, whilst also encounter any issues or problems earlier, and therefore still have time to make improvements before the deadline.

I ran with the idea of a see through mesh ‘urn’, inspired by the style of the artist, Dho Oh Suh and the historic references I researched. The idea came following my design development workshop with Chris where I experimented with a number of different possible outcome structures and objects. I would embroider the first layer on the mesh, having images of plants, flowers, decaying matter, as well as drawings inspired by my studies of anatomy and possible references to scenes and ancient funeral traditions. Then above the foundational transparent layer I would have an enveloping wire layer similar to the style of small scale sculptures I’ve created throughout my project.

I modelled the shape around a simple bead tin I had, and drew out a ‘net’ of the rectangular shape, measured out the fabric, and cut the shape. I used this beige / peach organza which I had lying around. For the piece to have structure and to actually hold shape I realised I would have to create a ‘inner’ frame which would hold out the fabric. I experimented with the idea of making the piece around a simple box, painting the fabric in clear glue, sowing in ‘boning’, or even having something made of plastic netting or paper. However I decided to try first making a wire frame, which I hope would be mostly unseen below the layers of embroidery and wire above.

However after experimenting with draping the cut mesh fabric over my constructed metal wire frame I felt it was almost too transparent. I was fearful my final project would have the same issue I felt my three-dimensional wire heart sculpture had. This was that it was so transparent that the viewer would be able to see high the way through it and view the front and the back simultaneously, which took away from the detail of the piece and just made it overall too confusing and busy.

To prevent this I tried draping other textile scraps I had made throughout my project onto the piece, this included other embroidered mesh and fabrics, wire pieces and different coloured cuts. I felt this added depth to the piece and meant I could pursue a few possible routes next. I quite liked the idea of trying out ‘appliqué’ possibly?? or even cutting out shapes and leaving holes below to see through and isolate certain elements. I felt I could even link this to the ice cube experiment results I created earlier in my project, which showed the frozen flowers to cut in and out of the edge’s of ice cubes.

Idea from Ming Dynasty Ceramic Pillows + Fine art influences

The ‘box’ shape I created was from another idea in my research, which were these ceramic ancient Chinese pillows, from the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). I felt this idea fit both aesthetically and thematically. This was because not only did the designs of the pillows mimic traditional East Asian ceramic, but I liked the idea of the urn being something which puts someone ‘at rest’. This was another idea linking to one of the first paintings I studied right at the start of my project, ‘The Angel of Death’ (1880) by Evelyn De Morgan. This painting depicts an angel welcoming a woman to ‘death’, showing death as a relief from life. With my urn being the shape of a pillow, I felt, it held this positive idea that death isn’t seen as simply an end, but more a rest or eternal peaceful sleep.

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I felt today was overall extremely successful, not only did I start my mock final, but I also came across possible problems with the piece and found multiple solutions which I felt opened me up to a range of route I can now explore. Next I will experiment with using paper, embroidery, appliqué, cut outs, wire, to construct a series of samples experimenting with what fabrics and materials work for an outcome.

Tomorrow I plan to:

Update my time management calendar plan to include the new routes and ideas
Upload my recent gallery visits to workflow, including Tate Britain visit from this morning and the Royal Academy visit tomorrow
Create my textile sample series in preparation for FMP

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