Colchester Institute's Year3's 'Work In Progress' Exhibition

During this week, the Fashion and Textile third years held a exhibition called 'Work in Progress' in the Hay Gallery at Colchester Institute.

A collection of students exhibited their work from their pre-collections for all students to see. Roz Morrison, who works at Paul Smith viewed and gave feedback to the students on their work and shortlisted three students who will later on show their portfolios to Paul Smith. He will then choose a winner that will receive a career with him and will also receive mentoring from Paul himself.

Here are a few pictures I took of the projects from the exhibition that I would have chosen if I was working for Paul Smith. 

Introduction to textile applications: first lesson

I took a trip to the library on campus to look at textile and print books to choose patterns which I enjoyed. I was to then photocopy or photograph these prints and analyse them in my research file for this module. Using the prints that I enjoyed, I designed motifs in my sketchbook which I then went onto use to create my own prints to expose onto a screen at a later date.

Here are the prints that I designed to be exposed onto my screen:
                                         

We then Sellotape our prints on to our blank screens and placed on the exposure unite. After that we turned the suction on which secured the screens in place and turned the exposure unit to face the exposure light.

Using protective goggles our lecturer turned on the exposure light once we had left the room.

After several minutes our lecturer checked the screens and turned off the light and then we washed out the screens to reveal our prints. I will then go on to use my screen in further lessons.

The Georgian Era presentation

We were asked to create a short presentation to display to a small number of students from our class on our selected era, using the research we had found. 

Hollytrees Museum

After reviewing the photos I took on the trip to Colchester Town to visit Firstsite and document the surrounding buildings that took an interest to myself, I chose a building which I wanted to take forward and research in depth.

The building I chose was Hollytrees Museum.

I then went onto researching the Museum itself including information of the era it was built in:

Hollytrees Museum was built in 1718 by Thomas Blagden, a London builder who built the house for Elizabeth Comelisen of Camberwell, London. In 1920's Hollytrees was sold to Colchester Corporation, who then employed local architects, Duncan Clark and Becketti in 1926 to convert it into a museum which resulted in substantial alterations to the building. The museum then opened to the public in 1929 displaying medieval antiquities and later bygones.

In August 2001 the museum reopened after fourteen months of major redevelopment funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund. This saw the installation of a lift, new visitor facilities and creation of the present displays on the themes of domestic life and childhood in Colchester over the last 300 years.

(Image sourced from: http://www.gazette-news.co.uk/news/12869426.HISTORY__Queen_Mary_visits_Hollytrees_Museum/)

Here is an image of when Queen Mary (our current Queen's grandmother) visited the Museum in 1938, which was dug out by staff from Colchester Museums. Apparently shows particularly interested in the dolls house collection, which is still there today.

Semester 2:

We were introduced to our new brief for our studio module (Introduction to Fashion and Textile Processes) upon entering semester two, the brief being 'Firstsite'

The aim of the brief is to research and develop visual information gathered from a specific site visit and study in depth the Firstsite building and its surrounding buildings that comprise of a variety of different eras and architectural styles. Creating visual comparisons between the various architectural styles surrounding the contemporary architectural statement that is the Firstsite building. We will then work through our research to generate ideas to design and make a jumpsuit, in pairs, that will be shown at the 2015 fashion show at Firstsite on May 15th.

Once receiving this information, I walked down to the Firstsite to document the building, taking various images in all sorts of angles. I then wandered around Colchester town to document other buildings with a group of students. I came across many that I enjoyed, one being the Minnories (a gallery and cafe right next to Firstsite), A house across the street from the Minnories and last but not least, Hollytrees (A museum next to Colchester Castle, just down the road from the Minnories).

After wandering around Colchester Town me, Laura, Amy and Emmeline took a lunch break at a cafe by the water tower called, The Old Court. (Which was absolutely divine by the way)

Modernism and Postmodernism; An Historical and Contextual Perspective - Lecture Response

Postmodernism is a broad cultural trend which involves skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, history, economics, architecture, fiction and literary criticism. With no limits, it is often associated with deconstruction due to its utility, gaining popularity in relation to 20th Century post-structural thought.

Modernism on the other hand is a philosophical movement that arose in the 19th and early 20th Centuries. The main factor of this movement was the rapid development and growth within cities, buildings and general imagination.

This lecture was hosted by Sean Odell, who went on to refer the book 'The Structure of Scientific Revolutions' by Thomas S. Kuhn. Sean stated that Post modernism is manifested purely from digression and irony but also highly absent in the late 19th Century.

Postmodernism is disobedient. The philosophy itself ask more questions than answers. Late last year I visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, where I viewed one Exhibition relevant to this weeks lecture, called Disobedient Objects (which I mentioned in this previous blog post). When visiting the exhibition I wasn't aware nor had any clue to what it was about which left me extremely confused afterwards. It wasn't until receiving the information in this weeks lecture that I fully understood and viewed the artwork displayed in a whole other light. I believe it is important to ask ourselves how artists explore new alternatives by breaking the typical and kitsch postmodern boundaries within technique, as I feel it is essential to challenge traditional horizons in order to distinguish and support this ever changing and technologically advancing world we live in.

Shirt Evalutation

The theme of this project was to design and make a shirt with sporty influences such as zips and contrasting panels within 4 workshop sessions. I started researching shirt styles within current trends whilst also paying detail to historical designs and usage.

I came up with various designs involving contrasting panels, diverse seams, collars and shoulders. At first it was a struggle to think of an idea withholding the minimalistic behaviour I apply to my designs whilst creating something fresh and new. Whilst researching styles of shirts and blouses I came across a Ralph Lauren frill shirt, which in context, is completely the opposite of sporty and is in fact considered as a feminine style. After evaluating the stunning yet adverse style I decided to explore incorporating the frill technique with sporty features such as contrasting panels, zips and stand collars.

Once deciding on a final design I mapped out a basic construction plan which I later redrew and added more in depth detail on Adobe Illustrator. Using this as a step-by-step guide I started my creative journey.

I am pleased with my final outcome and how the design has developed from a singular idea, to a 2d design then into a 3d functional garment. I wasn’t overly confident to how the frill would turn out with the extra layer being the contrast panel, as I had only experimented with one layer which hung nicely upon a mannequin. However after seeing the final outcome with all elements coinciding, I was rather pleased I took the risk.

If I was to make improvements to my shirt I would pay more detail and caution whilst sewing the statement frill. This is because I noticed after completing the shirt that the frill on the left side of the shirt is 1cm lower than the right side. I would also improve the straightness of the stitching along the hems and ensure that they are even and are stitching through all the layers they are supposed to.

In conclusion I am pleased with my outcome of this project as I believe I achieved the best work I could in at the stage I am currently at. Although there are imperfections and things I now look upon that I would debate changing, I realise that with practice and experience makes perfect.