Birley Fields Commission: Artist Research

Figure 1: Monotype by April Jordan

I was looking at different artwork that mainly uses the colour blue, because of my theme is water. Therefore, I think the main colour theme should be blue, I came across this monotype by April Jordan, and I was inspired by the oriental style.

My idea of the water form is feminine, gentle and smooth. Therefore, I think the oriental style goes really well with the water theme.

Figure 2: Stitch Ritual by Jane LaFazio

I also came across patchwork pieces, that led me think of creating a series of textiles work and using the embroidery hoops to creating space, also I was taking my feedback from my tutor in to concentration in order to improve my idea. ‘’ Think about how the circular frame works for me.’’ That is where I had the idea of using embroidery hoops. Because embroidery hoops are a daily object that I see every day, it is a tool that I use, it becomes part of my art work.

Figure 3: Photoshop

I have taken photographs of sections of design out of the overall fabric, and put it in Photoshop to show, what my hanging piece would look like.

I have been inspired by the prints design. The digital printer was not part of the original design.  

After sampling the piece with The Irish embroidery machine made the fabric resist too much inside an embroidery hoop.  The way in which I would normally work would be to back the fabric, however with this it was not possible unless using the digital print method.   

This also enabled the project to be efficient in terms of time, but also deliver the best quality result.

Satin Silk is the most suitable fabric for this piece because of its shiny quality.  It is semi-transparent so allows light, but also allows a print to be seen on the fabric.

Figure 4: Photoshop

However, I like the idea of having the fabric in the background as well as having the embroidery hoops section part of the design.

Also, this solved the problem of having the already exiting wood background of the wall.

Overall, I believe I could move the composition around to gain different effects.

I like the turquoise as a focus point and realise that there could be some manoeuvring involved if the client would like.