Unit X - Evaluation

I have reinterpreted a Folktale The Deer without a Heart, focusing on the character of the Brainless Deer to represent a more biologically accurate narrative.  Taking a modern day secular method to retell this fable through stitch enhances both a message of animal rights and also moves the narrative of animals from the remit of children’s stories into more of an adult and academic audience, and offers tactility, delicacy and impact.

 

My first project (Bradford Textiles Society Design Brief) was related to the cruelty of foxhunting and the urbanisation of their habitats, by developing this further I am able to create more narrative and figurative responses to story-telling and allows my strengths to ben known.

 

I use my work to communicate with my audience. I have created a range of fabric samples for different purpose, interior designs, illustration as story-telling and motifs for fashion use.

I have looked at a number of artists and designers including Karen Nicol and Brian Wildsmith for inspiration.

 

Figure 1: Karen Nicol, Fox in the Fall, 2014

Artist based research helps me understand where my work fits.  I somewhere between the busy composition of Wildsmith and the texture and detail of Nicol’s work.

 

Figure 2: Brian Wildsmith

I have studied animal movement, focused on lions, nature documentaries and Simon king photographer as a reference. I developed a number of characters and imagined their own histories and personalities to help give depth to the samples and stitch work that I create.

 

Throughout this project my major challenges were both composition and use of materials. I have successfully managed to use these to help my final pieces and I have found the appropriate materials for a final professional piece.  I am working in duck cotton as a base fabric and also a range of found materials. 

 

I challenged my scale of work in terms of embroidery and have adjusted sizing to not lose detail.  I have also successfully managed to reproduce similar results to my sketchbook work.   Using my sketchbook every day throughout the project has been a major achievement as it helps me with the quality of the output I produce. My sketchbook work shown the range of composition, scales and realism.

 

The final output is a body of sketchbook and sample to draw together both story telling in the traditional sense, but also as a frame my samples and characters. I managed to successfully complete the project within the timescale and also was able to refine several aspects by redoing them on new fabric to make them more professional. After this body of work was completed I continued working alongside International Fashion students to contextualize my employability options and work context for my target audience and how best to market to these groups.