Assignment 4 Contextual Studies Stage 1

Stage 1: Research 10 Artists and Designers:

I was looking forward to this assignment and I though it will be a breeze. However it proved to be more challenging then I anticipated. Part 1 requires researching 10 designers and artists who have an impact on textiles over the last century. The main resources are online. Almost all public figures have plenty of “popular” information on the Internet however getting to the more in-depth knowledge proved to be testing.  For this reason I visited UCA Farnham Campus Library in October. The library is smaller then I expected but have great collection of textile and fashion books. I couldn’t get any books out, because I am not a member. Later I learned that I could have become a member because the library is open to public. After a morning of searching their database, I found several books and articles that I can use.  I couldn’t photocopy most of the material because the copying machines were mainly designed to work with a library card, and kept logging me out. The staff advised me to photograph the pages I wanted. Apparently there is an app for turning the photograph pages into text. I followed their advice but soon I found that it is very difficult to reference these photographs. You cannot name or tag the information while you are taking the picture. I missed my Uni days where I had great resources at my disposal. I ended up buying two second-hand books as a last resort.

Researching the list of artist and designers, I soon found that the volume of information could be very distracting. I decided to keep it relevant to textiles and make notes about what attracts me about their work and practice. Even researching online you soon get a feel of the significance of the work, who writes or edits books about tem and which part of their work is more popular. I decided to write a small paragraph for each of them, list the bibliography of books, web and audiovisual material I found. I also used pintrest to pin lots of visual material: https://uk.pinterest.com/saadetpayne/

Here are my notes about the people I researched:

Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh (1864 - 1933):

Margaret Mackintosh - Print design

Margaret Macdonald was one of the most gifted and successful women artists in Scotland at the turn of the century. Her output was wide-ranging and including water colours, graphics, metalwork and textiles. She is a part of Glasgow Four group whose work were seen to be controversial and yet founded the modern architectural styles we recognize today. Although she is a remarkable artist herself she is always featured as the wife of Charles Rene Mackintosh. For their collaborative work the credit went to Charles Mackintosh mostly. Researching Margaret Mackintosh was a little frustrating in that sense. However Charles Mackintosh acknowledges that his wife’s contribution has been invaluable, saying he may be talented but it is Margaret is the genius one.

 Characteristic of Mackintosh styles:

·      plain white surfaces and furnishings 

·      restrained use of colour

·      long flowing lines

·      use of symbols, such as swirling roses, based on nature

·      patterns based on geometric shapes, such as the square

·      extreme attention to detail

·      consideration for the design of all elements to work together: the interiors, fittings, furniture and exteriors

·      exaggerated forms, such as can be found in his high-back chairs

·      clear typography

Leon Bakst (1866-1924):

Leon Bakst -Scheherazade

Russian painter and scene and costume designer. He was a member of the Sergei Diaghilev circle and the Ballets Russes, for which he designed exotic, richly colored sets and costumes. His sketches show the costumes on dancers in motion. He was designing the costumes with the moves and, poses in mind. Fluid, colorful and erotic costumes, very different from the classic style before him.

Bakst's gorgeous color combinations were a leading feature in the appearance of Ballet Russes productions. Bakst's work became the sensation of art galleries and a dominant influence in the fashion world at the time. He was the most distinguished artist that the theater had at the time.

Ethel Mairet (1872 -1952)

Ethel Mairet (1872-1952) was an exceptional weaver and dyer, whose influence can still be felt today. She was a member of the small but vigorous crafts community in Ditchling, where she established an influential weaving workshop at Gospels, alongside Eric Gill, Edward Johnston and Douglas Pepler. Mairet was teaching weaving at the Brighton School of Art, exhibiting her work widely, publishing a number of books and articles and producing what she referred to as ‘textile portfolios’ with accompanying pamphlets to support teaching.

She has also been an important teacher to and collaborator with other well-known hand-weavers such as Mary Barker, Peter Collingwood, and Marianne Straub.

Anni Albers (1899 - 1994):

Anni Albers - Design for Weaving

 Bauhaus design duo: Anni and Joseph Alberts. Pioneers of 20^th century modernism.

Anni Albers weaving design bear clear signs of Bauhaus school. Clear lines, shapes and colors. Simple but purposeful and functional. I am intrigued by her designs and in future would like to look into her work in detail. Her articles about weaving, working with material and design principals are on my reading list.

Lucienne Day (1917 - 2010):

Lucien Day - Print Design

Iconic mid century design duo: Lucienne and Robin Day. Their home textiles products defined the era from 1950s to 1990s. She was instrumental springing British textile design onto international stage. Her influence can till be seen in mainstream products today.

Magdalena Abakanowicz (1930 -)

Red Abakan

I found Abakanowicz work very emotional. It is subtlety political too. Her response to her own restrictions/oppression under first nazi Germany and the effects of socialist Russia is powerful. Considering the political turmoil of today’s world her work is very relevant today too. She pulls us between collective and individual. Headless sculptured gathered in crowd and yet each of them is individual. The scale of her sculptures needs to be noted. The scale amplifies the feeling they evoke I think. The scale, maybe, could be her response to the restrictions she was imposed upon. The more oppression, the bigger the scale.

Her concept of fiber as a universal structure that forms each and every one of us is interesting (from tree leaves to our nervous system). Fiber crates form or texture, cast in other material.  Her work helped textile to be accepted as an art form. Some of her figures reminded me of Alberto Giacometti, whom I love. I also found her drawings very powerful too. Strong lines expressed with force.

She writes many of the books about her too. She likes to control her message maybe.

Zandra Rhodes (1940 -)

Zandra Rhodes - Sketches

Strong, bold, colorful. Her designs are eye popping. She was the queen of print in 1960 to 1980s. Her prints are characterised as uniquely calligraphic. She produces floating garments, and she cuts her garments considering prints where print defines the shape of the garment as much as the cut. However looking at her later collections her silhouette stayed same. Looking at her signs I remember my mum’s clothes. Like Lucienne Day, she defined a whole era, and their influence was everywhere.

Zandra Rhodes founded Fashion and Textile Museum in 2003 and is living above the museum. She recently teamed up with UCA and created the “Zandra Rhodes Digital Study Collection” in which she shares her sketches, previous work, tutorials, and videos in which she talks about her work and process. These are bite size information however they provide insights to her work as much as practical advice for fashion students. 

Recently she designed costumes for opera and in the Opera setting I think her designs came alive.

Judy Chicago (1939- )

Judy Chicago - Birth Series

A revolutionary Feminist Artist. She is stronger in her rhetoric and yet subtle in her visual imagery when compared to Tracy Emin or Ghada  Amer, for example. Her work is more symbolic, but within that symbolism powerful too. She works with female body, playing on its representations. I think her work refers to a more collective experience of femininity rather then a personal one (eg Emin). Her work has a strong aim and conviction. She is a successful woman artist, tutor, social activist, rebellion and a feminist. She founded The Flower Project, supporting projects for feminist artists. She doesn’t stich herself however her textile work is remarkable. Again using a much “female” medium to represent female issues (birth), which didn’t appear in mainstream art world. She says: “Textile and needle craft is used to tame femininity. How fantastic it would be to use it to rebel – to tell your story”. Best resource for a quick research is her own website. I loved the video recourses. She is witty, frank, and funny.  

Issey Miyake (1938 - ):

 

Miyake 2016 Fall Collection

Japanese Fashion Designer. Innovation, innovation, innovation.

He is known his innovation in manipulating fabric. The design stage starts from the very beginning of crafting fabric and transforming it through stages to (steam folding, baking, etc) to crate folds and into clothes.

·      Sharp forms, yet very fluid. Almost in all photographs, the bodies wearing clothes are in movement.

·      Minimalistic sharp look yet very fluid.

·      Intriguing designs.

·      Colorful

·      Futuristic look (yet inspired by nature)

·      Developing new techniques.

·      The process is as important as the results. The process is a construction.

·      Unbound by pre-existing framework, free ideas, curiosity, research, experimentation…. Product…

It all starts with a single thread………..

Tracey Emin (1963 -):

 

Tracey Emin - Quilt

Very famous British artist. There are so many articles books and video interviews about her. She is well written, researched, and exhibited. In fact too many of them. Check Wikipedia page for variety of references online, for example.

She is a part of 1990s Young British Artists movement. She has a celebrity status among art lovers. Her work is very controversial (work about sex, rape, abortion)

Her work is autobiographical. She says her art is about emotion. She puts herself at the center of her work. It is a very common female artist strategy to put ‘herself’ in ‘her work’ as a subject matter. Her work is associated with words like: Intimate, vulnerability.

She used quilting in her early work, and some machine embroidery. Her use of textile is very subversive: using cloth as a medium to shout out her experience. Graffiti on a cloth. Not an easy read either. Far cry from nurturing feminine craft.

She came to fame with her installation: The Bed.

Emin is full of feminist promise (does she deliver on that?) Is her work relatable? Is it and open expression of female experience? She is definitely one of the most accomplished female artist. And she helped elevate textile to fine art.