Exhibition: The First Cut

'The First Cut' has to be one of the most inspirational, and most beautiful exhibitions that I have seen in a long time. It was a real treat to be able to find the time to visit Manchester Art Gallery this afternoon. I have always been interested in the manipulation of papers, usually combining the media alongside threads, in order to create my pieces of work. I have chosen images of work that I felt most inspired my work- and also pieces that I feel I may be able to incorporate into my machine/ hand embroidery samples for the rest of the week.

Mia Pearlman

Rob Ryan

Peter Callesen

Andrew Singleton

Mia Pearlson

Claire Brewster

Origins Inspiration

Today a very close friend of mine, also studying art, came over to Manchester, and we decided to go and explore some of the galleries in Manchester for the afternoon. The most inspiring part of the day was finding this stack of beautiful vintage suitcases, in the Manchester Art Gallery. I feel that they will link beautifully in with my journeys sketchbook work. I am going to draw a collection of these objects and produce some expressive pieces, using water coloured paints, ink and fine-liner. It may also be a possibility to incorporate some actual luggage tags into the piece, to give a more personal touch to the pieces.

Machine Embroidery: Pin-Tuck Machine

I really enjoyed today's double needle and pin-tuck foot tutorial. The images below show my first attempts at sampling with this technique. I particularly enjoyed experimenting with the different weights of fabrics and corresponding feet/ needles, as each gave a variety of results. The way that the samples ended today, has inspired me to continue with this technique, experimenting with more thicknesses and fabrics in order to see the results.

Machine Embroidery Critique

This morning we were asked to have our eighteen new samples of edited work on the wall for a critique. I really enjoyed talking through my new samples- I felt that this week I have worked a lot harder, and listened to the advice that I was given last week regarding editing down my ideas and not putting too much detail into my pieces. I have also really enjoyed learning how to combine the tailor-tacking  stitches with the previous techniques that we've been taught over the past three weeks. Sampling has allowed my to realise where I am going right/ wrong with my pieces, and how to see the possibilities of the different techniques that we have been taught.

So far, my favourite technique is definitely using the embellishing machine. I love the way that the fibres are able to bond together, especially the lighter-weighted materials, as the machine allows total lack of control over how the end result will look.

Exhibition: Unit Twelve

This weekend I was able to visit the new exhibition at Unit Twelve. At the moment the exhibition is showing a range of local artists that have been chosen to showcase their work. Artist, Dionne Swift's work was the first that caught my eye. She is exhibiting two large silk screens, mono-printed onto calico and finished with machine stitch. I chose to look at these pieces as I am still taking part in my textiles world of embroidery. I love the way that the artist has used stitching in order to create a surface filled with texture and movement, as well as an equally beautiful colour palette.

Machine Embroidery: Tailor-Tack

For the next part of our machine embroidery course, we were asked to use the art of editing from our first samples, to create eighteen new samples. This week we were introduced to the tailor-tacking foot, and embellishing machine- two pieces of equipment that I've loved using and developing my ideas with. I feel that the below images are the best developed samples of work- I am fascinated with the collaborations that have been produced with both new techniques. If I have chance, I'd like to continue developing the selected samples further- maybe inverting the thread/ fabric colours in order to see the difference that this would create.

Machine Embroidery Critique

In the previous blog post I discussed that I needed to look at the term 'simplicity'. My task for this week is to look closely at the idea of editing my work,  therefore I decided to focus on one of my previous samples, and look closely at the ways that it could be split into more than one sample. This way I will be able to show my detailing without over-complicating my pieces.

Machine Embroidery Critique

Today we were able to put up our first machine embroidery samples onto the walls and critique our work. These samples were based upon fifteen drawings that we achieved in our first week of starting the course- using black oil bar, we were asked to interpret set sentences into a physical form of drawing, for example 'a twisted line that cuts the surface in half'. We were able to use a gray scale of materials and threads in order to achieve this. 

I found the critique very helpful and constructive when assessing my work- it was reassuring to hear positive comments about my pieces, and to be able to understand areas that I need to develop. I have a way of adding too much detail into my pieces, and learnt that it is more beneficial to be able to read what a piece is saying if it has less detailing in, as some of my pieces could easily be described as 'ten samples in one'.

A piece of advice that I found to be extremely useful regarding my attention to detailing was to photograph the pieces with a large lens, and create samples using parts of my pieces. With this advice, the next batch of samples that I am going to create shall be based around the term: 'simplicity'. I am really looking forward to manipulating my usual working methods and trying to use a more forward meaning in my pieces this week through the art of editing.