As I’ve mentioned on the blog before, I’ve been developing a new relationship with pattern design based on traditional block printing over the last three years. I’m delighted to announce I have a solo show at the East Gallery, at Norwich University of the Arts opening in three weeks time, open for a month. I’ve printed about one hundred metres of fabric over the last few months and I can’t wait to see much of it installed.
Despite it being a busy few months in academia I’ve been squeezing in time to screen print as I’m working towards a solo show of this research project – more information coming soon!
To build anticipation, here’s some shots of some of the progress in the pattern work …
I’ve been busy printing and presenting my ongoing pattern research over the last few months, testing the design and print process, and receiving useful feedback – which may explain the lack of blog posts recently!
Last September I presented my work at the Fashion and Textiles Courses Association conference, Futurescan 6, held at De Montfort University in Leicester, and had a small exhibition of the work in progress during the conference. It was great to formalise my ongoing work at that time, and receive external feedback from the audience. It was useful to consider how I communicate the research, as the principle is simple but the process complex. I have also discussed this research as part of other presentations over the last few months, for colleagues, for undergraduate students as well as the audience of the Costume and Textiles Association’s programme of Heritage Open Week talks at the Forum in Norwich.
Last week I presented this research to the British Association of Paper Historians as part of their Spring Meeting held at St. Bride Foundation, having been invited to do so by the Wallpaper History Society. My fellow presenters covered wide ranging topics, from paper conservation, Japanese paper as cloth, the College of Arms and the current situation of the paper industry in the global context. It was a fascinating day with lots of common ideas and interests, and I received some very positive feedback to keep me on track.
I have further opportunities to share my research in a couple of months, so more news on that in due course!
I am continuing to develop both lino blocks as well as artwork for screen printing, which enables me to test different colour handling and substrate options, for wallpaper and cloth. Colour is an important element of this research and particularly the transparency of colour in the overprinting, so the palettes will continue to evolve as I continue the exploration of primary and secondary colours.
As I gear up to making larger work for an upcoming showcase opportunity I look forward to sharing more of the work in progress.
I am really pleased to have had two of my most recent works on paper selected to be included in the Print Cromer exhibition this summer, with the Private View on 19th July. This new body of work has been developed as part of my academic practice at Norwich University of the Arts where I have been exploring pattern structures and repeat blocks. I have explored new pattern iterations by rotating the screens to add additional colours of the same artwork, thereby building greater complexity from limited design information. In an age where digital design and the use of Artificial Intelligence provides limitless opportunities, I want to explore the fundamentals of pattern creation to generate new possibilities that are led by the designer, ensuring the creative path is transparent.
The theme of the exhibition is PLAY, and as a result the palette I created feels full of summer carnivals and fairgrounds. The overprinting of inks with differing levels of transparency provides a building of depth and subtlety of harmonious colour.
I created a number of one, two, three and four-colour prints initially, that featured the screen rotation in adding the colours. I then cut strips of the prints and with further rotation of the strips, interwove them into one base print that had been sliced to enable the slotting. I enjoyed bringing back an element of paper engineering from my book art practice into these new pieces.
In designing each piece, I considered the placement of motifs and relationships of colour. The collection provides variation within a collective identity and belonging. Some pieces feature only triangular motifs, while most incorporate the circular and rectangular elements too. My research utilises design thinking by Lewis Foreman Day, and his distribution of elements. This approach results in scattered focal motifs that work across repeating patterns. Although this is not a feature of my new work, I recognise the placement considerations are also useful in this work too.
A number of these pieces will be for sale during the show.
I’ve been enjoying some studio time to explore my print research as works on paper with the hope of exhibiting the work. I enjoy paper engineering and construction (that’ll be the book artist in me!) and have previously tested paper manipulation in relation to this current pattern research. I tend to work in this way, creating drawings or prints to exhibit / sell alongside forming pattern ideas, and it has been useful to see the evolution of the sampling in this way here too.
These new artworks utilise my screens of geometric artwork practically exploring research into motif distribution in printed pattern thinking formalised by Lewis Foreman Day in his book Pattern Design, published in 1901. Having printed the artwork in the first colour, I rotate the screen by 90-degrees and print the second colour, turning the artwork / screen up to four times for maximum complexity. To add a further dimension, I’ve been constructing works on paper that utilise several iterations of the prints to build new compositions by weaving and slotting strips of the printed papers in differing combinations of the four colours in the palette, providing the coherency across the series, and an injection of the spirit of summer fairgrounds through the colour and geometric visual language.
There are two screens of artwork used in this collection, therefore two series of original artwork (PLAY – circles and PLAY – triangles) and I shall continue to evolve the body of work over the coming months. I’d love to know your thoughts on this new work!
It’s been a while since I last wrote here – the summer term at university has been very busy, … I’ve hosted an Industry Awards Day, assessed a lot of work, put up a degree show and taken students to the graduate showcase of New Designers in London, to name a few activities, so not much headspace I’m afraid.
In the middle of all that I agreed to chair a panel at New Designers titled Contemporary Printed Textiles and Surface Design Practice. I had the amazing designers Emma J Shipley, Sarah Campbell and Deborah Bowness as panellists, sharing their expertise – all three designers are interviewees in my REPEAT book. I had some questions up my sleeves to shape the discussions, and despite not having done this sort of thing before I thoroughly enjoyed leading it. To a pretty much packed venue we discussed our individual design processes, clients and customers, how we work through licensing deals, and the decisions behind establishing brand identities. Sarah, Emma and Deborah have decades of experience between them so it was so valuable to share their generous and hard-earned experiences with the attentive audience. We could have carried on for much longer! There was also the highlight of meeting my publisher from Bloomsbury, Georgia, who I’d not met in real life before then, but came along to support me.
I also had another idea in my mind, to ask Sarah, Emma and Deborah to sign my REPEAT book to make it a special keepsake. As New Designers is a textile design industry event I also managed to cross paths with several other contributors and asked them to sign it too, including Mark and Keith of Mini Moderns, Clarissa Hulse, Daniel Heath, Jules of @thepatternsocial fame, as well as past students Tasha, now designer at Habitat and Molly, currently floral print designer at Bay and Brown. It has become a mission to find opportunities to cross paths with the many others included, but this could be a very long task!
The day ended in celebration for my colleague Jill, who retired this month after 38+ years at Norwich University of the Arts. Jill taught me when I was 18 years old, and we’ve worked together over the last five years in Norwich. She came along with Grainne, also one of my tutors, to support our graduates on the stand at the show, so I grabbed a picture with them both and the book. They earned a mention in the acknowledgments as they were hugely supportive of me as a student, introducing me to their love of drawing, colour and pattern that has stood me in the many years since.
It was a really successful few days in London with our graduates doing themselves and us proud, as they jumped with both feet in to this great industry experience, just weeks before I proudly read their names out as they crossed the graduation stage at Norwich City football ground. Now it’s time for some holiday!
I’ve been keen to get back to designing and printing having spent my practice time writing and developing the book for publication over the last few years. I’ve been testing ideas of pattern evolution and pattern construction for some time in a limited way, specifically looking at pattern structure evolution through drawing investigations, but the ideas at the heart of this investigation have themselves evolved over the last couple of years.
With more time and fresh energy I’ve defined a new project brief and research rationale, and I’m excited to have got off to a good start. I’m looking at repeat tiles and construction of pattern formations, so cut shapes and sketches were an obvious way in for idea development. I’m trying not to be too precious with outcomes at this stage, so I’m trusting the process.
I’ve started by testing ideas with geometric shapes as subject matter to keep the aesthetic clean and graphic, focusing on the laying down of colour blocks. I’ve started by working up some ideas for screen printing but anticipate many more drawings, maybe lino prints and certainly digital work will be created over time too. The colour palette will certainly change, but with an exhibition I’m making work for at the same time dictating pieces to be black and one other colour I’ve gone with black and green.
I don’t want to give too much away at this stage, but look forward to discovering the potential over the next few months.
I’ve been meaning to make changes to my website for some time, and finally I’ve got around to it. Check it out here
I have made some pencil drawings from my recent trees project (previously featured on the blog) available to buy – there are currently eight still available.
They measure approximately 28 x 19cm, on heavy weight paper, £55 each, with 30% going to Cancer Research UK.
Do take a look over on instagram where they are all listed, & message me if you are interested in reserving one. Feel free to spread the news – I don’t often sell my original drawings ….
Here’s drawing 1, 2, & 3 …
