geometric

sharing my pattern research

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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.

sketchbook development
pattern development

PLAY prints on show

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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.

drawn ideas of pattern

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My ongoing research practice of drawing and design regularly explores pattern structures within the family of geometrics. I enjoy testing motifs and rhythms that belong to traditional compositions, and deconstruct the scaffolding to look for new iterations.

In this recent work I am looking to the concept of themes and variations in music to drive the visual investigation. Repeat doesn’t feature, but it’s certainly a consideration for the future.

layers of tracing paper with graphite drawing

With a short break between academic years, and the book in production I hope to find some time to take this project forward over the coming few weeks.

pattern processing

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I’m often juggling lots of tasks in my head, but when my mind is busy I can find focus and space to think within and around the process of drawing. The time occupied by my hand drawing gives my head some freedom to work things through. Distraction, mindfulness, process-led, thinking time…

Drawing also creates time to explore rhythms that are playing out more formally in other sketchbooks for other projects. I find it interesting that certain motifs appear in the margins of my notebooks time and time again, made while my mind is occupied. Often those shapes are geometric, but sometimes the circle dominates, at other times, squares. Regularly they link to designs I’m working on and resolving somewhere else, subconsciously seeking solutions.

I enjoy the simplicity of paper and pencil in a world where so much of my time is spent in front of a screen. The physical process of drawing; the feel of the friction between graphite and paper, the sounds created by the rhythmic gestures, are vital to the experience. Satisfaction comes from a page of evolving rhythm and more pattern potential. We know there is seduction in the multiple; the repetition of tins on a supermarket shelf, for example.

construct – first glimpse…

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I’ve spent many months working on a new pattern collection and will be launching it at Tent London at London Design Festival this September. I’ve kept any signs of the design development away from social media until now, but here’s a couple of the patterns from the ‘construct’ collection. I shall write more about the ideas behind the collection in due course.

KateFarley_CONSTRUCTblue