END OF YEAR SHOWCASE -Class Of 2020

Expressive drawings inspired by Jim Dine. Rally fun session, learning to let go and loosen up. Well done. A level Art. 

Let me know if you enjoyed it, if it was helpful, what you learned from it.... thanks. Shall we do more one-off drawing sessions?

A level costume design exploring the theme of ‘Birds’ exploring the darker side of these winged creatures, inspired by Alexander McQueen’s exhibition ‘Savage Beauty’ at the V&A. An innovative use of materials such as bin liners and interfacing to create an ethereal, feathered quality in a series of cropped capes.

Great photo shoot with technical support from Dave Merritt.

Getting my colour mixing mojo on. Painting outdoors in the Spring sunshine feeling inspired by the fresh colours around me in the garden and from walks in the surrounding fields, lanes and woodland.I had forgotten how much I love this!

In the late 1980′s and early 1990′s after graduating, I worked freelance as a textiles designer and also travelled to South America after winning a travel bursary award in a design competition. I was inspired by the pre-Hispanic, ancient textiles of Peru, where the Incas and other ancient civilisations used natural dyes to create their woven cloth. I travelled through Peru, Columbia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina and down to the very south of Chile and had the best time. I researched natural dyes, spending time of the beaten track, living with indigenous people and learning from them. We picked roots by moonlight and gathered plants on specific dates linked to the Inca calendar, there was lots of superstition surrounding the dyeing process but also much wisdom and understanding of the life cycle of each plant and when it would give the best sources of colour.

On my return, I spent most of my time mixing colours from gouache and saving the match pots in 35mm film canisters as sample colours. This was pre-digital when everything was hand painted and drawn out in detail for selling to design companies. I had forgotten my love of colour matching and mixing and remembered my workshop space had literally hundreds of these hand mixed colour swatches lining the shelves for reference when recreating new colour palettes.

Thes images show my process of stretching fabric, priming, layering colours over a series of days with time between to ponder what colours to mix and add for balance, harmony and also composition. Enjoying myself!

Got my work selected for the Millfield Summer Show exhibiting now. Come and visit, some great work this year!

Rusted and naturally dyed fabrics from salvaged and scavenged materials found on daily walks, plotting the ancient field boundaries. Visual diary. Slow-stitched cloth. Recording traces and tracks.

Welcome to Textiles @ Strode This is a new blog for 2015 to chat about all things: textiles/fashion/costume/fabric/design/pattern/print/art etc that we do at college.

END OF YEAR SHOWCASE- CLASS OF 2020

Congratulations Tallulah Stringer!

Amazing, conceptual Textiles project exploring Veganism and the meat industry, showcased as a powerful installation by Tallulah. She has experimented with knit, crochet, use of latex, printing and dissolvable stitched forms in her sculptural approach. A passionate and disturbingly beautiful outcome.

Well done, such a pity this couldn’t be exhibited publicly this year!

Tallulah is continuing her creative development at Strode specialising in Photography and also in contrast she is also very good at Maths.

Excellent model and expert technical guidance and photography from @catherinehydephotography and also T. Stringer.

END OF YEAR SHOWCASE -Class of 2020

Congratulations Scarlet Crofts!

Scarlet developed her final Textiles collection as sustainable festival fashion. Recycling, repurposing and ultimately developing her own series of digital prints from her meticulously cut and stitched scalloped dress. Such a pity Glastonbury was cancelled this year, I’m sure Scarlet would have been rocking this outfit and turning heads at Pilton. 

The final image is from a ‘Live’ project with the British Red Cross Society, the class created various paper couture garments depicting iconic fashions throughout the 20th century, they were exhibited as window displays around Somerset shops. This one was exhibited in Crewkerne to great acclaim!

Credit to @catherinehydephotorgaphy for image 1.

Scarlet is seeking a creative employment as a GAP year and plans to apply for UCAS in 2021.

Fifty Bees #4 exhibition at Frome’s wonderful Black Swan gallery. 

This is my response to the habitat and lifestyle of the Lobe Spurred furrow bee.

I enjoy using found and repurposed materials in my own arts practice, so this is created entirely from fabric washed up the beach at Charmouth and fishing line, horsehair and natural fibres to stitch with. This bee was virtually extinct in the 1980′s but then made a dramatic come back, to now becoming a species with no risk to its population. My quest to discover the reasoning behind this encouraged a journey of discovery and research to try and understand its story.

I travelled around to visit habitats of known sightings, scrubland, agricultural sites, beach cliff locations but did not find my bee. I did discover though,  that the prevalence of Oilseed Rape planted on a mass scale across the UK in the 80′s had a detrimental impact on many indigenous insect species particularly bees. The nicotinoid pesticides used in agriculture was the culprit but fortunately for the lobe spurred furrow bee, it thrived on the blooms of rape and where others perished it increased in number.

My piece uses loopy stitching and intense surface coverage to signify the bees activity. The yellow plant dyed colour references the rape blooms and the undulating surface is linked to the patch of land investigated on site.

Macrame madness. A2 exam outcome. Photos with technical support from Dave Merritt. Thanks x

2017. Gabby Costello Art FAD exploring eco-textile printing and natural dyes. About to graduate from Somerset University, Taunton. All the best Gabby! This was your FMP show leaving Strode College in 2017.