END OF YEAR SHOWCASE- CLASS OF 2020

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.

Mark making. Playing with inks, bleach, water, scratching, layers…..

This deadly virus is very beautiful aesthetically speaking and would make an inspiring textile print. Perhaps the ‘pretty deadly’ collection could be developed for protective clothing? Or is that very bad taste......

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!

Inspiration everywhere. Look up, look down, keep your eyes open and SEE what’s around. Love the layered road markings, grates, drain covers, yellow lines and markings on our roads and pavements.

MAKE MORE NOISE

Processions June 2018

We have had the most amazing time working on this beauty!

Dorcas Casey, (who is an ex-Strode, Art team member of staff and also an ex-student) but now creates the most incredible sculpture and works from her studio in Bristol, amongst lots of other exciting ‘side-hustle’ projects such as this one. @beastsoftheuncanny

In collaboration with Somerset Art Works (SAW) partners and funded by the Arts Council, the banner project is a nationally co-ordinated, mass community artwork, initially designed by Artichoke as part of the centenary celebrations, promoting the importance of the female vote in 1918. 100 banners were created up and down the country.

Our banner was lovingly made by students, staff and also members of the community. We took our banner to London as part of the Processions celebrations in June and marched around the city, in the heat with thousands of other women. It was exhilarating and so great to be part of something so important to our heritage as women and also to celebrate what the Suffragettes and other women’s groups fought for so we could begin to build amore equal society.

Our banner received lots of praise, we were singled out across the press and made several headlines in the daily papers and on social media. Radio 6 Music singled us out and Dorcas was interviewed by Lauren Laverne, live on BBC radio, broadcast to millions.

A day to remember for ever and so great to be such a key part of this event. Our banner will also be on tour and exhibited around the UK with the 100 banners, it will be part of a publication and also included in a planned International Textiles Biennale in Lancashire in 2020.

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

Cultural Appropriation brief exploring Native Americans and Indian artefacts to inspire decorative cloth and screen printing on fabrics.

Fantastic plastic! Curse or wonder material? 

Repurposing carrier bags and household plastics into colourful artwork.

Textiles students in full flow creating free-machine stitched creatures in dissolvable fabric for wearable art neckpieces based around sea-life and observations at the aquarium.