Net curtain image

This is the image my design will be based on for the net/lace curtainand one I have already had digitally printed to work into perhaps using cutwork. A composite of two woodland photographs combined using photoshop , I like the combination of the more detailed base image with the more open top.

Nina Edge lace curtain

I have been planning to make a more detailed piece using either laser cutting or a devore piece or a combination of the two to create contemporary lace for a window piece /curtain as it is close in technique to cutwork. I remembered this piece in the "mechanical Drawing -Shiffley Project " Exhibiton catalogue that discusses the nature of net curtains .I hope to research this in more detail.

Postcard 11

The image on the latest postcard is a mixed media drawing of a branch of an old oak tree in Trelowarren woods covered in ferns , the trees are a whole world in themselves supporting a variety of plants , insects and animals.
The border is the incuts from my laser cut twigs .

Exhibition

This week is our first public expose of our work . For the full timers as assessment but for us it was an opprtunity to look at where we are , what we have done and for the external examiner to get to know us . It was a very useful experience setting up the exhibition particularly solving the problem of hanging my samples in the window space . We constructed a frame with metal poles and a cross bar weighted down by logs complete with ferns which worked really well(Andrews idea).

Statement of intent

My work exists through my connection with the natural world. Living in the city of Manchester over the last five years has emphasised the importance of this fragile connection. Apartment living within the city centre is common with little or no access to private exterior spaces, parks or gardens.

My aim is to develop a sustainable and environmentally friendly range of textile designs to be used as window “dressings” that transform the interface between the interior of a building and the outside world with designs drawn from natural forms either for intimate interior spaces or to break up architecturally bland or severe windows, bringing the outside inside. I am exploring ways of bonding together layers of fabric and then laser cutting areas to produce contemporary cutwork pieces and looking at the use of fabrics and processes that aid ecological restoration such as low impact printing.
The exploration and physical making process is very important in my process.

“In our modern techno
scientific culture we are able to do all kinds of things with and to the natural world but as a result we have lost our affinity with it. Alienated from nature, no longer experiencing it as a living presence we need to recapture the sense that to be human is to be part of nature.” (“Nature in Design” Alan Powers)
For more information on my work please go to www.rowenaardern.com/

Ethical Issues

From “Beauty is Nowhere” -Critical voices in Art Theory Culture ( ethical issues in Art and Design ) Edited by Richard and Susan Roth

A collection of essays and articles on these issues

Page 5 in the introduction states that we need to maintain a reasonable balance between
“products use , value and its economical, social and environmental costs “.
“contemporary artists and designers are agents and initiators of new social realisations and these realisations are essentially ethical.”

P45.
“Towards the Spiritual in Design “ by Victor Papaneck
“It is the intent of the designer as well as the intended use of the designed object that can yield the spritual value . The questions that must be asked are
Will the design significantly add to the sustainability of the environment ?
Can it make life easier for some group that has been marginalized by society?
Can it save irreplaceable resources ?
Positive responses to these questions nourish our soul . This is where spiritual values enter design “
There are analogies here with Buddhist study and practice on awareness and ethics . That we are all ultimately responsible for ourselves and need to take these responsibilities on board in order to sustain ourselves and our planet . We can no longer hand over or expect to be supported by the state or put the blame on the outside world .

Pitt Rivers Bird Drawing

A collection of bird drawings from a visit to Pitt Rivers Museum May 2007.

postcard 10

Slimbridge

On the way back from visiting friends and family in the north of England I visited Slimbridge Wildfowl Centre which Sir Peter Scott set up in the 1960s.I think he was the person who created my interest in birds and so it was wonderful to visit somewhere I had only seen on film as a child . Some of the swans ,Bewick swans , had just arrived from Russia having travelled 3,000 miles to escape from temperatures of minus 30degrees . The setting is stunning and the birds inspirational. They seem to be another strand in recurring themes that flow in and out of my work . For me birds represent freedom , playfulness and stamina. At the moment they are very prominant probably because the trees are bare therefore they are more visibleand there are flocks of birds wintering in the UK . The image of birds roosting in trees is the most haunting as in the image top left . I had been thinking of adding a bird to the Tree of Life Teatowel and had been working with images of birds I had drawn on a visit to the Natural History Museum in Oxford last year on tree paint before Christmas.

Cabinet "Shadows"

Continuing on the theme of shadows and silhouettes I followed a suggestion by Lizzie to look at the "Shadows"(issue 24) edition of Cabinet a quarterly journal on Art and Culture I extracted the following references 

Plato on discussing the origin of knowledge states that you have to renounce the world of shadows before you can proceed to true understanding 

"progress out of the cave onto the sun" .

Ernst Gombrich author of a book that accompanied an exhibition at the National Gallery in 1998

"The depiction of cast shadows in western art " states that 

p67 "shadows often seem to have something primitive about them appealing to primal fears "

 in the Golden Bough 1922 James Fraser saw the shadow as the soul.

There were references to Peter Pan whose shadow was cut off by the window shutting , children playing shadow games as well as  a fascinating collection of articles and references around the subjet os shadows . 

Fabric experiments December 20007

Using a close up from one of my tree canopy photographs taken in a piece of ancient woodland near to Mawgan on the Lizard , Cornwall I developed two images for a screen that could be overlayed . My aim is to create window dressings that transform the interface between the interior of a building and the outside world using images drawn directly from nature either for intimate interior spaces or to break up architecturally bland or severe windows .

The image above shows these discharge printed onto predyed black cotton organdie.

The third image on the screen (see below) is a paper cut out which reminds me of a "tree of Life" or "world tree" image which is common across many cultures and religions .I have seen this in in many design contexts including ceramics . I also used this for the tea towels . I now realise that once a design is created it can be used for a variety of products . Cath Kidstons range of home products is a case in point where designs have expanded in to a wide range of products and an extremely successful business. http://CathKidson.co.uk

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World-tree

This experiment is with two layers of printed cotton organdie that have been overstitched to pick out the detail of the leaves .




The fabric above is predyed orange organdie with a discharged tree of life in pale grey photographed on my computer room window with a view of the tres outside showing through the sheer fabric.

Using the leaf screen I printed and overprinted onto white cotton organdie to create a window piece that reflects the tree canopy .(See image below)





Using the tree of life screen to print onto tea towels with a view to marketing in a local shop to test viability of design . My next step is to get the labelling and packaging ready.The lime green one is grey discharge on predyed (procion dye) cotton and the blue on turqouise procion dyed print paste on predyed cotton .