Dissertation woes

So, this year I have a few projects going on at the same time.  As I begin my short 'Exploration' unit, I also embark upon a 6,000 word dissertation. The Exploration unit ends and my lengthy FMP begins, I then hand in my dissertation... and begin a 3,000 word critical reflection on my own work.

I am currently battling between coming up with an idea for my dissertation (HELP?!) and getting my exploration and research unit going. A million and one things going round in my head right now. Who said University was a walk in the park?

I'm off to paint a pretty picture,

over and spout x

Two things happened to me today that left me feeling pensive and somewhat insignificant in the grand scheme of things that is Life. Whilst walking to University, a single leaf fell from a tree and onto my shoulder... On my way home two perfect white doves ran across my path, and I wondered were they lost or where had they come from.

Final year is here!

It is September, the beginning of my final year of my textiles degree, and I am excited!
Despite tutorials which have left me no less confused, after what seemed like such a long summer, I am ready to get my teeth into some designing and get my hands messy in the studio. This year we have two design units- a ten week exploratory and research project; followed by a final major project which sees me through to April/May. Not forgetting dissertation and critical reflection of course!
All of these units are self directed, meaning I propose with each what I will be studying, which comes with it's own pros and cons.
Currently I am trying to decide on a topic for my dissertation whilst also trying to condense my ideas for my exploration and research project. At the moment I am juggling around with the themes of floral, decay, changing seasons, and the sky... rather vague to say the least! With a new University year comes a new set of resolutions, one of these being that I will regularly blog throughout the whole year (come rain, more than likely anxious tears, or shine) so I can share my final year progress and more importantly final year result. Wish me luck!

Playing catch up...

Apologies for the major interlude between blog posts. After my last update I became work crazy and powered through semester two like nobodies business, determined to improve on my mark from semester one and prove myself as a textile designer. Thankfully it all paid off and I was very happy with my second year grade and proud of the work I produced. It was then time for the summer holidays, but not before a two month internship!


During the months of April and May I did an internship at Eyefix in Southwark, London.
'Eyefix is a team of collectors and creators: gathering unique vintage pieces from around the world as well as designing our own original print collections and offering a full range of creative services.' Eyefix house an estimated 200,000 original pieces ranging from the early 1800s to the present day. The internship was amazing, it was so inspirational to be constantly surrounded by prints from the archive, working with the sales team in selecting prints for clients, and seeing the designers create in-house prints. Those two months at Eyefix were a real eye opener into the industry, and showed me a career path that I hadn't even known existed. Being around the buyers who came in to select prints from the archive and contemporary collection was an invaluable experience. It also helps that the small team who worked there were all fabulous colleagues and made me feel welcome and comfortable every day during my time in the studio.


Here are some snapshots of my print samples from my last few weeks in the studio at University:

London

Semester two started with a new brief and a short time schedule. Seven weeks to investigate, explore, and sample. The final outcome being larger samples. I chose to follow the brief 'London' - composition, colour, texture. This inspired me as I love all of those components in design and they strongly inform my work.

To kick start the project I took a few days of my research weeks to journey around London, visually and mentally recording what I saw and hoping to find 'something' that would direct my work. The weather was dull and it left my photographs feeling uninspired and lost.
I visited the Hayward Gallery to see 'Light Show' and was blown away by the amazing light installations and the many ways that these artists have used and manipulated light. It was very up-lifting. The colour, light, and contrasts that I saw displayed there lead me to explore the colourful graffiti of Shoreditch, the tunnel beneath Waterloo, and the lights of the cars travelling in and around the city at night.

I found myself beginning to become lead by shape and colour as opposed to the 'London skyline' as I had originally thought I would be when embarking upon the new brief. I did visit places such as Buckingham Palace, thinking I may do little bitty drawings, but I felt that in my past graphic design work I had overdone that style already.

...during one of my days in the city two girls from Uni joined me in my research, it was nice to share what we saw and interesting to see how all three of us recognise very different things in our surroundings even though we see through the same eyes.

Semester one is over!

I came back to Uni after christmas break feeling all fresh and bushy tailed, eager to get my final piece printed, I was desperate to see the end result of all this hard work. Some felt that the project had been too long, indeed it was a long project but it was ideal for me as it gave me the prime opportunity to fully explore the course I had newly entered into. My final piece was going to be on silk satin, using a combination of discharge, luminous pigment, and procion print paste. It was a 3 x 1.20m length using three different screens, two being repeats. Getting all the stops in place and preparing the screens was one of the most stressful weeks I have experienced during University but it was so worth it, here is my final piece. I did face some problems with screen blockages but overall I am very happy with the end result. At the time I was heavily influenced by Louise Gray and her approach to fashion print but I also feel that it could have an interior design use. Feel free to make any comments on it.

Let's get bright...

The outcome for this project was that I had to create a 'length' and also explore the idea of using a 'repeat pattern'. From my samples I had decided on a combination of three prints that I would like to use together, they showed my graphic style but also sat delicately on silk. However, there was something not working within the design. During a tutorial with my tutor, we came to the conclusion that it was the colour combination. In taking on all these new skills my passion for colour had somehow gotten lost and i'd ended up with a really muted colour palette. The design is graphic and bold, it needs to make a statement, and with a muted colour palette of greys, it doesn't do it justice. I was introduced to a range of pigment, the luminous kind, and I began to have a little fun...

Compare & Contrast

New course, new campus, it's fair to say that I was pretty anxious on my first day of Uni back in September. As I was going straight into second year, the options of weave or print weren't there for me. I had skipped the first year where you are taught weave but had dabbled in print previously on my graphic design course. I knew that I had to specialise in print, although this wasn't a bad thing as this was exactly what I had in mind.

Those first couple of months I felt like I was just doing everything and anything I could to keep my head above the water, trying to catch up on a years worth of technical skills whilst also embarking upon the new brief and keeping up with second year standard was pretty daunting. Creatively I feel like I was able to excel because I had not experienced any set backs yet and knew not of the restrictions that certain processes faced. I relied highly on the girls in my class around me helping me out with fabric choices, which materials work with which print processes etc.

The brief, 'Compare & Contrast' kicked off by spending a couple of weeks drawing from still life. I then developed these observations into print designs and exposed them on to screens ready to begin printing. To begin with I learnt how to print using devoré, crimp, foil adhesive, and flock. I then taught myself how to dye with procion. The next step was to learn how to use rust for dying and printing, and then also how to dye using indigo. Finally I taught myself how to print using discharge, procion, and pearl binder. Once i'd wrapped those up it was a case of soaking up knowledge of cloths and just getting creative and having fun, of which I had a lot of, especially with foil (I think I may be a magpie).

My 'Compare & Contrast' seemed to gravitate towards the graphic shapes created from the likes of broken mirrors, to the textural patterns found in rust and old painted bars. I began to layer these techniques with different prints to show a contrast and to also primarily learn how they worked with each other, if I was to make any mistakes I want to find out sooner rather than later as I had a lot of catching up to do! Here are a few of my exploratory samples...

A little bit about me...

Well I'm brand spanking new to Blogspot, I do however have a personal blog over at Tumblr www.lauren-gregory.tumblr.com should you care to indulge...

A bit about me, I'm currently in my second year studying Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors at University for the Creative Arts. I didn't, however, begin my University journey on this course. After finishing my Art & Design Foundation I went to University to study Graphic Design. During the summer after my second year on the course, I made the bold decision that the course wasn't for me and I wanted a degree in a different specialism. In September I transferred campus' and began second year of the Textile Design for Fashion and Interiors course, specialising in print. The past five months have been a huge learning curve, I have gone from knowing nearly nothing about print, having no idea how to even dye fabric, to producing a 3m length with various layers of repeat designs and printing processes involved. I was anxious about transferring from Graphic Design to Printed Textiles, having never really specialised in Textiles before, but I have found that there is a very strong link between the two and the skills that I developed during those two years have helped me immensely. Changing course is the best thing I ever did and I want to share my journey and learning experiences here on my blog. I would recommend to anyone else stuck in a rut at University to transfer to something they enjoy, or thing they might enjoy more, and if anyone would like to talk to me about the process then be sure to sent me a message! laurengregoryprintdesign@gmail.com x