Proof that I blog to much...
Blog created for assessment purposes by Georgina Edwards during her first year studying a BA in Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art.
Monday, 7 February 2011
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Reflective Statement- for Blog
Stage 1 Reflection
Rough Guide
I really enjoyed getting to know my assigned area. It was a great way to introduce ourselves to our classmates and to get settled within a small part of London. I re-visited the area a few times to make sure I had ticked off every suggested stopping point and recorded this with photographs and factual information about the retailers. If I was to do the overview again I would make more time for absorbing the culture for example soho is famous for afterhour entertainment that would have been interesting to document.
Winding and Wrapping work
I think this workshop was really benificial. I continued developing some samples after the day to help develop my weave and on occation knit work and example is shown below:
Overall I have enjoyed Blogging on blogspot and think I have come to terms with the blogging processes; it is a very user friendly tool to present design ideas and work for assessment. I think positively that I have presented my work clearly enough to be assessed with ease. The negatives of my blog is that visually and even mentally is is not attractive for any irrelevant onlookers, on my next blog I hope that I can develop the graphics to a higher standard and enter more of my own self induced posts.
Rough Guide
I really enjoyed getting to know my assigned area. It was a great way to introduce ourselves to our classmates and to get settled within a small part of London. I re-visited the area a few times to make sure I had ticked off every suggested stopping point and recorded this with photographs and factual information about the retailers. If I was to do the overview again I would make more time for absorbing the culture for example soho is famous for afterhour entertainment that would have been interesting to document.
Winding and Wrapping work
I think this workshop was really benificial. I continued developing some samples after the day to help develop my weave and on occation knit work and example is shown below:
I maybe should have spent more time on my sketchbooks rarther then my wrappings.
Postcard Project
A creative piece of administration, not very benifical, but an enjoyable reminder that I have enrolled into an art collage not just a boring university. Could have been more information on freshers week.
Inductions
The libary and computer inductions were benificial in order to set up accounts and systems within the network, however if they had been on the same day it would have saved traveling exspenses and time.
Overall I have enjoyed Blogging on blogspot and think I have come to terms with the blogging processes; it is a very user friendly tool to present design ideas and work for assessment. I think positively that I have presented my work clearly enough to be assessed with ease. The negatives of my blog is that visually and even mentally is is not attractive for any irrelevant onlookers, on my next blog I hope that I can develop the graphics to a higher standard and enter more of my own self induced posts.
200 word Object Analysis
The Object is a piece of sculptural art created by Louise Weaver. The sculpture uses a Victorian taxidermy model of a peacock. The artist has crafted the bird famous for its extravagant feather display, a stripy decorative skin using techniques of crochet, applique and weaving. The artist describes her work a a development in her interest in distinction between artificial and natural. There are many discussions of debate for the secondary meaning of Weaver’s sculpture. The bird is a common example used by biologists of a model of Darwin’s theory of natural selection as the potent force in evolution. Survival of the fittest allows the best combinations of natural heritable characteristics to develop; in the case of the peacock the males develop a beautiful bouquet of feathers to attract the opposite sex during courtship; its feathers demand attention. Weavers coat emphasises the birds physique and links her sculpture to our human psychology and own courtship rituals. I recently visited the Royal academy hosting the exhibition: Awear: Art, Fashion, Idenity. The work in the exhibition is described: “clothing as a mechanism to communicate and reveal elements of our identity.” The Peacocks coat symbolises fashion. Fashion changes in its own evolutionary cycle but how has it developed to stimulate our biological rhythms. Many theorists such as Gabriel and lang write about fashion as as extention of our idenity, as time contnues are our fashion idenities getting more extravagant?
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Brief: Reading list- Globalisation and Consumption Lecture programme
Week 2: The Age of Consumption: Globally we have become consumed by consumption. The industrial revolution, the political economies of the colonial age, the rise of shopping as a leisure activity and boom in advertising in the post World War two era set on track a journey that has led to unparalleled economic growth and a rise in the power of multinational companies. This week will sketch out the historical circumstances that have led to the production and purchasing of goods and services being a defining feature of modern life.
Essential Reading:
Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T. (2006) The Unmanageable Consumer London: Sage Publications Pg 10 - 24
Sassatelli, R. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage Publications Pg 32 – 51
Books
Appadurai, A. (1986a) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, C. (1987) The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
De Vries, J. (1993) ‘Between purchasing and the world of goods’, in J Bewer and R. Porter (eds) Consumption and the World of Goods, London: Routledge
Hirsch, J. (1991) Fordism and post-Fordism: The present crisis and its consequences in W, Bonefeld and J, Holloway (eds), Post-Fordism and Social Form: A Marxist Debate in the post-Fordist state. Houndmills: Macmillan Academic and Professional.
McCraken, G. (1988) Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Bloomington: Indianan University Press.
Sombart, W. (1967) Luxury and Capitalism, Ann Abour: University of Michigan
Stearns, P. (2001) Consumerism in World History. The Global Transformation of Desire, London: Routledge.
Williams, R.H. (1982) Dream Worlds. Mass Consumption in Late Nineteeth Century France, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Journals:
Arvidsson, A. (2001) ‘From counterculture to consumer culture: Vespa and the Italian youth market, 1958 – 78’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 1(1): 47 - 71
De Grazia, V. and Cohen, L. (eds) (1996) ‘Class and Consumption’, special issue of International Labour and Working Class History, 55 Spring
Fairchilds, C. (1998) ‘Consumption in early modern Europe. A review article’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 35: 850 – 58.
Hilton, M. (2004) ‘The legacy of luxury: moralities of consumption since the eighteenth century’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 4 (1):101 -23
Laermans, R. (1993) ‘Learning to consume: early department stores and the shaping of modern consumer culture, 1896 – 1914’, Theory, Culture and Society, 10 (4) 79 – 102.
Miller, N. And Rose, N. (1997) ‘Mobilizing the consumer: Assembling the object of desire’, in Theory, Culture and Society, 14 (1): 1- 36
Exhibition Websites:
Art, Fashion and Identity Royal Academy 2011 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/gsk-contemporary-season-2010/
Modernism: Designing a New World V&A 2006 http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1331_modernism/home.html
Websites:
Chris Jordan http://www.chrisjordan.com/
Post Consumers: http://www.postconsumers.com/
Week 3: Theories of Consumption
Industry and innovation, the availability of choice and credit and a desire for the new and fashionable have fuelled a society dominated by consumption. This session will introduce you to how anthropologists, social scientists, evolutionary psychologists and economists have developed frameworks that allow us critically examine how economic and cultural motivations drive our desire for material things.
Essential Reading:
Daniel Miller (2008) The Comfort of Things, Cambridge: Polity (you will be assigned chapters in groups at week 2)
Books:
Baudrillard, J. (1998) The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, London: Sage (1970)
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
Douglas, M. And Isherwood, B. (1978) The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Allen Lane
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Miller, D. (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Blackwell
Miller, G. (2009) Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behaviour
Scitovsky, T. (1976) The Joyless Economy: An inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Slater, D. (2007) Consumer Culture and Modernity
Veblen, T. (1994) The Theory of the Leisure Class, London: MacMillan (1899)
Journals:
Arnould, E J. And Wilk, R. ‘Why do the natives wear Adidas? Advances of Consumer Research, 15: 139 – 68
Belk, R. W., Wallendorf, M. And Sherry, J. (1989) ‘The Sacred and the profane in consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 16:1-38
Blumer, H. (1969) ‘Fashion: from class differentiation to collective selection’, Sociological Quarterly. 10:275 – 91
Friedman J. (1991) ‘Consuming desires: strategies for selfhood and appropriation’, Cultural Anthropology, 6(2): 154 – 64
Garnham, N. and Willaims, R. (1980)’Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of culture’, Media Culture and Society, 2:209 – 23.
Gell, A. (1988) ‘Anthropology, material culture and consumerism’, Journal of the Anthropological Society, 19 (1):66 - 112.
Liebenstien, H. (1950) Bandwagon, snob and Veblen effects in the theory of consumers’ demands’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 64: 183 – 207.
Rook, D. (1985) ‘The ritual dimension of consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 12: 251 – 64.
Simmel, G. (1991) ‘The problem of Style’, Theory, Culture and Society, S: 63 – 71.
Week 4: Consumerism the Handmade of Capitalism
Capitalism, the current dominate economic model, is the most effective mechanism the world has seen for providing goods and services and creating financial wealth but nearly 1 billion people still survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day and the world’s natural resources are rapidly being depleted. This session will consider the implications of this system where corporations are concerned with maximising profits and accumulating capital.
Essential Readings:
Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Mattered, London: Earthscan. Pages 65 – 87
Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Flamingo. Section 1 - No Space
Books:
Amin, S. (1997) Capitalism in the Age of Globalisation, London: Zed Books
Bauman, Z, (1998) Globalization: The Human Consequences, Cambridge: Polity Press
Blythman, J (2004) Shopped: The shocking power of British supermarkets, London: Harper Perennial
Durning, A. (1992), How much is enough: the consumer society and the future of the Earth, London: Earthscan
Foster, H. (ed) (1985) Post-Modern Culture, London: Pluto Press
Giddens, A, (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hertz, N. (2002) The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy,
Sklair, L. (2002) Gloablisation Capitalism and its Alternatives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Journals:
Fejes, F. (1980) ‘The Growth of the Multinational Advertising Agencies in Latin America’, Journal of Communication, 30 (Autumn) 36 – 49
Fernandes, L. (2000) ‘Nationalizing the Global: Media Images, Cultural Politics and the Middle Class in India’. Media, Culture and Society 22/5:611-28.
Goss, J. (1993)’ The magic of the mall: an analysis of form, function and meaning in the contemporary built environment’ Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, 83 (1) 18 – 47
McGurkin, E. (1997) ‘Tibetan Carpets: From Folk Art to Global Commodity’, Journal of Material Culture, 2/3:291 – 310
Monga , Y.D. (2000) ‘Dollars and Lipsticks: The United States through the Eyes of African Women’. Africa 70/2: 192 – 208.
Robinson, W. (1997) ‘ A Case Study of Globalisation Processes in the Third World A Transnational Agenda in Nicaragua.’ Global Society, 11/1 61 - 91
Spencer, R. (2004) Corporate Law and Structures: Exposing the roots of the problem. Corporate Watch http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2592
Exhibition Websites:
The Robert Opie Collection: http://www.robertopiecollection.com/Application/Corporate/museum2GB.asp
V&A Brand New:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/BrandNew_Site/intro.html
Websites:
Adbusters: http://www.adbusters.org/
The Corporation: http://www.thecorporation.com/
The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Essential Reading:
Gabriel, Y. and Lang, T. (2006) The Unmanageable Consumer London: Sage Publications Pg 10 - 24
Sassatelli, R. (2007) Consumer Culture: History, Theory and Politics, London: Sage Publications Pg 32 – 51
Books
Appadurai, A. (1986a) The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspectives, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Campbell, C. (1987) The Romantic Ethic and the Spirit of Modern Consumerism, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
De Vries, J. (1993) ‘Between purchasing and the world of goods’, in J Bewer and R. Porter (eds) Consumption and the World of Goods, London: Routledge
Hirsch, J. (1991) Fordism and post-Fordism: The present crisis and its consequences in W, Bonefeld and J, Holloway (eds), Post-Fordism and Social Form: A Marxist Debate in the post-Fordist state. Houndmills: Macmillan Academic and Professional.
McCraken, G. (1988) Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities, Bloomington: Indianan University Press.
Sombart, W. (1967) Luxury and Capitalism, Ann Abour: University of Michigan
Stearns, P. (2001) Consumerism in World History. The Global Transformation of Desire, London: Routledge.
Williams, R.H. (1982) Dream Worlds. Mass Consumption in Late Nineteeth Century France, Berkeley: University of California Press.
Journals:
Arvidsson, A. (2001) ‘From counterculture to consumer culture: Vespa and the Italian youth market, 1958 – 78’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 1(1): 47 - 71
De Grazia, V. and Cohen, L. (eds) (1996) ‘Class and Consumption’, special issue of International Labour and Working Class History, 55 Spring
Fairchilds, C. (1998) ‘Consumption in early modern Europe. A review article’, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 35: 850 – 58.
Hilton, M. (2004) ‘The legacy of luxury: moralities of consumption since the eighteenth century’, Journal of Consumer Culture, 4 (1):101 -23
Laermans, R. (1993) ‘Learning to consume: early department stores and the shaping of modern consumer culture, 1896 – 1914’, Theory, Culture and Society, 10 (4) 79 – 102.
Miller, N. And Rose, N. (1997) ‘Mobilizing the consumer: Assembling the object of desire’, in Theory, Culture and Society, 14 (1): 1- 36
Exhibition Websites:
Art, Fashion and Identity Royal Academy 2011 http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/gsk-contemporary-season-2010/
Modernism: Designing a New World V&A 2006 http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1331_modernism/home.html
Websites:
Chris Jordan http://www.chrisjordan.com/
Post Consumers: http://www.postconsumers.com/
Week 3: Theories of Consumption
Industry and innovation, the availability of choice and credit and a desire for the new and fashionable have fuelled a society dominated by consumption. This session will introduce you to how anthropologists, social scientists, evolutionary psychologists and economists have developed frameworks that allow us critically examine how economic and cultural motivations drive our desire for material things.
Essential Reading:
Daniel Miller (2008) The Comfort of Things, Cambridge: Polity (you will be assigned chapters in groups at week 2)
Books:
Baudrillard, J. (1998) The Consumer Society: Myths and Structures, London: Sage (1970)
Bourdieu, P. (1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste
Douglas, M. And Isherwood, B. (1978) The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Allen Lane
Giddens, A. (1991) Modernity and self Identity: Self and Society in the Late Modern Age. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
Miller, D. (1987) Material Culture and Mass Consumption. Oxford: Blackwell
Miller, G. (2009) Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behaviour
Scitovsky, T. (1976) The Joyless Economy: An inquiry into Human Satisfaction and Consumer Dissatisfaction. New York: Oxford University Press.
Slater, D. (2007) Consumer Culture and Modernity
Veblen, T. (1994) The Theory of the Leisure Class, London: MacMillan (1899)
Journals:
Arnould, E J. And Wilk, R. ‘Why do the natives wear Adidas? Advances of Consumer Research, 15: 139 – 68
Belk, R. W., Wallendorf, M. And Sherry, J. (1989) ‘The Sacred and the profane in consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 16:1-38
Blumer, H. (1969) ‘Fashion: from class differentiation to collective selection’, Sociological Quarterly. 10:275 – 91
Friedman J. (1991) ‘Consuming desires: strategies for selfhood and appropriation’, Cultural Anthropology, 6(2): 154 – 64
Garnham, N. and Willaims, R. (1980)’Pierre Bourdieu and the sociology of culture’, Media Culture and Society, 2:209 – 23.
Gell, A. (1988) ‘Anthropology, material culture and consumerism’, Journal of the Anthropological Society, 19 (1):66 - 112.
Liebenstien, H. (1950) Bandwagon, snob and Veblen effects in the theory of consumers’ demands’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 64: 183 – 207.
Rook, D. (1985) ‘The ritual dimension of consumer behaviour’, Journal of Consumer Research, 12: 251 – 64.
Simmel, G. (1991) ‘The problem of Style’, Theory, Culture and Society, S: 63 – 71.
Week 4: Consumerism the Handmade of Capitalism
Capitalism, the current dominate economic model, is the most effective mechanism the world has seen for providing goods and services and creating financial wealth but nearly 1 billion people still survive in abject poverty on less than $1 a day and the world’s natural resources are rapidly being depleted. This session will consider the implications of this system where corporations are concerned with maximising profits and accumulating capital.
Essential Readings:
Porritt, J. (2005) Capitalism as if the World Mattered, London: Earthscan. Pages 65 – 87
Klein, N. (2000) No Logo, London: Flamingo. Section 1 - No Space
Books:
Amin, S. (1997) Capitalism in the Age of Globalisation, London: Zed Books
Bauman, Z, (1998) Globalization: The Human Consequences, Cambridge: Polity Press
Blythman, J (2004) Shopped: The shocking power of British supermarkets, London: Harper Perennial
Durning, A. (1992), How much is enough: the consumer society and the future of the Earth, London: Earthscan
Foster, H. (ed) (1985) Post-Modern Culture, London: Pluto Press
Giddens, A, (1990) The Consequences of Modernity, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hertz, N. (2002) The Silent Takeover: Global Capitalism and the Death of Democracy,
Sklair, L. (2002) Gloablisation Capitalism and its Alternatives, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Journals:
Fejes, F. (1980) ‘The Growth of the Multinational Advertising Agencies in Latin America’, Journal of Communication, 30 (Autumn) 36 – 49
Fernandes, L. (2000) ‘Nationalizing the Global: Media Images, Cultural Politics and the Middle Class in India’. Media, Culture and Society 22/5:611-28.
Goss, J. (1993)’ The magic of the mall: an analysis of form, function and meaning in the contemporary built environment’ Annuals of the Association of American Geographers, 83 (1) 18 – 47
McGurkin, E. (1997) ‘Tibetan Carpets: From Folk Art to Global Commodity’, Journal of Material Culture, 2/3:291 – 310
Monga , Y.D. (2000) ‘Dollars and Lipsticks: The United States through the Eyes of African Women’. Africa 70/2: 192 – 208.
Robinson, W. (1997) ‘ A Case Study of Globalisation Processes in the Third World A Transnational Agenda in Nicaragua.’ Global Society, 11/1 61 - 91
Spencer, R. (2004) Corporate Law and Structures: Exposing the roots of the problem. Corporate Watch http://www.corporatewatch.org.uk/?lid=2592
Exhibition Websites:
The Robert Opie Collection: http://www.robertopiecollection.com/Application/Corporate/museum2GB.asp
V&A Brand New:
http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/BrandNew_Site/intro.html
Websites:
Adbusters: http://www.adbusters.org/
The Corporation: http://www.thecorporation.com/
The Story of Stuff: http://www.storyofstuff.com/
Brief: Writing up Research ideas and Electronic Research Portfolio Project for Unit 1 & 2
BA (Hons) Textile Design – Spring Term Theory 2011
Writing up Research ideas and Electronic Research Portfolio Project for Unit 1 & 2
The Theory Unit 4 is all about encouraging you to engage with contemporary, historic, cultural, theoretical and environmental contexts (see following notes). You will use your Blog (unit 1) and the Object/image analysis presentation (unit2) to work towards ideas for unit 4.
The written project we want you to do will be based on your research material and the notion of ‘reading’ objects/images or exploring a design concept, and then building up an understanding of its social and cultural context.
In the writing we want you to show (evidence) the results of this research process.
· The writing will consist of 2000 words (not more than 2200) supported by an electronic research portfolio (your blog) that has been built up during the research process and stage one.
You can assume your reader has a knowledge of the type of cultural product that you choose.
Project background and how to set out your research in essay form
Rather than give you an essay question to answer we want you to make a choice, to make a decision on a research process that begins with investigating some designed thing or design concept that relates to your personal interest in textile design. So:
· Choose something that excites and interests you NOW!
· Choose something that helps you become an even better informed textile designer!
· The ‘something’ can be a design concept, as much as a designed ‘object’ or ‘image’!
Then, show (evidence) in the writing up of the research process:
· The artistic, or technical context, and the social and cultural contexts within which your chosen something was produced.
(continued)
For example:
Years ago, I visited the Pitt Rivers collection, part of The University Museum Oxford, walking around this amazing collection I remember “finding” an ‘Eskimo Anorak’ made of strips of seal intestine. It was beautiful, white, transparent, strips all sewn together in this amazing texture, obviously waterproof. What kind of way of life produced this object? Finding out more about North American indigenous cultural groups was helped by seeing a fantastic exhibition (and catalogue) called ‘Sacred Circles’ at the Hayward Gallery. Subsequently I had the honour of being introduced by a mutual friend to the famous structural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss who had come to London especially to see this exhibition. Wow!
Pick something you find fascinating to start your research exploration, a design by a designer you admire, something in a design collection, but see if you can make this research work for you as a textile design student.
Some notes for your reference on CONTEXT
The contemporary
If you choose something that is contemporary, it will have some relationship to an historical context, even if it is a deliberate act of rejection of an aspect of the past or present.
The historical
If you choose something that is historical, how we view and understand its context is contemporary.
The cultural
Whatever you choose it is going to originate in a cultural context, even if the historical or ‘lifestyle’ cultural context has been largely stripped away, as in a museum or gallery display. This is where research and reading can be so informative, giving you a way of ‘locating’ the chosen ‘object’ informed by background material that is not necessarily connected to the object when you encounter it.
Of course there are different cultural contexts, and contexts where cultural contexts cohabit, as in our cosmopolitan, post-modern cultural environment. Difference can be celebrated, or suppressed!
The theoretical
The word theory comes from the Greek word theoria, which basically means ‘speculation as opposed to practice’. As design students you know that speculation and practice are not always opposed, because speculation can encourage research into practice, and vice versa, but ‘theory’ and the theoretical is all about the discussions and debates about what seems to be the best explanation based on all the available evidence, which in our case will relate to design and designing. If evidence contradicts a theory then we have to “go back to the (theory) drawing board” and re-work it, or drop it altogether!
If you can show in your essay you are aware of the theoretical discussions and debates that are relevant to your chosen subject by citing references to them then you are definitely in the ‘theory’ business.
The environmental
A concern with the environmental context of textile design is one of the very particular strengths of your course. You will be learning about contemporary issues related to the environment and will be encouraged to consider how this might affect your textile practice. But don’t wait for the lectures before researching.
Write a 200 word statement about what your initial thoughts are on what you want to research and reasons why. Submit it to the textiles discussion board forum (on Blackboard) and your blog for Stage One electronic portfolio by 1st February. Offer feedback/suggestions to your peers in the following weeks before presentations start.
Philip Courtenay – Academic Support
Start Researching from NOW
Writing up Research ideas and Electronic Research Portfolio Project for Unit 1 & 2
The Theory Unit 4 is all about encouraging you to engage with contemporary, historic, cultural, theoretical and environmental contexts (see following notes). You will use your Blog (unit 1) and the Object/image analysis presentation (unit2) to work towards ideas for unit 4.
The written project we want you to do will be based on your research material and the notion of ‘reading’ objects/images or exploring a design concept, and then building up an understanding of its social and cultural context.
In the writing we want you to show (evidence) the results of this research process.
· The writing will consist of 2000 words (not more than 2200) supported by an electronic research portfolio (your blog) that has been built up during the research process and stage one.
You can assume your reader has a knowledge of the type of cultural product that you choose.
Project background and how to set out your research in essay form
Rather than give you an essay question to answer we want you to make a choice, to make a decision on a research process that begins with investigating some designed thing or design concept that relates to your personal interest in textile design. So:
· Choose something that excites and interests you NOW!
· Choose something that helps you become an even better informed textile designer!
· The ‘something’ can be a design concept, as much as a designed ‘object’ or ‘image’!
Then, show (evidence) in the writing up of the research process:
· The artistic, or technical context, and the social and cultural contexts within which your chosen something was produced.
(continued)
For example:
Years ago, I visited the Pitt Rivers collection, part of The University Museum Oxford, walking around this amazing collection I remember “finding” an ‘Eskimo Anorak’ made of strips of seal intestine. It was beautiful, white, transparent, strips all sewn together in this amazing texture, obviously waterproof. What kind of way of life produced this object? Finding out more about North American indigenous cultural groups was helped by seeing a fantastic exhibition (and catalogue) called ‘Sacred Circles’ at the Hayward Gallery. Subsequently I had the honour of being introduced by a mutual friend to the famous structural anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss who had come to London especially to see this exhibition. Wow!
Pick something you find fascinating to start your research exploration, a design by a designer you admire, something in a design collection, but see if you can make this research work for you as a textile design student.
Some notes for your reference on CONTEXT
The contemporary
If you choose something that is contemporary, it will have some relationship to an historical context, even if it is a deliberate act of rejection of an aspect of the past or present.
The historical
If you choose something that is historical, how we view and understand its context is contemporary.
The cultural
Whatever you choose it is going to originate in a cultural context, even if the historical or ‘lifestyle’ cultural context has been largely stripped away, as in a museum or gallery display. This is where research and reading can be so informative, giving you a way of ‘locating’ the chosen ‘object’ informed by background material that is not necessarily connected to the object when you encounter it.
Of course there are different cultural contexts, and contexts where cultural contexts cohabit, as in our cosmopolitan, post-modern cultural environment. Difference can be celebrated, or suppressed!
The theoretical
The word theory comes from the Greek word theoria, which basically means ‘speculation as opposed to practice’. As design students you know that speculation and practice are not always opposed, because speculation can encourage research into practice, and vice versa, but ‘theory’ and the theoretical is all about the discussions and debates about what seems to be the best explanation based on all the available evidence, which in our case will relate to design and designing. If evidence contradicts a theory then we have to “go back to the (theory) drawing board” and re-work it, or drop it altogether!
If you can show in your essay you are aware of the theoretical discussions and debates that are relevant to your chosen subject by citing references to them then you are definitely in the ‘theory’ business.
The environmental
A concern with the environmental context of textile design is one of the very particular strengths of your course. You will be learning about contemporary issues related to the environment and will be encouraged to consider how this might affect your textile practice. But don’t wait for the lectures before researching.
Write a 200 word statement about what your initial thoughts are on what you want to research and reasons why. Submit it to the textiles discussion board forum (on Blackboard) and your blog for Stage One electronic portfolio by 1st February. Offer feedback/suggestions to your peers in the following weeks before presentations start.
Philip Courtenay – Academic Support
Start Researching from NOW
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