Brief - Pop Up

BA (Hons) TEXTILE DESIGN

STAGE 1
AUTUMN TERM: 2010/2011
Project: POPUP
UNIT 2: Concept & Process
Date:18th October -10th December
40 credits

POPUP

Popup spaces are a new, exciting and sometimes anarchic way of transforming disused space.
Do-it yourself culture is taking over
Shops, galleries, restaurants, cinemas appearing in empty and unloved spaces.
Your desk is your space
Create a dramatic, visually exciting Popup collection of objects that interconnect in a variety of ways to illuminate some aspect of your contemporary experience. We are asking you to create Two POPUPS. Popup1 will inform your first two technical blocks (Autumn term) and Popup2 will inform the remaining two technical blocks Spring term (see timetables on blackboard).

Consider representing a Place or a Sequence

POPUP PLACE

For example - Popup Peckham popup fridge /garden shed.
Objects which describe a particular environment which you may have an interest in or a personal connection to ,scale and breadth of space are an important consideration – could be an investigation of a very tiny world in microscopic detail, from a patch of ground to street level to locality to universe

POPUP SEQUENCE

Connections between objects, storytelling, back stories, free association, family histories,
reflecting on an experience. Objects relating to an issue you are really concerned about. A political issue. A Joke. A secret. Something mysterious. A juxtaposition of unlikely elements. a sequence…a transformation, a metamorphosis. Synecdoche (where the part stands in for the whole or the whole for the part).

The POPUP, although a piece of work in its own right, is also an image bank for future development; a source of inspiration for you to draw on in the coming weeks. It will also act as a starting point for the work you will make in the forthcoming technical workshops. We are asking you to respond to your collection developing your own visual language, responding to colour, contrast , juxtapositions, narratives, texture, form, mood.

PROGRAMME OF STUDY
18th October – Assemble your Popup on your desk consider your arrangement carefully to convey your particular story or mood.

Independent Study & Taught Sessions
The next two weeks in the studio will be spent recording through drawing, cataloguing, painting constructing, inventing, wrapping, photography. This will include independent study and taught sessions. You will be introduced to a variety of approaches to drawing in day workshops run by specific tutors.

TUTORIALS

Monday 25h October - One to One Tutorial
You will be assigned a Personal Tutor and have one tutorial to discuss your progress and any issues.

Thursday 9th December – One to One Tutorial on progress

Monday 21st February – Unit feedback tutorials – one to one

UNIT ASSESSMENT DEADLINE – Monday 14th February – display your work in your studio space by 10am DG17. You will then use this day as an independent study day whilst tutors assess your work in the studio. No access to studios on this day after 10am.

Learning Outcomes – In order to pass the unit you are expected to:

1. demonstrate knowledge of the key principles of textile design and design processes.
2. present, evaluate and interpret information through your practical visual research, and use this to develop design work that is translated into your samples.
3. evaluate the appropriateness of processes, skills and methods of textile design in order to explore your ideas through knitted, woven, stitched, printed and digital samples.
4. use self-reflection and critical evaluation as part of the learning process.
5. communicate your ideas and findings using structured and coherent arguments. Present samples professionally appropriately to textile design.
6. demonstrate transferable skills and qualities such as initiative and problem solving

The learning outcomes will be assessed through the marking criteria listed in below.

Marking criteria

• Research : Systematic identification and investigation of a range of academic and cultural sources
• Analysis : Examination and interpretation of resources
  Subject Knowledge : Understanding and application of subject knowledge and underlying principles
• Experimentation: Problem solving, risk taking, experimentation and testing of ideas and materials in the realisation of concepts
• Technical Competence : Skills to enable the execution of ideas appropriate to the medium
• Communication and Presentation : Clarity of purpose; skills in the selected media; awareness and adoption of appropriate conventions; sensitivity to the needs of diverse audiences
• Personal and Professional Development : Management of learning through reflection, planning, self direction, subject engagement & commitment
• Collaborative and/or Independent Professional Working : Demonstration of suitable behaviour for working in a professional context alone, or in diverse teams

Pages 59 and 60 of the Course Handbook 2009/10 (available on Blackboard) explain in detail the levels of achievement indicators for each of the marking criteria.

Assessment evidence

• Evidence of design research and development.
• Presentation of a collection of design work reflecting specific themes related to the project.
• Fabric samples for each textile technical block.
• Technical notebook
• Presentation of research material related to study tasks for theory.
Self-evaluation form

Designer Analysis - Vasarely, Victor

Vasarely, Victor

Pal-Ket

Victor Vasarely was a Hungarian, French artist born in 1906. His work is considered an early example of the Op Art movement. Optical illusions are abstract images. The interactions between the pictures plains are manipulated to create the illusions. the viewer is entertained by their understanding and what they are actually seeing. Illusions include movement, flashing, swelling, warping, hidden images and patterns. Mainly in black and white, but later artist progressed with colour.

It is our own vision and human ability to see that makes exploring techniques within this movement so interesting, the retina for example records colour input differently as it receives the different light inputs. Manipulating this can create an interesting study.

In the Painting Pal-Ket Vasarely demonstrates beautifully how using optical art techniques can create an illusion of a sphere appearing to bulge from a flat surface. The image consists of a chessboard style of a square grid which is manipulated according to the movement. In the centre of the page, the central four squares have been enlarged, acting as if they are closer to the audience. From the center the grid then takes 8 different proportionate directions until it reaches the edge of the sphere boundary line. From there the grid almost melts back into the proportionate, flat, chessboard.

The fundamental achievement of the ambiguous image and the audiences perception is the measurement of the grid. Between the center, as the grid declines, towards the corners in an affair of cubic growth until it has reached it's original size from there it reduces in a linear manner until it either falls from perspective or rejoins the flat background.

Colour has been included to add depth to the illusion. Purples, blues, greens, white and black sits to fill each of the geometric shapes. Black and white forms the background in sence that where either is dominate it affects it's combination with the primary pigments. White is found around the edge of the sphere acting as a light source or reflection. Black then makes home in the centre and on the outskirts of te image. Colour is divided in the four: top left is green with a purpal background; top right blue with a green background; bottom left blue with a black background; bottom right purpel with a blue background. Like with the grid measurements as the colours change saturation changes with a tinted or shaded effect it results in an illusion of change.

Each box contains a circle which gives the surface a pattern. This emphasises the movement of the grid and has the potential to clarify the direction of the movement.

Designer Analysis - Pollock, Jackson

Pollock, Jackson
Number 1A, 1948

Paul Jackson Pollock was born in 1912, an American painter, he became a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist movement. The movement was developed by American painters, mainly in New York, in the 1940s and 50s. The name suggests a rebellious, disordered, and lawless craze, a feeling you would expect from a post-war community. The focus of the art involved producing or expressing an emotional effect. Like surrealist concepts, expressionist felt art should come from the unconscious mind. There was two broad groups within the concept: action or colour-field. Action painters were spontaneously, improvising as they went along in an automatic, subconscious manner. The Colour-Field painters instead had interests in religion and myth, using simple compositions of colour in blocks in an attempt to engage the viewer as well as provoking a meditation response from the viewer, thoughtful and reflective.

Number 1A, 1948, created by Pollock is a large canvas smeared with paint, from drippings of paint in large dramatic brush strokes and sweeping marks. To do this he would pour and fling the paint, using sticks and knives. A childish action that is hard to control. This technique was enhanced by the scale, which requires a large input of an energetic application which would be hard for someone of inferior strength. it is this exertion that gives the finished effect it's energy, a buzz, an electricity of power that sits almost off the canvas. I feel if the initial input had been less aggressive the finish wouldn't be so kinetic. He also had to pouring paint direct from the can or trailing it from the brush or a stick to directly placed their inner impulses on the canvas.

He worked on the canvas either on the floor or tacked to a hard wall in order to freely move around it's edges. Removing the easel gave him freedom and changes the idea of a traditional perspective. It is this freedom of expression that was so relieving for the artists having been controlled for so long by war censorship.

Each stroke is individual, it can not be repeated or copied, and the nature of the painting means there is no mistakes. The page is infinite in respect of there being no beginning or end, instead a seemed endless overlaying of beauty.

Within the picture you can see -in order of the dominance- the following colours : pure black citric pale green turquoise, florescent highlighter orange, bleached white, melon red, deep dry blood red, and a chocolate brown. This eclectic mix sits on top of the background colour of a light antique brown that holds reference to an old piece of paper.

Designer Analysis - Rauschenberg, Robert

Rauschenberg, Robert

Reservoir

Robert Rauschenberg was an American artist born in 1925. His work was popular in the 1950s when he made the transition to Pop Art. He is known for combining non-traditional materials and objects to make innovative combinations

The Pop Art movement draws from sources in popular and commercial culture, such as movies, advertising, packaging, pop music and comic books, to form the perspective of fine art. Often using objects to represent the subject then engage with an combine to produce contemplations. but the subject itself isn't about the techniques it is about the attitude of challenging tradition. It is one of the first examples of postmodernism. Often the artists used low subject matter and treated it uncritically. New modern topic matters or themes were explored.

In the painting, Reservoir (pictured above),Rauschenberg has used common placed objects over a splattered background. The main objects are the two clocks placed near the top and the bottom left corners. They read two different hours which suggests movement. The higher shows the time Rauschenberg started the painting, and bottom when it was completed. If you conclude that the time did not run over a period of days it can be assumed that it took only an hour and five minutes. Time is a nice niggle for art critics, who could suggest that great art must have labour hours invested into it to make it valuable. I feel that this is a small stand promoting post-modern art.

A number of materials have been used to form the image: oil, wood, graphite, fabric, metal, and rubber, as well as the additional rounded objects. Putting 'Fat over Lean' as it can be described produces new lustful textures and effects. When playing with materials you often get a unique desirable results that produce questions for the viewer. Rauschenberg using objects instead of paint works as a Pop art idealisim and fills the gap between art and life. It breaks away from traditional picture space as the objects extend away from the canvas.

The painting technique are erratic. Bold thick strokes have been used to rush around the painting. There are drip marks. No efforts have been made to integrate the bold colour patches. the edges of the colouring are jagged as each brush stroke finishes in a different place. All theses factors collate to an exciting energy of hast and add quality to the theme of movement.

The colour and main compositional additions are at the top of the page, bellow a dirty level white subsides, with the clock leveled upon a bold red splatter. The centre is covered in a textured brown and consists from objects and the paint. It flows to the left into a black with navy highlights the settle a base for the higher clock. Above this floats a purple and white mixture. All colours mentioned are clumped separately with whiter versions of the strongest hue pasted within. In the remaining top area above the mentioned arc is a more pastel collection including a blue and a peachy red clump. Primary colours with no secondary colours to assist an analogous ease. the top right edge trails into a weak soft brown created from the red cluster.

It is unclear what subject, objects or scene the artist was painting, or if there was indeed a objective at all, but as an onlooker I feel there is a collection because of the strong colour divides. The wood placed above the clock confirms this and gives the image structure as a beam would within a house. The arc of browns and black holds the foreground and the pastel colours rest as background.

Designer Analysis - Jones, Allen

Jones, Allen
Man Woman, 'Hermaphrodite' series

Allen Jones a British Sculpture born in 1937. His worked revolved around the Jungian psychology and the philosophy of Nietzche. He focused on the creation of art and the ability to integrate male and female elements. His work can be seen as part of the British Pop Art movement which started in the mid 1950s and peaked in the 1960s.


The Pop Art movement draws from sources in popular and commercial culture, such as movies, advertising, packaging, pop music and comic books, to form the perspective of fine art. Often using objects to represent the subject then engage with an combine to produce contemplations. but the subject itself isn't about the techniques it is about the attitude of challenging tradition. It is one of the first examples of postmodernism. Often the artists used low subject matter and treated it uncritically. Jones exploring the topic of hermaphrodites in this manner is an example of how new subject matter can be developed in new ways when presenting art.


Jones's Man Woman painting from his 'Hermaphrodite' series is a self portrait, the mans body is Jones and he is connected to an unknown woman, The word Hermaphrodite can mean male and female bodies melting into each other. Jones is portraying the unity of a sexual act.


Within the picture there is a representation of a male and female then body connected as if he has his arm around her as they are sitting down, an innocent act of affection.


The bodies do not have heads, which takes away most of their identity emphasising there choice of clothing to discover any characteristics. The man is wearing a typical everyday brown suit worn by most of the British office users in 1960 when they head. She appears less professional but very femine, a v-cut neck forms part of her dress or skirt arrangement; it appears ruffled, designed, colourful and exciting. In the scene it has been hitched up to reveal the whole of her right leg: tights, suggested stockings and heels. If I was to read into the story told by the painting and make my own subjective assumptions I would guess that this was an office love story of lust, affection and betrayal as the employee has an affair with the sectary.


Block colour has been used to create the image; appearing almost cut out. A mixture of about ten pastels. On her evenly distributed to make up her dress: a brown dirty and a lighter sunnier shade of yellow, two soft lake greens and a sky blue. Then an almost violet blue for her covered leg, and for the reveled, a fresh, skin, peach and a soft, deep, velvet, purple for her thigh. On him less colour is used: a pinkie, peachy chest, then a brown trouser and shirt, and a dirtier, darker brown for his jacket. His tie however is thinly striped and echos colours from her dress. she is sitting on a navy seat and he is perched on her which is emphasised but the gap between his legs and body where there is nothing. Although cutout, the colours disperse slightly at the edges and there is occasional blurring.

Designer Analysis - Hayter, Stanley William

Hayter, Stanley William

Claduegne

Stanley William Hayter was a British Painter and printmaker born in London in 1901, who set up the Atelier17 studio. His work in the 1930 was associated with the Surrealist movement, launched in Paris in 1924. The aim of surrealism was to reveal the unconscious and translate it into art. There was no single style of Surrealist art but two broad types can be assumed: (i) oneiric (dream-like) (ii) automatism. The work features the element of surprise, juxtapositions and the unexpected. He then developed his work and became renown as an innovator of printmaking and engraving.

The picture above shows one of Hayters Prints, Claduegne. The picture is of a collection of ribbon like bands that form a grid structure. The grid isn't flat, the ribbons run at an angle facing down from the bottom left to almost the top right. but instead finish in the top corner with a sleep incline. Each line appears interwoven at a 45 0 angle. It isn't rigid, although I have described the page as a grid, the ribbons appear to flow across the page making slight wave like curving movements from left to right.

More interesting then the form is how it relates to the colours. Fluorescent, sharp almost electric seems to be the theme for the colour pallet. Four colours are primary. the background a carpeted deep purple with a vertical lines of a very faded turquoise. As the ribbons descend this purple is covered with a soft red that appears as a light rather then a colour. areas have been scraped away or worn and parts of the carpet is reveled. The ribbons on this surface are the same electric turquoise blue that runs through the purple. As they twist or overlap the colour is removed to produce a checked pattern. The ribbons running upright look to have a colour descended from the red, they are a fluorescent pink and produce the same transparent pattern as they cross another subject. All the colours are acidic.

On a whole there is a grubby, uncleaned sanded texture as if the colours have been overlapped in the wrong order and had to undergo a peeling procedure to readjust the image; parts therefore worn off or stuck in the process.

There is no beginning or end to the study, it looks instead as if it is a snapshot of a larger sample study.

Designer Analysis - Gabo, Naum

Gabo, Naum
Linear Construction in Space No. 2

Naum Gabo was a sculpture born in Russia in 1890 he then moved in 1922 spent time in Berlin and Paris before becoming an American Citizen. His work is seen as part of the Constructivist movement because he can capture the idear of the infinite expansion of space. Constructivism originated in Russia from 1919 until around 1934, artist and architects rejected the idea of "art for art's sake" instead used art as a practice directed towards social purposes.

Gabo's Sculpture Linear Construction in Space No.2 is made using a curved perspex frame and nylon string. There are four Perspex arms joined at the bottom in a small stand, connected to the table surface to keep it stable. Each arm goes in a different compass direction but upright so they connect directly above the original standing position. Within this stretched oblong frame there is a reduced version floating. There appears also to be a central pole. this structural set up make the sculpture look as if it's floating or balancing in it's upright position as if an invisible cord is it's secret.

Looking at the picture (above) it gives a clear perspective of looking directly at one of the 4 arms. parallel you can see it's east and west counterparts. The Nylon string is wrapped around every edge of the arms and then directs towards the central cadge, where it is redirected towards another edge. Twisting, turning almost fighting the other cords to get there, the strings forms beautiful concave and convex folds. None of the cords are overlapped or tangled, they are all tight, aligned and organised.


The materials used are clear, thin, and light so the overall structure has a delicate, transparent finish which appears almost weightless. There is no beginning or end to the sculpture, and because of the extent or number of cords used you cannot unconsciously tract or follow it's direction. It appears infinite.

Designer Analysis - Christo Javacheff

Christo Javacheff
The Pont Neuf, Paris

Christo Javacheff was born in 1935 in Bulgeria. He is famous for his works he often did with list late wife Jeanne-Claude Christo where they would wrap up structures and landscapes on a large scale using materials and rope. The work can be described as similar to the work of New realists (Nouveaux Réalistes) a French movement founded in 1960 by Pierre Restany. The movement is famously described as new ways of perceiving the real. and is closely associated with the European Pop art movement. Artists use collage and assemblage or real objects in their work. this incorporation allows the artist to see the world as an image, from which they would then take objects from or as Christo does take his work to a real life subject both situation allow the artists to bring art and life closer together.

The above photograph shows a sculpture piece created 1985 and left for two weeks before it was dismantled. Christo wrapped up- The Pont Neuf - Paris's oldest bridge, in a thick canvas and secured it with rope. This was considered an exciting new way to create a sculpture.
The odd temporary engagement allows the viewer to be drawn in to the sculptural details of the bridge and engage with the new surface.

The work can be considered as holding a theme of preserving and restoration. The only other time you may see something covered in a similar textile would be if restoration work was taking place. Christo work may spark this association. Or similarly the beauty captured by his work argues reason for the preservation of the historical structure. The attention also creates a refreshed media hype to something sceptical but maybe forgotten because of it's historical construction date, reviving the original beauty.

Designer Analysis - Moholy-Nagy Laszlo

Moholy-Nagy Laszlo

CHX

Laszlo Moholy-Nagy was a Jewish-Hungarian painter between 1895 and 1946. He worked as a lecturer in the Bauhaus school. His work is considered as part of the Constructivism movement. Constructivism originated in Russia from 1919 until around 1934, artist and architects rejected the idea of "art for art's sake" instead used art as a practice directed towards social purposes.

In CHX Laszlo has drawn four shapes and then surrounded them within the space using four geometric lined grids. This gives the illusion of them being suspended within the space. The environment appears infinite.
The main shape comprises two Z shaped bubbles connected by a rectangular textured box the top Z is misshaped to appear reaching upwards. The other three shapes can be described as rectangles warped into position and the corners rounded, they sit in three different corners of the page.

The grids do not follow the same horizons; each one is adjusted according to its shapes direction. As you focus on each different shape, I find you naturally twist your head so can view it on its natural plain. This I feel is the main contributor to the shapes appearing within their own space.
Only the three primary colours have been used, however their strength is altered. The most prominent is the red that almost surrounds the main shape. At first sight I would describe it as a bleeding texture. Prominent in the centre and them equally diffusing at the edges in a splutter of fragmented but soft droplets. As it spreads to wards two of the other shapes it curls around their edges as if affected by them.

The red also combines with white to make the streaky pattern within the main shapes box. Pictured like a zebra stripe or a scientific magnified image of a voluntary muscle found in human biology books. The pattern doesn't fit with the overall themes of constructivism, adding form to the almost scientific study.

The bottom Z is coloured yellow with the red blotching its bottom corner. The top Z is coloured white with a deep navy blue lining the top right side diffusing across to the white side. Blue is also found with top right box contained within a curved block.

I think the most influential colouring within the image is the yellow surrounded by the larger red. This creating a Simultaneous contrast effect and propels the yellow shape away from the page to create an illusion of its direction. This is them emphasised by the misshaped top Z the top corner which is misshaped and highlighted blue which gives the illusion of it propelling upwards.

Overall the image is a brilliant example of a successful study into the form and colour can be simplified to explore space and volume.

Designer Analysis - Riley Bridget

Riley, Bridget

Cataract 3

Bridget Riley is a painter from London who work was recognised since the mid 1960's. Her work has been associated with the Op Art movement. Optical illusions are abstract images. The interactions between the pictures plains are manipulated to create the illusions. The viewer is entertained by their understanding and what they are actually seeing. Illusions include movement, flashing, swelling, warping, hidden images and patterns. Mainly in black and white, Riley is on of the front artist who progressed with colour.

It is our own vision and human ability to see that makes exploring techniques within this movement so interesting, the retina for example records colour input differently as it receives the different light inputs. Manipulating this can create an interesting study.

In Cataract 3 waves horizontally drawn across the page by combining a wide arc with a very steep front to create hills sliding down the page in a south east direction. A uniform sequence with no mistakes.

Initially a black and white colour pallet is apparent that alternates between each block of wave. However within the image there is a red tinge diffused vertically and subtly across the eye line. The back turns more to a grey, then both initial colours make room for a new red line that echoes exactly the same movement. The intensity of the red changes, I think it has been mixed slightly with a black to change it's darkness as it gets closer to the top and bottom of the eye line. Resulting in an assimilation contrast.

Initially the images may remind the current generation of a faulty computer inject printout where the ink is low that gives red colour interruptions.

The artist has limited herself to a few elements a basic lines and a pattern. She therefore arguably has to be creative to produce a painting.

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Colour interaction
(i) Simultaneous contrast
When one area of colour is surrounded by another area of a different colour. Initially it enhances the difference in brightness and/or colour. Also if the surround area is larger or more intense than the area it encloses, then the contrast is out of balance, resulting in exerting one of the colours.
(ii) In successive contrast.
One colour is viewed and then another, achieved by shifting fixation from one colour to another.
(iii) Assimilation contrast
The lightness of white or the darkness of black may seem to spread into neighbouring regions. Similarly, colours may appear to spread into or become assimilated into neighbouring areas. Resulting in neighbouring areas appear more alike

Designer analysis - Schiele Egon

Schiel, Egon

Seated Woman with Bent Knee

Egon Schiele was an Austrian painter during the early 19th century. His work has been associated as part of the expressionism movement that originated in German at the start of the 20th century. The ideals of expressionism are to present a subjective perspective, distorting a subject for emotional effect, promoting a response and ignoring the physical reality. I think this movement description is important in analysing this piece of his works.

The painting is a portrait of a young and beautiful woman, as titled; she is seated in an informal position with her knee bent on the ground. Her head resting upon it as she loosely curls her arms around her leg. The other leg opens out her body position exposing herself. This accompanied with the head facing towards the artist expands the woman's body language and allows the viewer to feel engaged with the subject.

Many of her features suggest personality traits of a vibrant, adventurous, unafraid, and mischievous person; distinctively her short, thick, uncontrollable, bouncy, albany curls.

Her facial expression is serious but also flirty. The raised eyebrows and pouting lips contribute to the erotic salutations but it is the gaze that is most exciting, I feel as if her wide eyes are almost asking a question and demanding the answer. This gaze could feels almost threatening.

The body proportions aren't exact. the neck is elongated and her legs and hips look larger then a normal perspective, this allows her body to sit comfortably in the lounged position.

The pallet is purposely limited in the painting upon the white background. The colour is focused on the orange albany hair, the turquoise green sleeveless top and black leggings. The rest of the image is comprised of her pale cream skin, muffled white shorts and unpainted shoes. The only other colour focus point is her red lips.
Upon the bright colours of her hair, top and leggings, the brush strokes are exaggerated almost scraped onto the canvas creating dense, long, thick irrigated lines.

The softer parts of the painting have mainly, unnoticeable brush marks. Her skin has instead a blotchy texture of occasional browns and albans creating blemishes, dirt marks or shading, giving an unwashed finished. The shorts look almost unpainted the outlines are a strong array or thin lines and the fill is merely a white speckle.

The two colour differences create a balance between the positive and negative spaces in the image. if the figure had been entirely finished it would not seat into the background comfortably.