Inspiration - You can find inspiration in everything & if you can't, then look again!

Inspiration - You can find inspiration in everything & if you can't, then look again!  (Paul Smith).

Whilst this is the title of an amazing book by the incredibly talented fashion designer Paul Smith, it is also something I believe in passionately. 

 

 

 

To be a successful artist/designer you must be constantly looking, not just at the work of your contemporaries & historical geniuses, but also at the world around you.  You need to develop the eye of a hawk!  My lovely Dad used to call me 'Hawk-eye' when I was a kid (amongst other names), but that was because I was always looking & more importantly finding.  The other magic ingredient to being a successful artist/designer is creativity, which in brief is the element of novelty, something new. It can be an "old idea" but if it is applied in a totally new way, new package, that same but recycled idea, it becomes a whole new entity.

 

You have to look, take note of, collect everything that interests you - who knows when it will feed into a piece of work or sketchbook.  For the last two weekends I have been visiting a range of Artists/Designers studios & have been so inspired by some of the spaces & work that I have seen.  I am going to share some of them with you (but not all - as there is no replacement for discovering people/work/interests for yourself).

 

 

This boutique based in the St.Martins area of Leicester is crammed with young designers work & is such an inspirational place to visit.  It is owned by a designer (Stephanie McDonald Walker) who has a very sharp eye for well crafted & highly creative work.  There is a range of work from fashion, to jewellery, and upstairs is a gallery with paintings & prints being displayed.  

 

Leather accessory by Stephine McDonald Walker (c).

 



Various items by a range of designers - Right side image - Stephanie McDonald Walker collar (c).

 

 

 

Another studio/space that I visited is the workspace of Ruth Singer, who is also based in Leicester.  She is a paper & textile designer, who has written many books about fabric manipulation etc. 

 

Ruth Singer (c).

 

The above panel is made purely of paper shapes that have been cut & stitched together to form a huge panel that has an incredible sense of movement to it.

 

Ruth Singer (c).

 

Ruth Singer (c).

 

Ruth Singer (c).

 

All of the above have been found in Leicester (as I said there are more, but you will have to look around you to discover too).  This week Leicester lost its bid to be the 'Cultural City' of 2014, what a crying shame!  This city is full to bursting with culture & creativity, clearly no one in any position looked hard enough (remember what I said at the start of this posting - look & then look again).  I visited all of the above in one weekend, found in a 10 minute walk of each other.  I spent half of Friday morning in one of the Tailors shops down near to the Melton Road (the Golden Mile of Leicester), which is such a fabulous area to shop in.  I bought all of my Textile students fabrics from my favourite tailor, who lets me go behind his counter & serve myself (he knows I am a real stickler for specific colour palettes) - his wife always makes me a drink, and I always leave feeling like I have been visiting an old friend.  This is Leicester at its finest - full of opportunities & cultural excitement. What the judges missed is actually for the people of Leicester to savour & enjoy! #bigmistake. 

 

 

There are warehouses up & down the city full of talented artists/designers creating & producing some amazing work, many have 'Open studios' during the year - especially near to Christmas - get out & discover as this is the way to meet & chat to like minded creatives - many are extremely generous with their time & skills.

 





















(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved.


A2 Textiles explode with magnificent samples

A2 Textiles sketchbooks have literally exploded with the most magnificent samples, their books are 'typical Textile' sketchbooks bursting & bulging with ideas, as one student gleefully exclaimed this week, 'I just love it, look it's all bursting' & it truly was. 

 

This week the students have been paying homage to the exquisite work of Dolce & Gabbana & their Byzantine Mosaic collection 2013.  This has to be one of the most stunning collections I & my students have ever looked at.  The level of embellishment is out of this world. 

 

We have spent weeks exploring a wide range of techniques using an even wider array of materials (both traditional & unconventional) to fully explore surface decoration.  They have foiled, pleated, heated, burnt, stitched, beaded their samples to truly stunning standards.  Their documentation has been beautiful, sensitive & of the highest level of thoroughness (AO1, AO2, AO3).  By the end of the week we were all making miniature peplums embellished with transferred images of Byzantine imagery sourced from Montreale Cathedral in Sicily. 

Key words/themes associated with the Dolce & Gabbana collection:  Byzantine Majesty, Catholic Drama, Beautiful Sin, Sophisticated Opulence, Religious Mosaics, Extravagance of Byzantine Art, Holy Figures, Iridescent Jewel Tones, Religions sternness juxtaposed by Fashion’s frivolity, Symbolic colour, Embellishment overload.

 

Viktor & Rolf has also captured the hearts of several students too, lending itself more to the students who enjoy fabric manipulation (AO1, AO2, AO3) & a more constructed approach to their outcomes.

The sketchbook pages above & below contain lots of interesting experiments, some deliberate & some from having the confidence & space to see 'what happens if'...  I always try to encourage students to experiment & push techniques to discover limitations & new methods of their own (this is what creativity in the classroom should be about - I truly believe that if we teach our students a wealth of relevant & credible skills & techniques then we will empower them to become the true creatives of tomorrow, but in order to do this, they need to feel they can document difficulties as well as their successes) - (AO1, AO2, AO3).

 

Below is a different sketchbook page depicting the net & stitch samples that were explored earlier in the week.  These were developed further with the addition of colour thread, foil, burning & beading - you will need to continue to follow this Blog to see further examples of these pages.

 







 

 

 

The manner in which this sketchbook page below is laid out & the sampling is truly exquisite, the documentation is extremely thorough & detailed, a very professional & mature style to a sketchbook (AO1, AO2, AO3).



I hope you have enjoyed seeing the latest adventures of the A2 Textile students - it's all getting very exciting.  More posts will follow, but as always I thank you for looking & for those of you who message me - thank you, your comments do mean so much to me (it's great to share ideas with other creatives & professionals).

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved.

A2 Art & Design sketchbook glimpse

This week saw all of the A2 Art & Design students (all groups) submit their sketchbooks for a 'snap-shot' review (ordinarily students have a formal written review at least monthly) - but despite these reviews Miss.S & myself wanted to gather up all of the students sketchbook evidence & cross-check them.  This was an afternoon of close scrutiny & cross reference of students performance, successes & of course difficulties.  It has provided us with a wealth of information to target specific students with support and/or additional tasks to broaden, deepen their work & personal ideas (the students are working on their Unit 3: Personal Investigation project).

 

 

There were many examples of good practice, where students had displayed some beautiful documentation skills (below) & personal ideas that have driven their work from initial ideas through to quality studies.

 

 

The sketchbook pages above & below are an excellent example of careful documentation, here the students reveal exactly what moves they have taken using Photoshop to create their tessellation patterns (AO1, AO2, AO3) - all useful information to any external examiner. 

 

 

The pages above clearly evidence digital work, containing small screen shots to explain the students technical moves.  The final repeat pattern gift wrap ideas are beautiful (the colours above unfortunately aren't true to the final outcomes) - you can see in the background of the pages below tiny glimpses of other colour ways that the student explored (AO1, AO2, AO3).

 

 

These pages above just give a small insight into the methods employed by one student in her personal investigation into Fashion Illustration (additional to these beautiful sketchbook pages she has mini-outcomes including her current adventures into large scale stitch based fashion portraits, based from a photo shoot completed of two 'fashionista' friends).

 

 

Another students sketchbook revealed small scale exquisite portraits of elderly people.  Her investigation involves interviewing, photographing & painting elderly people from various walks of life, she is trying to understand & depict several aspects including how to paint older skin, how skin tone/texture changes with age,  how to portray the personality of her subjects, whether it be one of vulnerability, shyness etc (AO1, AO2, AO3).

 

 

She has explored a range of media, from painting, mono-printing, stitch based drawings, photographs etc, as we all know this is vital for all students to demonstrate their ability to experiment with & control a wide range of media/techniques (AO1, AO2, AO3).

 

 

This student has created this beautiful vibrant painting in her sketchbook (we always recommend that students try to produce quality studies in their sketchbooks, as this is their one opportunity to 'shine' & demonstrate to the examiners that they are students worthy of top marks).  This student is yet to paint her image in the waiting circular gap - who knows what she'll decide to paint - keep watching this Blog for further updates.

 

Using 'Architecture' as a theme this student has started to develop paper based collars that extend into the front panel of a mans shirt.  She has extend her studies into exploring a range of papers, acetates etc & has started to enhance the surface quality of her papers with wax, stitch etc. The documentation of her investigations is exquisite & highlights her abundance of personal ideas (AO1, AO2, AO3).

 

 

Above & below clearly demonstrates this students ability to experiment, manipulate, explore, develop & above all document successfully.

 



 

 

Small collar ideas, exploring a range of transferred images.

 

There are many more students sketchbooks with beautiful pages, please continue to follow this Blog for more postings on these students creative ventures.

 

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved

 

 

 

Lasting Impressions by AS Art & Design students.

AS Art & Design students leave a lasting impression with their Mono-prints:

week has seen the AS Art & Design students embrace the technique of mono-printing, & start to produce a body of beautiful prints based on portraits.  Mono-printing offers the students an opportunity to explore their ideas with such an expressive style.  They started off being quite tentative with their facial expressions, but seem to have loosened up now - maybe it's due to Halloween last week. 

 

Nothing ever replaces the magic when you peep at your print & realise it's working.  Printmaking relies upon you having the confidence to often start work without truly knowing whether you are controlling the process or the process is controlling you.  So the moment you peep, or even reveal the final print is truly a magical moment - when it works! (AO4).

I felt this week that many of the AS Art & Design students were lucky enough to start to appreciate the beauty of printmaking.  Confidence was high in the art studio as the students peeled & revealed their stunning prints.  They are hitting several assessment objectives 'square between the eyes' with these prints, whilst creating even more work for their sketchbooks & small mini-outcomes (AO1, AO2, AO3, AO4).

 



 

 

This week the students will further develop their prints by introducing colour & mono-printing onto calico, the latter will then be taken into stitch.  I will endeavour to post some of these images over the next few weeks.

 

AS Textiles:

The AS Textiles students have been very busy in the studio this week, they've been juggling a couple of creative ventures.  They started the week learning a new technique of exploring steaming organza (AO1, AO2).  The Textiles studio was like a sauna with all of the steam & drying organza samples.  They used a variety of beans/chick peas/marbles etc to tie into the organza & allow the steam to hold the objects form.  There are many stunning photographs of these samples, here are just a few below. 

 

 

 

Additionally they returned to their paper & net ruffle collar pieces which they'd started just prior to 1/2 term.  The contrast between shredded papers (magazine/old comics etc - often chosen & shredded specifically for a particular colour) & bright zingy nets is quite a feast for your eyes (AO1, AO2, AO3).  The layering of these collars is intense to say the least & causes the students quite a struggle to negotiate through the sewing machine - in true Textiles spirit they do this magnificently & surprisingly few needles have been broken.

 



 

 The net layers create an abundance of new colours, the vibrancy is truly wonderful & mixed with random typography from the shredded paper layers - it all makes for a perfect & creative mini-outcome (AO4).

 

 

This is a perfect use of my old Beano comics - it's amazing what you find in the window of your local LOROS bookshop - 'one person's waste, is another's amazing Textile outcome'.

 



 

 

As this work is still in progress I won't reveal any more, but when the students have finished their collars I will post their stunning work for you all to see.

 

I would like to say 'thank you' to the many of you that read this Blog regularly & tweet me comments too.  I value everyone of these & it makes me realise how many people are actually reading my creative ramblings.  I have been forwarded some fascinating websites/Blogs as a result & welcome any new ones that you think I would like.  Keep those comments coming!

 

 

(c) 2013 - As always all layouts & images on this blog are purely for the 'Moon on a stick' blog. I enjoy sharing information & ideas, however, I ask you not to use any of these images/layouts etc without permission or without noting its origins on your post. All rights reserved