Design is an integral part of the basketry course and our design tutor Louise Baldwin (a textile artist) has expertly led us through basic development stages from mark making through to planning of final projects. Louise is very good at introducing an idea and then sequentially opening it out for us to experience and begin to embrace. I am confident using this process others on my course are new to it finding it challenging and have produced some fantastic work. It is really good to be working within a diverse group setting again rather than in solitude. Cross fertilisation of ideas and group discussion of our work each week really helps cement what we are doing and shows our individuality building confidence and support.
so our design sessions covered
day one – mark making bliss for me monochrome!
day two – colour mixing
day three – planning projects or installations
There is a lot to practice at home each week as I don’t want to forget anything I have learned each day or module and there is so much information! Adjusting to juggling jobs and family commitments is also quite a skill.
Recalibration for 2018. I plan to designate time in the shed to develop my drawing again which will underpin my practice especially now the Revolution and Resonance project is finished. Continuing exploring dependency through relationships and depth I am thinking of creating a new black board series and some weave drawings that encompass the course skills I’m learning of stake and strand or weaving for example, using natural materials and maybe unnatural ones this is kind of reversing making a 3d form out of a 2d drawing. Then again something else entirely could emerge…
But I digress…So back to the design days – which if we are honest are always initially less exciting in appeal than making days. However Louise has made them so satisfying we are all always inspired to make and find we have enjoyed the totally absorbing process of drawing what we think something edgy or light might look like.
Getting back to basics is so vital to creating work and each time it requires an effort to re visit the building blocks of creativity, gathering images, colours, textures, words, sounds, thoughts and any research materials that support an idea in a sketch book which becomes a journey which quite frankly never ends.
I don’t really understand why it is an effort to re visit the fundamentals of research except that it feels like its all there to do and the mountain to climb is high…but as soon as I start ‘climbing’ I begin to notice the details along the way; my curiosity is fired up and I cannot stop myself – holding my breath sometimes-when I find something extraordinary in the ordinary or if I see something in a different way for the first time. It feels great to be on a journey with purpose and to find supporting evidence along the route.
