I went to a plenary session yesterday and had a very interesting conversation about whether people on my course this year should have studied Product Development or Contemporary Applied Art. Some students are struggling to write their essays or develop their final project, partly because they want to use items in commercial catalogues as inspiration. On the CAA course this is not acceptable. I was absolutely staggered that anyone would want to use anything in an Argos catalogue (Yuk!) as inspiration. It would never have occured to me! But as one of the younger students (who is very bright and astute) explained to me, if you want to design commercial products, like lengths of fabric that Debenhams might buy, you would look closely at what is commercially available.
Our course module from the first year, on Post Modernism, made it quite clear that applied art tended to be used in short run, limited edition art works, if they were applied to a commercial product. They tended to use hand techniques, supported by digital technology. They were not run in wholly mechanised or digitised processes. Does it show my limited thinking that it had never occurred to me that Product Design was the high volume, commercial, version of our CAA course? It would just never occur to me to look to commercial catalogues to gain inspiration. I have certainly looked at the displays in department stores to gain inspiration on how to display goods to best effect, and how to apply hand drawn imagery to commercial textile and ceramic products. I just did not see my work in the mass market context, although I am interested in practical applications for my output.
This student said that she looked at commercial catalogues because she was interested in the practical application of her artwork. As she does the "with Marketing" option, her work is focussed on identifying a market to which to play and then exploiting it to maximum capacity. Whereas my work is about me enjoying the design process and working out how my liking for practicality, can best utilise digital print to create short runs of limited edition furnishing fabric. It had just never occurred to me that the Product Design degree could be an option for an artist! I think I have spent too much time worrying about being seen as a middle age, middle class hobby crafter, and consequently not even considered commerciality.
I have also thought quite a lot about the specific attributes of digital print and how it fits with my work. I think my coloured pencil weekend will give me the ability to use a lot of different colours from the hand blending techniques. Digital print interprets fine colour changes very well, so this shows how my drawing linked with this style of print makes my work contemporary. Digital print is expensive because of the amount of ink used for detailed colour interpretation, but technology enables specific tailoring of design to be completed. I like cushions where the image is cropped eg you get a pomegranate design, but you place the image so that the right side and bottom are cropped out of the image and only two thirds of the fruit can be seen. If this were cut out of a repeating pattern on fabric, there would be a lot of wastage. But with digital print, you could just section out the area that you wanted, and print just the one square. Or if you wanted 20 exactly the same, you could do a tile repeat of just the section you wanted, and maximise fabric usage. Or if you wanted a couple of cushions with mirror images to sit at either end of a settee, you could just do two, using the flip function on Photoshop. Once again, using technology to make work contemporary.
Tuesday, 4 December 2012
A weekend at Missenden Abbey
This weekend, My sister-in-law, Shirley, and I went to Missenden to do an art class "Drawing Fruit and Vegetables in Coloured Pencils". We had a wonderful time. Roger Reynolds is a botanical artist who uses Castell Beyer pencils, which I had never used before. Neither have I ever been taught how to use coloured pencils. Castell Beyer are watercolour pencils - soluble in water - but we did not use any water, although we were shown how to blend them with Zest-it, which is a solvent. I did not use this technique.
The first session showed us how to layer colour. I expected to have to layer colour, but did not realise it is easier to layer from the shadows up to the highlights. Also Roger explained how to deal with the "daffodil problem". Daffodils have a lot of shadow and there is a technique how to get subtle shadows in very light toned colour. To blend shadows on a yellow flower, ie shades of grey in yellow, you use the exact opposite colour. I knew how to do this with paint and dye, by using a tiny spot of the opposite colour to tone down the brilliance. In coloured pencil, you use the pale lilac pencil to shade yellow, because you have the equivalent tonal value purple to the yellow. I had often wondered why anyone would use a pale lilac pencil, as it is the colour I never use. But if you just want to knock back the brilliance of a yellow pencil, use a bit of lilac underneath. Like most techniques, it is obvious, once you understand the principle.
We spent the weekend drawing pointsettia plants. Botanical drawing takes a long time. Everyone else worked at about life size - the plants were about 3" tall - but I instantly enlarged them so my drawing fitted the page, with leaves touching the edges of the paper. I learned a lot about blending coloured pencils and although my drawing was not as detailed as everyone else's, I was very pleased with my progress. I can see me using this technique for subsquent digital print, and my purpose is not to draw in a photo-realistic style, but to get fairly good representation that shows it remains a pencil drawing. If you want a photograph, take a photograph. I want my imagery to look like it is hand drawn, without being stylised.
I did not complete my image, but it is good enough to put in my pomegranate sketchbook, as it reminds me a lot about the different skills I used to create the image. These included sketching the initial outline in HB pencil; regularly dusting the pencil crumbs off the page with a soft brush; using a really, really sharp pencil; press fairly hard; observe in detail; analyse colour by identifying the main overtone, then work out the shadow by using the opposite colour on the colour wheel.
A productive weekend.
The first session showed us how to layer colour. I expected to have to layer colour, but did not realise it is easier to layer from the shadows up to the highlights. Also Roger explained how to deal with the "daffodil problem". Daffodils have a lot of shadow and there is a technique how to get subtle shadows in very light toned colour. To blend shadows on a yellow flower, ie shades of grey in yellow, you use the exact opposite colour. I knew how to do this with paint and dye, by using a tiny spot of the opposite colour to tone down the brilliance. In coloured pencil, you use the pale lilac pencil to shade yellow, because you have the equivalent tonal value purple to the yellow. I had often wondered why anyone would use a pale lilac pencil, as it is the colour I never use. But if you just want to knock back the brilliance of a yellow pencil, use a bit of lilac underneath. Like most techniques, it is obvious, once you understand the principle.
We spent the weekend drawing pointsettia plants. Botanical drawing takes a long time. Everyone else worked at about life size - the plants were about 3" tall - but I instantly enlarged them so my drawing fitted the page, with leaves touching the edges of the paper. I learned a lot about blending coloured pencils and although my drawing was not as detailed as everyone else's, I was very pleased with my progress. I can see me using this technique for subsquent digital print, and my purpose is not to draw in a photo-realistic style, but to get fairly good representation that shows it remains a pencil drawing. If you want a photograph, take a photograph. I want my imagery to look like it is hand drawn, without being stylised.
I did not complete my image, but it is good enough to put in my pomegranate sketchbook, as it reminds me a lot about the different skills I used to create the image. These included sketching the initial outline in HB pencil; regularly dusting the pencil crumbs off the page with a soft brush; using a really, really sharp pencil; press fairly hard; observe in detail; analyse colour by identifying the main overtone, then work out the shadow by using the opposite colour on the colour wheel.
A productive weekend.
Approaching Essay Deadline
I have spent the last 7 days working on my essay. It has reached a fairly refined state now. I have about 5,200 words written out of 6,000.
I was worrying about taking on board the advice from my tutor to include some information about the slow textile movement, but have now worked out my rationale on why I shall ignore the advice. I have received a case study from Linda Kemshall, a top English textile artist. I want to make best use of this data, and use another 300 words to bring the analysis of her work to about 800 words. This means I have 500 words left for the conclusion. Unless I prune other parts of the essay, I won't have the word count to add another section. And I have remembered one of the key points made at the beginning of our plenary sessions. "Make fewer points and explore them thoroughly". So I shall ignore the slow textile movement, explore the case study thoroughly and make sure that the conclusion sums up well. The introduction will be re-written to explain the themes of the essay, the main body will explore these themes thoroughly, and the conclusion will reiterate the themes and link them together. In other words, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you've told them".
I have 10 days to the deadline. I have to finish the case study (300 words); write the conclusion (500 words); source images, write the Illustrations list; and conduct final edit and proof reading; then print, bind and hand in. This is achieveable in the time available. I aim to hand in on Monday afternoon, 10 December. I absolutely cannot handle rushing at the last minute - if I worked up to the deadline of 14 December, I would be at emotional melt down. This is not good for me or anyone else!
I was worrying about taking on board the advice from my tutor to include some information about the slow textile movement, but have now worked out my rationale on why I shall ignore the advice. I have received a case study from Linda Kemshall, a top English textile artist. I want to make best use of this data, and use another 300 words to bring the analysis of her work to about 800 words. This means I have 500 words left for the conclusion. Unless I prune other parts of the essay, I won't have the word count to add another section. And I have remembered one of the key points made at the beginning of our plenary sessions. "Make fewer points and explore them thoroughly". So I shall ignore the slow textile movement, explore the case study thoroughly and make sure that the conclusion sums up well. The introduction will be re-written to explain the themes of the essay, the main body will explore these themes thoroughly, and the conclusion will reiterate the themes and link them together. In other words, "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you've told them".
I have 10 days to the deadline. I have to finish the case study (300 words); write the conclusion (500 words); source images, write the Illustrations list; and conduct final edit and proof reading; then print, bind and hand in. This is achieveable in the time available. I aim to hand in on Monday afternoon, 10 December. I absolutely cannot handle rushing at the last minute - if I worked up to the deadline of 14 December, I would be at emotional melt down. This is not good for me or anyone else!
Saturday, 24 November 2012
A week of essay writing
I have felt unable to write on my blog for the last week, because I was focussed on writing my essay and felt I had nothing to say. But this morning, after a week's silence on the blog front, I have drawn some significant conclusions about my working style.
I have been unable to work in a creative way on my artwork since I got stuck into the essay. I had put this down to a reaction against my working life, where I have multi-tasked for as long I can remember. Since I retired, I have not been able to focus on more than one task at a time, which I have accepted as a pleasant benefit of slowing down as I no longer work for a living.
However I have been writing my essay about factors required to conduct creative thinking. And I identified that creative thinking requires an environment where playfulness is allowed. While I have been working on my essay - which is serious research and writing - I have not allowed myself permission to play! I have planned my time up to the essay deadline of 14 December, and had enough sense to allocate myself rest days. (As a former shift worker, you have rest days rather than weekends) But on rest days, I have only allowed myself to do a restricted range of activities - like going to the V&A to listen to a day lecture on Ravilious (an Essex printer). Other rest days were allocated to going to Bridgwater to be fitted for a new bike (for a summer holiday with my husband cycling Lands End to John O'Groats) or going on a drawing weekend with my sister-in-law who has a weekend's respite from caring for her Mum who has dementia. So my rest days were related to research or to activities that supported or benefited other people. No time was allocated to me just having fun and doing what I enjoy, like drawing! I think my protestant work ethic is over-riding my creativity.
But having said that, it was the research into creativity and playfulness that enabled me to have the shaft of self-awareness that informed my practice (or non-practice as the case may be!)
I have also had further thoughts about how the sense of touch is very, very important to me. Again this is as a result of my essay research. I have known for a long time that I like practical application of artwork, so I enjoy textile art, specifically the creation of furnishing fabric. I thought it was about looking at things and enjoying the visual sense. But I have discovered I enjoy the link between sight and touch. The necessity of touching and feeling fabric when it is used as furnishing fabric is very important to me. I don't need to make art objects, and part of this feeling is about art objects not usually being available to touch. I know I am a very tactile person and I like to keep my hands busy. I have only just worked out that my sense of touch is constantly in use and I like to handle objects/materials a lot.
I also see a link between touch (which is static) and kinetics (which is about movement) which gives feeling when hands are moved across a surface. The tactile sense from the moving hands is called feeling. Emotions are also described as feelings. I see the linguistic synonism of emotion and touch, as feeling, as significant. There is also the linguistic term tact, which means the verbal adroitness of dealing with the feelings of people. Words, hands and emotions, and how they are used, all link together for me.
I had a tutorial with Sara a couple of days ago to discuss my essay, which I think is coming on quite well. I had printed the 4000 words written so far, and in the right hand margin, summarised each paragraph in 4/5 words. Sara was interested in this way of working. I wanted to identify whether the essay flowed in a logical manner. I had laid out the 10 pages of the essay so that only the top page, and all the right hand margins were visible. Sara was quite impressed with the way I had laid it out, and recommended I photograph it. I was a little surprised at this, because it seemed an obvious way to show the key points, without the visual distraction of all the script.
I have been unable to work in a creative way on my artwork since I got stuck into the essay. I had put this down to a reaction against my working life, where I have multi-tasked for as long I can remember. Since I retired, I have not been able to focus on more than one task at a time, which I have accepted as a pleasant benefit of slowing down as I no longer work for a living.
However I have been writing my essay about factors required to conduct creative thinking. And I identified that creative thinking requires an environment where playfulness is allowed. While I have been working on my essay - which is serious research and writing - I have not allowed myself permission to play! I have planned my time up to the essay deadline of 14 December, and had enough sense to allocate myself rest days. (As a former shift worker, you have rest days rather than weekends) But on rest days, I have only allowed myself to do a restricted range of activities - like going to the V&A to listen to a day lecture on Ravilious (an Essex printer). Other rest days were allocated to going to Bridgwater to be fitted for a new bike (for a summer holiday with my husband cycling Lands End to John O'Groats) or going on a drawing weekend with my sister-in-law who has a weekend's respite from caring for her Mum who has dementia. So my rest days were related to research or to activities that supported or benefited other people. No time was allocated to me just having fun and doing what I enjoy, like drawing! I think my protestant work ethic is over-riding my creativity.
But having said that, it was the research into creativity and playfulness that enabled me to have the shaft of self-awareness that informed my practice (or non-practice as the case may be!)
I have also had further thoughts about how the sense of touch is very, very important to me. Again this is as a result of my essay research. I have known for a long time that I like practical application of artwork, so I enjoy textile art, specifically the creation of furnishing fabric. I thought it was about looking at things and enjoying the visual sense. But I have discovered I enjoy the link between sight and touch. The necessity of touching and feeling fabric when it is used as furnishing fabric is very important to me. I don't need to make art objects, and part of this feeling is about art objects not usually being available to touch. I know I am a very tactile person and I like to keep my hands busy. I have only just worked out that my sense of touch is constantly in use and I like to handle objects/materials a lot.
I also see a link between touch (which is static) and kinetics (which is about movement) which gives feeling when hands are moved across a surface. The tactile sense from the moving hands is called feeling. Emotions are also described as feelings. I see the linguistic synonism of emotion and touch, as feeling, as significant. There is also the linguistic term tact, which means the verbal adroitness of dealing with the feelings of people. Words, hands and emotions, and how they are used, all link together for me.
I had a tutorial with Sara a couple of days ago to discuss my essay, which I think is coming on quite well. I had printed the 4000 words written so far, and in the right hand margin, summarised each paragraph in 4/5 words. Sara was interested in this way of working. I wanted to identify whether the essay flowed in a logical manner. I had laid out the 10 pages of the essay so that only the top page, and all the right hand margins were visible. Sara was quite impressed with the way I had laid it out, and recommended I photograph it. I was a little surprised at this, because it seemed an obvious way to show the key points, without the visual distraction of all the script.
Thursday, 15 November 2012
A busy week of ups and downs
I seem to have spent the last week working solidly, but with peaks and troughs of success.
I spent a couple of days reading and paraphrasing my essay. I've got to about the half way stage with my word count, and was quite pleased with the way paragraphs are coming together. I'm starting to get a flow running through the essay, rather than isolated paragraphs.
At the weekend I spent quite a lot of time putting together my presentation for my Degree Planning module, ready for Monday. However I felt the presentation itself was a damp squib. I have not done a lot of drawing preparation for the module, but I have done a lot of thinking, which was the basis of my delivery. I had 3 previous sketchbooks which I was going to use to illustrate how I prepare and research, and how I use colour to convey emotion. I have discovered that I operate on a high level of emotion, and I have intuitively used colour for years to convey this. It is only in the last few months that I have realised this. But I think the tutor missed the point that I was using the sketchbooks to illustrate points, rather than using them as work I have done this semester. I spoke about using pomegranates because they were part of my zeitgeist from my Study Abroad year, and I want to use their colours to represent peace, joy and contentment (my current emotions). Red, orange and yellow are not normally associated with these emotions but I think by combining them with other colours, I can achieve the right emotional feel. The tutor dismissed my comments with " you need to use colour intuitively, not bother with emotional feel" and appeared quite disinterested. I think she completely missed my point. This is my work, and the emotional feel matters to me.
Because other students were quite interested in my drawn sketchbooks, I think I did not show my current working sketchbook which is full of my research and thought processes for the Pomegranate project. So the tutor did not see just how much work I have done. I suspect I have been marked down for this.
I find it really odd that at these presentations, the tutor does not give feedback on what goes well/badly. I specifically asked for feedback, and the other students made some contributions, but the tutor said very little. It makes me feel very uncomfortable to think that I am being marked down when I have asked for feedback and not received it. I feel I have been judged and assessed but I won't be told the outcome until it is too late. I remember speaking to other students who graduated last year, who had this tutor. A couple were disappointed and upset when they only achieved a very basic pass, when they felt their tutorials had been going well. They felt they had been let down as they had not been given any indication that their work was inadequate and they did not expect to get such a low grade. When I have been an assessor, we were taught that in continual assessment, people should know their anticipated grade because of the feedback they had received along the way. A low grade should never come as a shock. And when I was in Australia last year, the critique of work could be absolutely savage - I can't say I liked it, but at least I did know what went well/badly with my work and how other students viewed/interpreted my work. Back in the UK, we seem to be losing the quality of critique/feedback on practical work.
On the following day, Tuesday, I started proofreading the most recent parts of my essay. I began to get vision disturbance, and blossomed into a migraine for the first time in 20 years! That knocked out any work on Tuesday! I think reading books and computer screens, combined with being upset about my disastrous presentation caused it.
On Wednesday, I went to the Essay Plenary session. My Essay Tutor, Sara, gave me back the first draft of my essay, with some really positive feedback remarks. This bucked me up no end. She had given advice to cut a couple of paragraphs which were going off at a tangent to my main argument - and during the week, I had already done this. I was pleased that I was already editing in line with tutorial advice. Strangely, my headache finally lifted at this stage! And it took me years to work out that I operate on a high level of emotion!
Yesterday, I had another extensive session on my essay, and I now have about 4,500 words. I am still waiting for the case study research to reach me, which I plan to write about for 800 words. so I think I am now close to the word limit of 6,000 words. Time to start pruning and editing.
I spent a couple of days reading and paraphrasing my essay. I've got to about the half way stage with my word count, and was quite pleased with the way paragraphs are coming together. I'm starting to get a flow running through the essay, rather than isolated paragraphs.
At the weekend I spent quite a lot of time putting together my presentation for my Degree Planning module, ready for Monday. However I felt the presentation itself was a damp squib. I have not done a lot of drawing preparation for the module, but I have done a lot of thinking, which was the basis of my delivery. I had 3 previous sketchbooks which I was going to use to illustrate how I prepare and research, and how I use colour to convey emotion. I have discovered that I operate on a high level of emotion, and I have intuitively used colour for years to convey this. It is only in the last few months that I have realised this. But I think the tutor missed the point that I was using the sketchbooks to illustrate points, rather than using them as work I have done this semester. I spoke about using pomegranates because they were part of my zeitgeist from my Study Abroad year, and I want to use their colours to represent peace, joy and contentment (my current emotions). Red, orange and yellow are not normally associated with these emotions but I think by combining them with other colours, I can achieve the right emotional feel. The tutor dismissed my comments with " you need to use colour intuitively, not bother with emotional feel" and appeared quite disinterested. I think she completely missed my point. This is my work, and the emotional feel matters to me.
Because other students were quite interested in my drawn sketchbooks, I think I did not show my current working sketchbook which is full of my research and thought processes for the Pomegranate project. So the tutor did not see just how much work I have done. I suspect I have been marked down for this.
I find it really odd that at these presentations, the tutor does not give feedback on what goes well/badly. I specifically asked for feedback, and the other students made some contributions, but the tutor said very little. It makes me feel very uncomfortable to think that I am being marked down when I have asked for feedback and not received it. I feel I have been judged and assessed but I won't be told the outcome until it is too late. I remember speaking to other students who graduated last year, who had this tutor. A couple were disappointed and upset when they only achieved a very basic pass, when they felt their tutorials had been going well. They felt they had been let down as they had not been given any indication that their work was inadequate and they did not expect to get such a low grade. When I have been an assessor, we were taught that in continual assessment, people should know their anticipated grade because of the feedback they had received along the way. A low grade should never come as a shock. And when I was in Australia last year, the critique of work could be absolutely savage - I can't say I liked it, but at least I did know what went well/badly with my work and how other students viewed/interpreted my work. Back in the UK, we seem to be losing the quality of critique/feedback on practical work.
On the following day, Tuesday, I started proofreading the most recent parts of my essay. I began to get vision disturbance, and blossomed into a migraine for the first time in 20 years! That knocked out any work on Tuesday! I think reading books and computer screens, combined with being upset about my disastrous presentation caused it.
On Wednesday, I went to the Essay Plenary session. My Essay Tutor, Sara, gave me back the first draft of my essay, with some really positive feedback remarks. This bucked me up no end. She had given advice to cut a couple of paragraphs which were going off at a tangent to my main argument - and during the week, I had already done this. I was pleased that I was already editing in line with tutorial advice. Strangely, my headache finally lifted at this stage! And it took me years to work out that I operate on a high level of emotion!
Yesterday, I had another extensive session on my essay, and I now have about 4,500 words. I am still waiting for the case study research to reach me, which I plan to write about for 800 words. so I think I am now close to the word limit of 6,000 words. Time to start pruning and editing.
Friday, 9 November 2012
Further thoughts on My Identity
I am still chewing over my identity as an artist. I had a tutorial on Wednesday with Sara, my tutor. I was saying that I was struggling with the art work for my pomegranates and that I knew this struggle was a normal part of my learning style. I know I have to work through this grief, and that it will all come right in the end. I said I was not really interested in the art object, but that I enjoyed colour, pattern and composition of a piece of cloth. I am interested in the practical application of things, not the beautiful, useless object. I chose to do this BA course because it was about Contemporary Applied Art, not fine art. I don't do things to put on the wall.
Sara made an off-the-cuff remark that this indicated that I was a designer, not an artist. This stopped me in my tracks, as I was not clear of the difference.
So, a textile artist is more conceptual, and applies his/her art to an end product. The artist plans for the object and for the specified environment.
A textile designer is less conceptual (but still has a concept) and designs for a range of fabrics (not end products). Likely to produce lots of swatches (yippee - I love making swatchbooks). The designer leaves the choice of end product to someone else - ie what the fabric is used for, is up to the maker.
This fits with my preference not to be a completer-finisher. The completer-finisher is the team person who ensures I's are dotted and Ts crossed. Every detail is present and correct. I hate this role - once I've done 85% of a task, I've lost interest. I want to move on to the next thing. I am quite happy for someone else to do all the little tidying-up things and make it perfect. So I am happy for someone else to use my product and make something beautiful from it. My contribution was the design and making of the fabric.
I am a textile designer.
Sara made an off-the-cuff remark that this indicated that I was a designer, not an artist. This stopped me in my tracks, as I was not clear of the difference.
So, a textile artist is more conceptual, and applies his/her art to an end product. The artist plans for the object and for the specified environment.
A textile designer is less conceptual (but still has a concept) and designs for a range of fabrics (not end products). Likely to produce lots of swatches (yippee - I love making swatchbooks). The designer leaves the choice of end product to someone else - ie what the fabric is used for, is up to the maker.
This fits with my preference not to be a completer-finisher. The completer-finisher is the team person who ensures I's are dotted and Ts crossed. Every detail is present and correct. I hate this role - once I've done 85% of a task, I've lost interest. I want to move on to the next thing. I am quite happy for someone else to do all the little tidying-up things and make it perfect. So I am happy for someone else to use my product and make something beautiful from it. My contribution was the design and making of the fabric.
I am a textile designer.
Tuesday, 6 November 2012
Hollywood Costume exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum
Yesterday I had a day trip to London to the V&A Museum. I intended to do some serious reading at the National Art Library, but I forgot it is closed on Mondays!
So instead I saw the Hollywood Costume exhibition. One of the good things about my student membership at the V&A is that I can see any exhibition, free, at any time, without having to book in advance or wait until the next viewing slot is available. Great!
Although I am not a costume designer (or even interested in film) I found some very pertinent points made by the quotes of designers at the exhibition.
MGM Costume Designer Adrian (1903-1959) said
"Few people in an audience, watching a great screen production realise the importance of any gown worn by the female star. They may notice that it is attractive, that they would like to have it copied, that it is becoming. But the fact that it was definitely planned to mirror some definite mood, to be as much a part of the play as the lines or the scenery, seldom occurs to them. But that, most assuredly, is true".
Costumes have to fit with weather, date location and genre of the film. They have to fit the scene and the story. Costumes exist within narrative and visual context.
Details function as clues for social and emotional signposts for the audience. Costume designers create stories for each film character.
Ellen Morojnick (b 1949) said "Contemporary costume is very difficult to design. Modern costume design is successful if the audience do not notice them but connect to characters nonetheless. Contemporary costume means you have to work twice as hard to make them disappear."
When it is well designed, costume embodies the psychological, social and emotional condition of the character at a particular moment in the story.
Costumes ... channel ... new people. The actor's gait, posture, gesture, and their entire physicality are informed by what they wear.
All the above gives a lot of food for thought, albeit slightly adapted for my use in textile print for domestic interiors. But the principles are the same. Basic reflections on what is important have been given to me by the designers of the Hollywood Costume exhibition. Now I just need to apply the principles to my own work!
So instead I saw the Hollywood Costume exhibition. One of the good things about my student membership at the V&A is that I can see any exhibition, free, at any time, without having to book in advance or wait until the next viewing slot is available. Great!
Although I am not a costume designer (or even interested in film) I found some very pertinent points made by the quotes of designers at the exhibition.
MGM Costume Designer Adrian (1903-1959) said
"Few people in an audience, watching a great screen production realise the importance of any gown worn by the female star. They may notice that it is attractive, that they would like to have it copied, that it is becoming. But the fact that it was definitely planned to mirror some definite mood, to be as much a part of the play as the lines or the scenery, seldom occurs to them. But that, most assuredly, is true".
Costumes have to fit with weather, date location and genre of the film. They have to fit the scene and the story. Costumes exist within narrative and visual context.
Details function as clues for social and emotional signposts for the audience. Costume designers create stories for each film character.
Ellen Morojnick (b 1949) said "Contemporary costume is very difficult to design. Modern costume design is successful if the audience do not notice them but connect to characters nonetheless. Contemporary costume means you have to work twice as hard to make them disappear."
When it is well designed, costume embodies the psychological, social and emotional condition of the character at a particular moment in the story.
Costumes ... channel ... new people. The actor's gait, posture, gesture, and their entire physicality are informed by what they wear.
All the above gives a lot of food for thought, albeit slightly adapted for my use in textile print for domestic interiors. But the principles are the same. Basic reflections on what is important have been given to me by the designers of the Hollywood Costume exhibition. Now I just need to apply the principles to my own work!
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