Exercise 1.5 Collage and Creases

 

Exercise 1.5 Collage and Creases

Before I began on my collage pieces, I wanted to research different artists that use collage to form part of their work. I came across two which caught my eye the first was Kurt Schwitters. What captured my attention was the way he had used cutting and ripping techniques to layer found used paper to create his pieces. 

https://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/3318/top-10-collage-artists-hannah-hoch-to-man-ray

The second artist who's work I felt would work well to inspire me with my collage work was Barbara Shaw. Although the artist had not used paper but fabric, it was the technique that interested me. How the artist has used scraps of fabric to create the image of the owls. This was a technique that could be transferred into my collage pieces.

https://www.textileartist.org/the-versatility-of-textile-collage

The first of my archive items I chose to look at was the beaded bag, I chose to focus on the bag first as it had an appealing texture that could be interesting to capture in collage. As I had decided to focus on the texture, I sourced textured wallpaper to depict the textures of the beads on the bag. I chose to use this paper to make the base of the bag, observing the outline of bag using the observation skills I had used in my lines and edges assignment. I placed the bag in an open position to create more shaded area and creases, the lining of the bag was smoothing adding to the textures I could capture in the piece. I began with focusing on the edge of the bag and not the detail. Once the base was complete, I focused on adding detail to the bag adding shading and the lining of the bag with darker toned textured wallpaper. Using a colour palette that complemented the bag.

The next archive item I chose to focus on was the 60’s jumper. For this collage I sourced some cotton rag, khadi handmade paper, in different green tones. Rather than using the cut lines like the one in my previous collage, I decided to go for a more unpredictable approach. Ripping different sizes of paper in different tones using the darker colours to recreate the creases on the jumper. The background I used was a vintage newspaper, I wanted the piece to resemble age. The ripped pieces of paper glued together to make up the much loved warn jumper. Again, using the skills gained in my previous assignments and thinking about how I could create the creases, neck lines and the body of the jumper. Ripping the paper into wavy lines, and abstract shapes to piece them altogether to create a finished piece.

I wanted to work with all three of my archive items, so the final item I was working with was the black maxi dress. It took a couple of attempts until I was happy with the way the dress fell on the floor. I wanted the dress to fall creating drapes and creases in an interesting way that gave me interesting features to create with collage. As there were so many creases and wrinkles I wondered if I could use the sheet of paper to replicate the creases rather than using additional pieces of paper as in crease/shading I wanted to try using the paper to make natural marks. I wanted to see which type of paper created the more interesting and accurate effect I was looking to achieve. I chose to using acrylic black paint on 3 different thicknesses of paper marker paper, cartridge paper and tracing paper, I also used a sample of black sugar paper. Once the paint had dried I proceeded to create crease lines in the paper. After reviewing the outcome of each of the samples the most appropriate sample was the cartridge paper, as it created the more aesthetically pleasing crease marks.

I then proceeded to cut the A3 pieces into the outline of the dress and then crumpled the piece up, creating the impression of creases and draping. To create the zip detail on the dress I used one of the dark coloured wallpaper samples I had collected and cut into a strip of the paper and cut small slits into the paper to represent the teeth of the zip.

The final piece of detail to add to the dress was the stripped detail on the sleeve. I looked into through the papers I had to work with and found a striped paper bag that would work well with an additional back line cut from my already painted cartridge paper. This added the perfect final detail to the piece.

Wabi-sabi

I had not heard of Wabi-Sabi before I had come across it in this assignment. I had heard of Kintsugi before which has some similarities to concept. I enjoyed researching Wabi-Sabi and found out that it originated in Taoism during China’s Song dynasty (960-1279) before being passed onto Zen Buddhism.

I wanted to find out what Wabi-Sabi translated to. I found that it meant the following. Wabi, which roughly means ‘the elegant beauty of humble simplicity’, and sabi, which means ‘the passing of time and subsequent deterioration’

Prof Otabe explained that “wabi-sabi leaves something unfinished or incomplete for the play of imagination”.

Wabi-sabi isn’t about seeing the perfect finished pieces it’s about noticing the mistake, dents the bit of stitching that isn’t quiet right and viewing it as a creation of nature. It tells a story and makes it unique.

The first thing that came to mind about this was how much it related to the work I have been doing and have done. It reminds me of the first patchwork quilt I had created, with a mixture and of my nans and mine sections. Although the lines weren’t straight and the stitches weren’t perfect but that did matter it was full of memories, each stitch meant something. In fact, just last Christmas I made my first ever pair of crochet leg warmers for my aunt who loves leg warmers. And on the tag, I wrote, although they aren’t perfect they were made with love. I think this sums up wabi-sabi, each mark, stitch and smudge is supposed to be there. Nature meant it to be that way, it shows it was made by hand and behind each hand there is a purpose a reason it was created and a story to tell. 

http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20181021-japans-unusual-way-to-view-the-world