Textiles in Art & Design – Marks in the Landscape - Evaluation

Textiles in Art & Design – Marks in the Landscape
Robert Salisbury

We were given the brief by Susan Siddle of the Neo Artist and were tasked with creating a textiles artwork for an upcoming exhibition to the theme of ‘Marks in the Landscape’. To utilise the space at the gallery Neo required both 2D and 3D submissions, so we needed to explore both throughout our development.

At the beginning I was struggling to find my way with the whole idea of textiles, I was very new to this to say the least. So without an idea or a concept I was just plugging along with the tutorials and exercises trying to find my way.

I found some of the techniques interesting although some of the others  didn’t  really capture my imagination. The one thing I did really enjoy was the freedom to experiment with different materials, as I was used to simply using a computer for my artwork. The opportunity to get messy and really experiment proved fruitful, adding the environment and peers to the equation really got my mind working and the ideas soon began to flow.

One of the first techniques I really got stuck into was the transfer printing, although I didn’t really like this and probably decided there and then I wouldn’t be taking it any further after the session. However  the second part of the session was the lino print style technique using a foam board to create an impression which we then added paint onto and rolled onto fabric to create a printed piece. This technique I really found interesting and took a lot from, I decided that I would probably try to re-visit this in the future.

The next technique we explored was Suffolk Puffs, at first I thought this would be a simple process but soon came to realise what can appear simple may not always be. It was quite difficult to get it to work and my sewing skills were beginner to say the least. I wasn’t keen on sewing at all, and didn’t want to take this process forward.

Moving on we tackled the Applique process, I really enjoyed this and although we speeded up the process slightly I did really begin to get stuck in and create samples I actually liked. I took a lot from this process and would definitely use it in the future.

 To further explore materials we decided to test the limitations of fabrics by using various methods to distress and manipulate them. For this I used burning, bleaching, ripping and cutting to really explore the physical properties and characteristics of different materials.

It was at around this stage I decided to venture into the use of computers, I work with computers on a daily basis and during my lifetime I’ve really seen a rise in computer use so decided that these were the marks in my personal landscape. My idea was born and I started to research how I could incorporate computers into my final piece.

For this I researched about computers in art but decided to go down a more physical route of actually using pieces of computers to create art, by this I meant finding a way to use computer components to create a physical piece of artwork. I got a load of computer parts and really started to explore them, I spent a while pulling them apart and finding their limitations, understanding the physical properties of these components would be vital to creating a final piece from them.  After pulling apart the computers and playing around with different pieces I made the decision to attempt to build a cityscape out of the motherboards and chips. This was going to be difficult as I needed to find a way to fit the pieces together to create buildings. The idea behind this was to create a city which represented what I believe to be the most significant development on society in my lifetime, computers.

Moving forward I looked at different methods of fitting together, I tested cutting grooves in the pieces, soldering them together, and various ways of stitching them together with both cotton thread and a more sturdy option of thin metal wires. Unfortunately I kept hitting a dead end as none of the methods were strong enough to hold it together, it would of ended up looking more like a horrific bomb site rather than a cityscape. This was where I made the decision to move away from the 3D city idea, and more towards a photographic display idea.

My idea was still the same, to make computer components appear to be an urban scene, and ultimately portray my idea in any way possible.

 

So I fitted together small pieces of components and pulled apart pieces I believed I could make look like buildings. The task then turned to finding a location to display these and compose some photographs that would give the look of an urban scene using computer parts, as buildings. I eventually chose my location, it was a multi-story car park, with a wall in the close vicinity. The wall acted as a platform for me to build my model cityscape, with the car park in the backdrop to add a city feel to my eventual image. This adaptation of my original idea meant it was no longer a sculpture as such, although it does still have elements of a sculpture but it was now a site-specific installation. I strategically placed it at the location so it altered the perception of the space it was installed in, this then gave me my intended outcome, but through a different process.

 The images I captured came out extremely well, I was very happy with the outcome and then chose to display them by hanging for everyone to view, hanging them would allow them to be clearly displayed while taking up minimal space. I don't like the fact that I failed on my original idea, that's my only regret.

If I was to do anything differently, I would probably have liked more time to really find a way of holding the pieces together so I could create my initial idea on a large scale. I was quite disappointed that I wasn’t able to do this and although I’m happy with my final piece and the methods I used I would like to go back in the future and re-try the initial idea.