A Level Costume Design Exploring The Theme Of ‘Birds’ Exploring The Darker Side Of These Winged Creatures,

Fantastic plastic! Curse or wonder material? 

Repurposing carrier bags and household plastics into colourful artwork.

Fifty Bees #4 exhibition at Frome’s wonderful Black Swan gallery. 

This is my response to the habitat and lifestyle of the Lobe Spurred furrow bee.

I enjoy using found and repurposed materials in my own arts practice, so this is created entirely from fabric washed up the beach at Charmouth and fishing line, horsehair and natural fibres to stitch with. This bee was virtually extinct in the 1980′s but then made a dramatic come back, to now becoming a species with no risk to its population. My quest to discover the reasoning behind this encouraged a journey of discovery and research to try and understand its story.

I travelled around to visit habitats of known sightings, scrubland, agricultural sites, beach cliff locations but did not find my bee. I did discover though,  that the prevalence of Oilseed Rape planted on a mass scale across the UK in the 80′s had a detrimental impact on many indigenous insect species particularly bees. The nicotinoid pesticides used in agriculture was the culprit but fortunately for the lobe spurred furrow bee, it thrived on the blooms of rape and where others perished it increased in number.

My piece uses loopy stitching and intense surface coverage to signify the bees activity. The yellow plant dyed colour references the rape blooms and the undulating surface is linked to the patch of land investigated on site.

Plastic fantastic! Crazy, melted, recycled plastics embellished to eye-popping brilliance by FAD student. Love ‘em!

MA stuff

Hello everyone!

A cheery little face appeared in my experimental mark making today. planning the next stage now to explore composition and get my machine cranked up.

#creativeisolation #isolationartschool #markmaking #toast #patternity

Thanks 

END OF YEAR SHOWCASE -Class of 2020

Congratulations Scarlet Crofts!

Scarlet developed her final Textiles collection as sustainable festival fashion. Recycling, repurposing and ultimately developing her own series of digital prints from her meticulously cut and stitched scalloped dress. Such a pity Glastonbury was cancelled this year, I’m sure Scarlet would have been rocking this outfit and turning heads at Pilton. 

The final image is from a ‘Live’ project with the British Red Cross Society, the class created various paper couture garments depicting iconic fashions throughout the 20th century, they were exhibited as window displays around Somerset shops. This one was exhibited in Crewkerne to great acclaim!

Credit to @catherinehydephotorgaphy for image 1.

Scarlet is seeking a creative employment as a GAP year and plans to apply for UCAS in 2021.

Dramatic giant knitting by FAD student now studying Fashion at Westminster university. Charlotte Langdon. Hand knitted merino tops realised as  a full length coat. On to right the use of wire tubing stitched to bodysuit as anew garment. Beautifully styled photo shoot, simplicity and drama and a ‘less is more’ attitude is the key to success here.

Inspiration everywhere. Look up, look down, keep your eyes open and SEE what’s around. Love the layered road markings, grates, drain covers, yellow lines and markings on our roads and pavements.

Amazing wearable art from AS Textiles student.

These 2 pieces are part of a student’s coursework portfolio this summer. Her unit 1 Extended Project shows her love of surface texture and screen printing. She was inspired by armour and she used the individual facets to construct her costume. Each section is unique and explores fabric manipulation techniques to develop structure. She has used recycled aluminium and print to great effect.

Her unit 2 piece uses laser cutting and is based around studies of architecture and research visits to Wells Cathedral to explore stained glass and the dramatic shapes seen in the building. She has a love of theatre, stage costume and props and this is evident in her approach to Textiles.

Photo shoot developed with technical support by Dave Merritt.

#armour #wearableart #costume #architecture #sculpturalfashion 

Just re-found these toys that my daughter and I made when she was small. We started with her childhood drawings of animals and imagined creatures, then I made simple templates from them to cut out heads and bodies etc from old clothing. Then we stitched them up and stuffed them. Each one had a narrative, they had names and quirky habits, likes and dislikes- kind of profiles. Some more recognisable than others. Penguin, frog, dog, rabbit but what about the pink one! The frog was only ever a head.

They remind me of happy times on rainy days indoors getting creative and having a laugh together.