Wallace#Sewell
For this years Unit X I will be taking part in the Wallace#Sewell brief, this began with a trip to their design studio in London.
The front of the building is a shop, where they sell a range of their own products, the back is a small office & then downstairs has a store room type feel, with an archive of all the old designs and a cutting table for current designs.
It was a really good experience learning about how the business works, the pricing, how the designs are sent to be mass produced and even what happens to the wastage.
We were given our brief & told to create something that fits in with the brand easily, but to make it different. I love the Wallace#Sewell range of blankets and throws so will be focusing on interiors as a context.
The project should use a painting as a starting point, so finding the right one and relating it to the National Trust will be my next step.
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The National Trust
After the Wallace#Sewell trip, before choosing just any painting, I decided to look through the National Trust archive/collections. Initially I was looking for a painting to catch my eye, however I was not being drawn towards any. I was looking for something bold and brightly coloured to work well with Wallace#Sewell. In the end I found these buckets. Painted so colourfully, they are fun and quirky, the exact type of thing that I was looking for.
As the buckets are seaside themed, I decided to look further into that.
Discovering that the National Trust own many of the countries coastlines, visiting Formby seemed to be a good way of linking ideas and imagery together. I photographed through the woodlands and then along the beach and sand dunes. I plan to edit these images and create my own drawings and painting from them. As well as looking at the imagery for inspiration on weaving structures, I will also be thinking about the mood and atmosphere, especially for any pieces that I create after the Wallace#Sewell Brief.
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Barbara Rae
Once I had the idea of a coastal concept, I decided to look into coastal paintings. Wallace#Sewell had mentioned basing the project on a painting, so I set out to find some that would have a great variety of colours and still incorporate the concept. In a tutorial, Barbara Rae's name was mentioned as an artist I should look at, this was a great suggestion as I was instantly drawn to the colour and knew that these could be translated into the creation of my warp.
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The above painting, named 'Inner Sound - Low Tide' is what I would come to base my warp on. It is an unconventional style of coastal painting, not similar to the pale and pastel colours that are traditionally used.
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For my weft I will be working with 8 colours/yarns only, as this is part of the Wallace#Sewell brief. Various Barbara Rae paintings have so far been the inspiration when testing colours. I have been finding it quite difficult to focus on the 8, the selection process has been tough, with so many different colours being used, it is not something I am used to. My work is usually quite subtle, with blends of colour and pale shades, which means so far I have been finding the brief extremely challenging.
