Michael Brennand-Wood

www.brennand-wood.com   
Viewed the website above on 15/05/12

Michael is a textiles artist who techniques include, embroidery, pattern, lace and recently floral imagery.He first came to my attention when a tutor suggested I look at his work. Upon doing this I have found that the similarities between our work are we both use layers of mixed media to create 3D and textural pieces.

 I also get the impression that he also likes to involve the viewer in his work by giving his pieces audience interaction qualities. This is a vital part of my FMP as I was the audience to interact with my final pieces which will hopefully result in unique style of viewing art as a leisure activity.

I could use the pieces pictured below as inspiration for my work by using the idea of layering stitched and embroidery pieces on top of one and other leaving windows to give the piece as a whole more depth and leading the viewers eyes deeper into the piece.

'Skeleton Key' 110 x 110 x 4 cm, 1997.
Private Collection UK.

'Silk Road' 90 x 85 x 4 cm, 1999.
Private Collection UK.

'Charlemagne' 35 x 35 x 4 cm, 1978.
Collection of the artist.

Jeanette Appleton

Jeanette Appleton is a textiles artist who uses the felting method to create textural pieces. I have also seen the use of text in her work and believe this would be a good element I could take forward and use in some of my pieces.
I really like the way in which she manipulates the material she's working with to create interesting pieces.

Alice Kettle

Alice Kettle-Textiles Artist.     www.alicekettle.co.uk

Alice kettle is a textiles Artist well know for her use of hand and machine embroidery. Her pieces are often on a large scale. These are the reasons I have chose to look at her work. Like her I want my final piece to be a large scale and include element of both hand and machine embroidery.















I have sent an email request ion more information on what inspires her work and how her pieces develop. I and am currently waiting for it to be approved and see if i get a reply.

A piece that has gabbed my attention is ("Pairings II Conversations and Collaborations is a simple thought; to celebrate uniqueness and togetherness. The intention is to celebrate making and makers and engage with another to learn and understand more." www.Alice Kettle.co.uk) I like the way the Artists has used found material and collaborated that with elements of textiles.

Using New Methods

During a sessions at college I was shown a technique by one of my tutors that involved transferring a photocopied image onto acetate and then taking this image and projecting it across a table using and overhead projector. This method has enabled me to enlarge the image and also create interesting and abstract patterns.

A pattern formation using my acetate photograph.

The photograph above was created using a thin wooden stick and simply tracing over the fine detail of the image that was being projected over the table. I did this as I wanted to get a feel for drawing all the intricate lines and marks on the tree bark. I then went on to develop this idea further.

My piece developed further.

This particular piece was created using the same method as the top piece but instead of leaving it plain I wanted to give this piece more layers and textures. I have used material and thread of similar colours to the bark and leaves of a tree to establish a link between my subject matter and my own art piece. I think this works well as it gives the piece more of a textural feel rather than a flat piece. I then decided to cover the whole piece in sellotape, I did this as i wanted the viewer to feel curious of what the piece felt like to touch and fee and also upon feeling the piece the noises that develop through touch.

Further Experimentation

Further development of one of my pieces

Here I have started to develop one of my sketch book pages, the first thing I did was to take a piece of the dried pva glue and cut out a square window from my book. I did this as I wanted to be able to see the transparency of the glue and also the two different sides of the piece. I've started to work into this piece by stitching strips of different material onto the top. This piece could be further improved by more layers and also a few contrasting colours over the top work with the green and brown tones in the background.

Experimentation

After taking a group of photographs, my aim was to experiment in a wide range on different materials to create a series of mix media piece. 

Materials used were:

• pva glue
• cling film
• tissue
• ink
• string
• silk
• paint
• text pages from a book
• woven material
• graph paper

My aim with these pieces were to capture the contrast between rough and smooth, thin and thick, transparent and opaque. My next step is to combine these pieces with a range of textiles materials to create more layers. I also intend to investigate the possibility of using descriptive language and text with my work.

 

Texture/Decay Photographs

These are a selection of photographs I have taken over the holiday. I hope to capture the way in which time effects the natural objects we see around us every day. I think I achieved my aim as in these picture you can see a wide variety of layers, colours and textures.