Influence
Drawing from the heard environment has been a lovely way to practice having a deeper awareness of place, which I think for all of the participants, has influenced the way we experience our surroundings on our day-to-day basis! It was definitely practiced during our two joint workshops in Newtonmore and Plockton, highlighting the mad weather we've had in each place – the first crunchy snow, and the second gale winds and rain!
More than a Pattern
The shared nature of the Aural Textiles workshops has provided me with a community rich in its variety of makers, their approaches and textile processes. It has been fascinating having this opportunity to share and learn in detail of one another’s practices, which are each so different to the next. Learning of the positive limitations, design/making time and aesthetic of everyone in their techniques has given me a greater appreciation for each skill, which is valuable knowledge I did not have before. I believe that experiences are enriched by the act of sharing. This has very much been the case for the Newtonmore and Plockton workshops held this year, where many an exciting discussion was had over the possibilities that the aural textile process offers.
Personal Direction
After gathering many sounds recorded from the landscape, we as a group selected one sound each that we would work from. We will also be working to create a pattern from one other participants sound. I am looking forward to seeing the variety that is generated from this shared starting point! Especially as we are from different discipline backgrounds, this will highlight the potential for diversity offered from the aural spectrogram patterns – and the diversity in technique and style we have within the aural textile team.
I will be working from the sound of a shaken branch, and from Cally’s spectrogram of a wave. I am aiming to approach my two patterns solely from the visual of the spectrogram sound. This will be an exercise for me, as much of my past work is an intertwined emotional and visual response to landscape. In this way, the aural textiles project will provide me with another approach to pattern making that I do not currently work through. I am curious to see how I maintain my visual identity as a designer with this change in approach, and am looking forward to the new exploration that this challenge will give me!
My style follows a loose painterly and drawn approach for printed and embroidered textiles. My next steps will follow my design process: starting in mixed media drawing and painting [specifically from the spectrogram patterns] to plan colour and marks for print. These will be refined until I have two designs that I am happy with to take to the print room.
Referring back to my note on sharing, a plan to make use of our newfound community is in the pipeline! I’m looking forward to working with Beth for an afternoon in her print room, to produce my two designs!
Below is one of the samples I had brought to the Plockton workshop, to illustrate my approach and some techniques within textiles that I enjoy. The sample explores the textures and marks analysed from a close up of a spectrogram:
