Project #2
Patchwork Piece Medium: Felt on denim Date: October, 2017 Size: 30x45cm This work was inspired by Miriam Shapiro, and is meant to act as a kind of decorative and wearable art. I sewed a female face out of shapes of felt because i wanted to emulate the idea that beauty comes from everyday object and people. I did this by putting my design on the back of a jean jacket, which is a common clothing item that people don't really think twice about. I wanted the design to be colorful and bright so that it stood out against the denim. |
Inspiration
My artistic inspiration is Miriam Schapiro. Schapiro was a pioneer of the feminist art movement in the 1970s. She challenged the dichotomy of "high" art, and denoted the works of well known predominantly male artists. She instead focused her career on creating decorative art by incorporating scraps of fabric, ribbon, trim, handkerchiefs, dollies, and aprons into acrylic paintings.
She aimed to rediscover and bring female artists from the past to the forefront. Miriam Schapiro employed the use of decorative conventions in quilting, embroidery, and applique because these were primarily female fields. Schapiro coined the term "femmage", which represented the continuity between high art collage and works created by anonymous females. I will be creating a felt collage on the back of a jacket. I am taking inspiration from Schapiro as I will be creating a peice of decorative and wearable art. Females are usually associated with the creation of clothing and other things having to do with fabric and thread. The work completed by Miriam Schapiro is often full of color and life. It tells a story through the beauty of shapes, and in how they fit together. |
Planning
The first step in planning was determining what kind of fabric I was going to use. I sampled felt, velvet, corduroy, and jean material. Once I decided to create my work on the back of a jean jacket, I didn't want to do jean on jean material. I like the aesthetics of velvet and corduroy, especially in bright colors, however I didn't want the material to fray. I decided to use felt on the jean jacket because I had many different colors available to me, and because it's relatively easy to work with and layer.
The first planning sketch that I created is above. After working with fabric, I decided to create a sketch with a simpler design so that I could easily cut pieces of fabric out in simple shapes. My final sketch is below. I planned to create a woman who kind of dissolves into flowers. My artistic inspiration was my main motivation. I wanted to emulate female beauty on something that was a common article of street wear.
The first planning sketch that I created is above. After working with fabric, I decided to create a sketch with a simpler design so that I could easily cut pieces of fabric out in simple shapes. My final sketch is below. I planned to create a woman who kind of dissolves into flowers. My artistic inspiration was my main motivation. I wanted to emulate female beauty on something that was a common article of street wear.
Process
I redid my planning sketch in order to make it easier to create by layering simple shapes. The girls face is not shaded because of this, as I would ad dimension later with pieces of fabric.
I chose a woman as my subject because much of Miriam Shapiro's work is based off of the female perspective in art. I chose a side profile view because I wanted to portray a vision or point of view, and not just a portrait. I planned to make the colors more artificial than expected or normal, and to add flowers coming up the the woman's face. I used this planning sketch as a way to figure out the shapes I had to cut out of the felt fabric. I started by sketching the shape of the face onto a peachy pink color. I then cut it out and flipped it over onto the jacket so that none of the pieces would have marker showing. I then proceeded to cut out blue hair, an eye, lips, and contours for the face. I put all of the elements out on the jacket together. I tried to incorporate as many colors into the face as I could while keeping coherence. I then started to sew elements of the face onto the jacket as I had put them out. I sewed the face down first, using a running stitch with blue embroidery thread. I then sewed the hair, cheeks, lips, eyes, and contour lines down with different colored thread. I tried to use thread that would stand out against the different fabric choices. |
Experimentation
I first experimented with different colors of thread and ways of threading. I found that if the thread I was using was too long, it would just caught in a knot, and then tie or split when I tried to entangle it. This lead me to use shorter pieces, and to try to use embroidery thread that didn't have so many different strings. I also became conscious of checking to see if the thread had gone completely through after every stitch. Playing with different colors gave me the opportunity to define lines with contrasting colors.
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Reflection
Overall, I think that my craftsmanship is pretty good. I'm glad that I decided to start over when I had some bad and tangled stitches instead of just continuing. I feel that my artistic inspiration was communicated effectively through my piece. I like how I used contrasting hues of felt and thread to make the image pop against the background. However, I do feel that I could have centered the image better to create a better sense of space. It looks kind of odd or out of place with a huge space above the head. I may add more flowers that go around the face in order to create more balance.
When comparing more work to the work of Miriam Schapiro, there are similarities in the use of blocks of color in order to create shape. I think that her work contains more movement through line, while mine is more stationary, and doesn't have much of a sense of space. While her work is made to just be decorative, mine differs because it was made to wear.
When comparing more work to the work of Miriam Schapiro, there are similarities in the use of blocks of color in order to create shape. I think that her work contains more movement through line, while mine is more stationary, and doesn't have much of a sense of space. While her work is made to just be decorative, mine differs because it was made to wear.
Connection to the ACT:
1) How are you able to identify the cause-effect relationships between your inspiration and its effect upon your artwork?
The inspiration has effected the style and subject of my work. One can see this in the shapes and colors.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I think the author has an appreciation towards the female art she represents.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I made the generalization that female art is underappreciated in mainstream culture. I think that it is important to validate more feminine forms of art such as quilting and sewing as forms of fine art.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research is to validate female artists and bring them to popular galleries.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that forms of art such as quilting, sewing, and jewelry making are more common for females to do.
The inspiration has effected the style and subject of my work. One can see this in the shapes and colors.
2) What is the overall approach the author has regarding the topic of your inspiration?
I think the author has an appreciation towards the female art she represents.
3) What kind of generalizations and conclusions have you discovered about people, ideas, cultures, etc. while you researched your inspiration?
I made the generalization that female art is underappreciated in mainstream culture. I think that it is important to validate more feminine forms of art such as quilting and sewing as forms of fine art.
4) What was the central idea for theme around your inspirational research?
The central theme around my inspirational research is to validate female artists and bring them to popular galleries.
5) What kind of inferences did you make while reading your research?
I made the inference that forms of art such as quilting, sewing, and jewelry making are more common for females to do.
Citations
Miriam Schapiro Biography, Art, and Analysis of Works. (n.d.). Retrieved November 09, 2017, from http://www.theartstory.org/artist-schapiro-miriam-artworks.htm