#anniedart

We made cardboard outfits in just 48 hours from start to catwalk ready. First week of college and hit the ground running! We were team ‘Mythical with a message’ and we did this: A hybrid of three endangered species- #Elephant, #Pangolin and #Albatross al made from card and paper tape, split pins, glue and string.

Made my #catwalkmodel debut too- not sure #lobutain or #Gucci do elephant legs but their heels must be easier to walk in!

ears and wings both moves so not only did I have to walk with restricted vision as teh mask kept slipping, but was able to flap wings and ears too.

Music we walked to was #tusk by #fleetwodmac, chosen for the lyrics ‘ just tell me that you love me, just tell me that you need me’ , which we thought was appropriate for these critically endangered species.

#fabrication first day at @strodefad was pretty intensive with multiple tasks completed in one day. Task no.2 was to create a fabric ‘brick’ inspired by artists mentioned in our opening talk, including the Nigerian artist @ifeomaart who uses a range of materials and includes wrapping techniques in her work.

I love this quote from her website https://www.ifeomaanyaeji.com/

.’Art is a limitless expressive tool of freewill. Therefore, its visual thoughts can serve to remind us that the limitation of one’s imagination is a limitation to one’s growth. And art devoid of optimistic imagination is art with limitations..’.

New terms to me today from this artist ( I am on a very steep learning curve!)

[1] Plasto-art is a Neo-traditional reuse concept that transforms and repurposes discarded non-biodegradable plastic bags and bottles using the techniques of a receding traditional Nigerian hair –plaiting craft, known as Threading. The initial transforming process of plastic bags is known as Plasto-yarning. [2] Threading is a beautiful traditional hair plaiting technique and an elaborate hair architectural process, also known as African hair threading, which was predominantly practiced in some West African countries, Nigeria in particular. Sadly it is becoming an obsolete hair craft.

Again we had just 45 minutes to make a wrapped fabric bundle using the same materials we used for our first task of the day (see my previous post), Cutting was allowed this time and using wrappings and bindings and crisp packets or anything we could find.

This is my piece- I found a teatowel with instructions on how to speak to deaf people and as my piece had repurposed one of the ‘suckers’ from our octopus which looked like a mouth, I incorporated part of the towel saying ‘ ‘Remember your lips are being read’.

I see this piece as a social statement on society and how we communicate- many people don’t talk face to face any more, and we are constantly under surveillance so we don’t know who may be eavesdropping on our conversations, in fact, we willingly allow gadgets into our homes to eavesdrop on us!

Our Summer challenge was to create a doll that can stand and has poseable head and limbs. this was a challenge, not only on the time front  as I am juggling work, kids school holidays and home projects, but as a mature student it has been a long time since I had ‘homework’ and having never done Art A-level I have not been in the habit of keeping a sketchbook and documenting/researching creative projects. This blog is my account of how I created the Doll and the ideas I tried along the way.