I’m touched by all the messages I have received asking if we are OK here with all the fires burning in Southern California. I think I have replied to all so far, but I’m here to let you know we are fine here in Long Beach. The air quality is poor and will be for a while but we are far enough away from the burn areas not to be highly impacted. I know media coverage can make it seem like the entire…

Textile workshop!!! - I took the advice from my tutor to join a stitching workshop and it was so good. I didn’t have lots of knowledge in patchwork making but Deborah taught me many, also I learned many from other peers in course. And it was impressive for me to view the sketchbook from Eva and also see Sally’s good stitching pattern. I also met a textile student Debbie there who arranged the patches in an interesting way. Good chat with all of them, we feel from making! - This evening I visited Alanna in her house. Alanna is a woman I met in John’s speaker corner and I was chatting with Chie on that day. It was an amazing meeting for me that a person could understand what I did and responded in poetry. I visited her and we shared what happened this week as well as our lives and experiences. She also helps me doing a very quick felt workshop which was so interesting I never did before. It made me experience something fitting with my project. So thankful to meet her!! - - - -

This week

This week we ventured into the textile workshop, where there are many exciting possibilities with processes and materials.  We learnt about procion dyes for screen printing, mark making, stencilling and how to coat and prepare a screen. 

A gorgeous range of colours....

Some examples of mark making with procion dyes on screens

More examples using  different inks and materials..

Getting sidetracked with what else is going on in the workshop - especially attracted to the colours!

Some fab examples of printing onto porcelain

Creating a screen with an acetate image

I loved the reproduction of the original image via screen printing, using grain mark resist.  The drawing direct for use with screen printing enables the texture/detail of the original drawing to be shown (more so than a photocopy of a drawing).

These are my experiments with procion dye mark making direct onto the screen, a first print and then second onto paper.  Not enough binder used on the second, but the first when viewed closely shows a fabric effect from the screen itself.  Some things to think about - why use fabric over paper, what effect would the texture have to the look and feel.

One of the other students work with procion mark making and stencil and relief print combined.  really like the effect created here with the contrast of print and white space.

PIC1 Abstraction & Illusion, Abstract Expressionism, Avant-Garde & Kitsch

This week in PIC1, we looked at Abstraction and Illusion Art, including the work of Magritte and Dali. I'm finding it fascinating that you can see so much more in a painting when you really take a proper look.  Moving on, we looked at Abstract Expressionism and Jackson Pollock, then Avant Garde and Kitsch, reviewing an extract of Clement Greenberg's 1939 article.  A whistle stop tour of Modern Art!