Artist Inspiration & Initial Ideas

To help inspire our group I looked at artists as well as designers, especially after our work in the print room, creating an abstract monoprint. I thought it would be helpful to see different styles of abstract painting, which is when I found Paresh Nrshinga (Left, Top), Sophy in my group also found a similar artist Gerhard Richter (Left, Bottom). Then using our first monoprint and garment pieces we had been told to deconstruct, we experimented with possible outcome ideas, exploring the idea of a shirt as a final piece (Right).

Week 2 - Research and Investigation

Project Launch

After being put into our groups it was time to share the research we had done in response to the key word ‘Fairgrounds’, using our research week and visits to help us move forward. We have found that within our group we had some similar ideas, all of us were attracted to the idea of old abandoned fairgrounds, like the one in Chernobyl etc. I had the idea of using dull abandoned colours, mixed with some of the brighter colours that represent fairgrounds and circuses in an iconic way, which is something the group seemed to like the idea of. The two other girls really enjoyed the architecture structures of the rides and thought that it would be a good source of inspiration for our designs etc. So by combining all of our ideas, we quickly developed a base for research.

First Screen Printing session

The first screen printing session we explored the monoprint technique, where we painted onto a blank screen then printed the design we painted directly onto screen. At first I thought that the hardest part of collaborating would be working as a group in the print workshop, specifically a task like this where all three of us are working onto the same screen. However I was surprised to find that it worked really well, by rotating around the screen we each created our own mark which all seemed to work harmoniously. After looking at abandoned fairgrounds we realised that a key element was the erosion that had taken effect. This is something which appealed to all of us, allowing us to add texture to our work. It was mostly during this session that we found a colour palette that we felt comfortable with, after trying to figure out one beforehand, it wasn’t until we were actually in the workshop that it all fell together.

Finding a Muse

In the Friday session we were given the task to find or create a muse, a character for our garment designs.  We primarily researched circus performers to create an exciting personality to accompany our creations. After we completed this task we were given the chance to use the space to put all of our work together to create a group mood board. I think we all found this helpful, (I certainly did) because it gave us the chance to see what was working well together and what wasn’t.

 

Unit X - Mini Archive - Mix of Old and New

During the lecture on Wednesday Claire Turner told us about one of the first exotic animals that they decided to bring into Belle Vue Gardens, Maharajah the elephant – “The Elephant who walked to Manchester” a book by David Barnaby explains the whole story of how the famous elephant made it to Belle Vue Gardens. I was astonished to discover that the elephant skeleton I had seen only a few weeks prior to this in Manchester museum was that of the very same elephant. It touched me to know that this well-known elephant has his spot in history, and that whilst Belle Vue is no longer a functional attraction it still has elements spread through-out Manchester whilst most people pass unknowingly.
 

On Friday the 21^st March Manchester Histories Festival will be releasing a digital map of the locations of items from the Belle Vue collections. This is something I am eager to see as I feel it will demonstrate how wide spread Belle Vue products are demonstrating how far it has dispersed. I believe it is also an opportunity for people to share their stories of the park and reminisce on a previous time. This inspires me knowing that old historic items like that are mixed in between the modern day. It’s like the idea of colour mixing with black and white on the same canvas.

Images sourced from (Top) Flickr: Chetham's Library (Bottom) bbc.co.uk



Unit X - Mini Archive - Belle Vue Gardens

After the lecture on Wednesday I thought that the Belle Vue Gardens would be the ideal research point for my work, I learnt briefly about the history and how many different sections there were that pieced together to create it all, and there seemed to be a lot of research available. With the different areas such as the zoo, circus, sports arenas, ballroom dance halls and many more, I knew that something would inspire me and create an exciting starting point to the ‘Fairground’ unit.

At the Chethams Library visit we had the chance to look at some of the Belle Vue collection, I found the scrap book enlightening; it gave insight to the animals, the park and all of the performances. Looking at the posters and leaflets was also interesting because it provided the opportunity to see how things like adverts etc. were produced and it allowed me to feel more informed about Belle Vue, knowing what would have been available at the time. Knowing that these were also all produced at Belle Vue due to the fact that they had their own publishing company made me again feel more connected to all of the archive objects.

  Images from Flickr: Chetham's Library

To me one of the most inspiring items at the archive by far was the small booklet that would be sold to customers for one penny. The cover art work was beautiful and very inspiring, it is something I would defiantly like to try and incorporate into my work, or at lease capture that similar essence.

Unit X - Mini Archive - Blackpool Visit

I have been the Blackpool pleasure beach previously, but going on the behind the scenes tour with the education team really opened my eyes to just how much time and effort goes into create an exciting experience for its customers. The day was split into 3 sections; a tour of the pleasure beaches archives, looking around the theme park itself and a tour of the costume making area and costume vault.

Visiting the archive was informative; it allowed us to see models of what the park looked like previously, before updating rides and certain areas of the park. This made me think about how much thought and work has to going into maintaining the park to meet the ever growing standards of the public.

The second area we looked at was the costume vault and workshops; I found this section really inspiring as costume is something that has always captured my attention, and I was simply in awe at the vast amount of materials, costumes and designs. For me it was an unlimited collection of inspiration.

The final section of the tours was looking around the park, I think this was helpful in terms of visual research inspiration. Taking photographs of the rides looking at structures and geometric lines, although I am unsure what route my visuals will take at the moment it is still valuable primary research.