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.