Tutorial on Tuesday 23rd April and thoughts

We discussed our work and ideas with Mark and Hannah at this tutorial, and they had some really good ideas for what could be done with the papers I have designed. They suggested radically altering the scale, for example to try making a bunny box from A1 or A0 paper; I really like this idea, as one central large box would be attention grabbing and could be a base to attach smaller ones to. 

Another suggestion was to scan in or photograph several papers together to make a more interesting design. I have started doing this now, and used Picasa photo editor to arrange them in grids.

 

I tried to vary the scale a bit to produce a variety of results once they are folded and to allow for the fact that I'll be printing them on different paper sizes.

Also they suggested I could go round a scrap materials place to get colour inspiration, but I don't feel that it's particularly relevant to the theme for my project as it doesn't relate to the art school. I'm happy with the range of colours I'm using and think it would dilute the premise to use other random ones.

There was an idea to go back and photograph the origami in the location that their pattern was based on, for example the grosvenor arches, stairs in the new building etc, which I think would be great - The photos might even become part of the exhibit somehow, and would work with the 'paper' theme.

Also, an idea that I had already toyed with was using some of the papers as a background for the origami, whether that's on the wall or a surface. 

Tomorrow I can photograph some of the origami in situ and see how the photographs work out and finish photographing the rest of my designed papers to make into collages. Once I have captured them all I can select out the best collages to print out and develop. At some point this week I'll experiment with the matchsticks and decide how best to display them.

Designing my own papers

Using patterns and colours from Manchester School of Art and the pantone decade colours, I started forming my own papers, to bring the total number of papers I have available to 175. I used some of the materials I used to make the matchsticks, with the addition of some stamps, as the metallic stamping pads added a bit of shine, glamour and sophistication to the designs. Gold and silver are also ancient materials, so seem timeless. They have been around through the life of the art school, and are also in fashion currently. 

The hand-drawn quality of the squares works well, creating interesting textures and natural variation within each piece, while use of a range of materials helps to keep a playful feel to the work.

Origami and matchsticks - colouring in!

I started making lots of bunny boxes from the origami paper bought from the craft shop, but discovered that once it had been inflated, a box was difficult to get back to a folded shape. For easy transport, I have kept them all at the aeroplane - like stage. I tried folding them so the colour shows for the box or the arches/ears to provide variety.

I also coloured in the matchsticks according to decade using pens, fine liners, crayons, oil pastels, make-up, hair wax, and pastels. The different colours for each decade are really obvious, and it highlights the changing nature of design, and the way the art school has had to evolve over the years. I like the uneven edges made here, as the viewer is forced to look at the negative space.

From left to right, modern day and 2000s, 1990s, 1980s, 1970s and 1960s pantone colours

  It would be interesting to see how other people arrange them, they would probably not arrange them in blocks as I have, so adjacent matches would mostly be different colours. I can then photograph this.

Nice edges

It would be great to include these in the exhibition as well, perhaps as one long colour stripe according to other people's arrangements, in time order. I really liked the effect from using thread to make a colour stripe; one possibility is sewing them onto a canvas, or paper.

Origami

Whilst browsing in Hobbycraft over the weekend I found a selection of origami paper, and picked out the pieces that matched with my colour palette to try some folding with. I then looked online for some free origami patterns, bearing my MSA photos in mind. I found a great website, origami-fun.com which had a large variety of different paper instructions available.

With Easter just having past, I looked at the patterns for bunnies and found a couple. The most interesting was a blow - up bunny which formed a cube with ears coming out the top. The ears resemble the arches from Grosvener building and the cube reminded me of the transparent grid-like roof in the main exhibition space. So, I decided to try it out. The result was really striking; the contrast between the white and blue was eye-catching, creating movement and its 3D nature appeals to me a lot. I like that it wouldn't obviously be recognisable as a bunny when taken out of context.

Looking for something geometric, this star box caught my eye. I tried it out (reading the diagrammatic instructions can be tricky) before helping Safia to make one.

The finished product

The first thing I noticed was that the opening of the box was the same size as the bunny cube, so I put the two together to see how the colours would work. The box is the colour of the Grosvenor arches, and is the same tone as the ears' blue, but I think a different combination might work better.

Trying out colour combinations will be far less time consuming by using my chosen materials rather than by making origami models each time, so further colour work is my priority at the moment.

Another pattern which appeared instantly suitable was one for a bird, and I imagine that a large flock of origami pigeons would look really good. However I then remembered an exhibition in Liverpool at the start of the year with bright pigeon models in the Walker Gallery, and felt that this clearly wasn't an original idea. It would be better to experiment with the bunny - box shape and other paper folding and cutting samples to make something new that relates really well to MSA.

I decided to use the colours from my MSA photos to make my own stripy origami sheet. I selected out the primary colours to start with, as I knew they would be bright, and go well together. 

I like the contrast between the muted back of the paper and the bright front, and if I made 175 of these cubes, some could be plain, some patterned, and the designs could be taken from my MMU photos.

Zero Waste Pattern Cutting - Fiona Mills

Although this lecture was most relevant for the fashion students in the audience, it helped to cement my idea of using origami and was thought-provoking.

Fiona highlighted the 20% wastage of fabric at the pattern cutting stage, and talked about the fact that although there are researchers out there trying to create zero waste garments, designers and the high street have not taken up this idea yet. Many of the designs shown were admittedly oversized and not to my taste, but a select few were fitted extremely well and could easily be mistaken for a high street garment.

Unsurprisingly I particularly liked the effects generated by Jungeun Lee, whose speciality is textiles. By heat-bonding fabric she eliminates the need for seams. The front view of the dress again looks wearable, and althought the right hand shot shows a shark -like silhouette, it could easily be modified for less extreme tastes!

The idea of seamless designs fits in well with my idea to explore origami and folding, and the zero waste philosophy is definitely to be admired - perhaps I could work on producing some zero - waste papercuts? Also, using recycled or found paper would be something to consider.

Some more MSA photos..

In order to get some inspiration for my paper work, I went around MSA taking photos of interesting shapes, from the new and old buildings. A couple of them seemed relevant to things I had already started to explore, for example the block rail for pattern cutting resembles the paper folding I tried earlier (see below). I like the effect of multiple semi transparent layers, the delicacy and haphazard arrangement work well.

Some other photos would make a good basis for paper folding, as they have an obvious linear quality and are attractive.

 

 

I also then looked at repeated arrangements of shapes and objects; I aim to produce 175 paper models of some kind, and they will need to be arranged in such a way that they relate to each other and look like a collection.

 
 

Every time I walk through All Saints Park on my way in to MMU I see a pair of pigeons; there will always have been birds flying around here, spanning the decades since the art school was built. Incorporating them into my work somehow would give it a timeless feel, which is appropriate for an anniversary celebration which aims to remind us of the past while looking into the future.

Creating a colour palette and playing with paper

I decided to finalise my colour palettes; I will use the pantone decade colours, and colours extracted from my MMU photos. This means the colours used will span the entire post war modern era.

Left - pantone colours, trying to match materials. Right - final material selection.

In order to maintain a playful vibe in my work, I thought about materials that a child might have available - things that could be found around the house. So, I went through my pens, pencils, make up, pastels, threads, wool, fine liners, crayons and oil pastels to select out colours that match my palette. This means that in order to complete a decade several different materials must be used. This means that I will be able to offer people a defined selection of materials to use, sorted by colour, decade of colour or type of material in order to contribute to a collaborative colour stripe.

I also started to play with paper, using some packaging from a parcel to make different textures and shapes.

 

The above shape was made by placing several sheets of scrunched paper together and simply folding them and holding them in the middle; on the left is a front view, and on the right an aerial view. If different colours of paper were used, this would create a kind of 3D colour stripe. I like the movement from this shape and the shadows formed within it. It could be hung, mounted on the wall or rested on a surface, and it could be easily repeated.

 I'll continue to try out different ways of working with paper, and see how the colours work together. Whilst browsing in hobbycraft I saw some plain wooden matchsticks that just looked interesting, so I bought them in order to investigate how they could be put together, dyed or coloured.

Manchester School of Art Quotes

These are the quotes I gathered, some from students, some staff and some from alumni through the MMU website. I tried to use different areas - interior design, textiles, 3D, ceramics, furniture etc.

' A really fabulous new experience couples staff and students..feels like an art school '

' Probably the best thing I did during my time at MMU was to take advantage of an overseas exchange trip '

' I liked the freedom and responsibility that are given to get assignments done '

' I really enjoyed my time...it provided a rounded knowledge of many materials '

' These will be the best years of your life '

' Crossing boundaries - it feels more like an art community instead of sticking to a specific course '

' It's good that the print room is on the same level as the studio '

' There's not enough studio space now '

' As a hands on designer I found the practical elements of the course very influential '

' New building new start '

'I love the parquet floor in the Holden Cafe, it must have been there since its inception '

' It always feel like there is a lot to get done! '

' We need more natural lighting in the new building '

' MMU produced independent free-thinking students that were not bound by one material '

' The most important skill that I learnt was how to develop ideas for a piece of work '

' I don't like the artificial lighting but I like being mixed with other students '

' The social side of the course...being surrounded by many creatives is a great inspiration and lots of fun '

' The green space outside is great to have in summer and I'm looking forward to seeing the roof garden in the new building '

' The HUB has amazing chicken wraps '

' I've learnt a lot this year, and it's helped to confirm my choice for next year '

' The broad range of media covered...enabled me to develop an understanding of objects and artworks '

' Learning photoshop wasn't as scary as I thought it would be '

' There should be more computers in the studio '

' I really like the old feel of the buildings '

' Everyone on the course has been really friendly '

' I like having the chance to learn a language alongside my course '

Manchester School of Art Photos

This is a small selection of photos that I took last year during a map project designed to help us find our way around the art school. For this project I chose the ones with bright colours or interesting patterns, and included a selection of modern and old features and permanent and portable structures.

During the meeting we agreed to make photos accessible to the whole group so we can use pieces of each others' work to inspire or direct our own. I hope to use some of the colours from these in my paper experiments.