This woman is beautiful.. click name for her blog.

Ivania Carpio - Love and aesthetics

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WEAVE IS DONE>>

INTENTIONS/// MASQUERADE

When it comes to my work I often find myself going down the cultural route whether it’s looking at Asian textiles or fashion within Europe I am always interested in learning more about how different cultures express themselves creatively. I am fortunate enough to have travelled to a lot of places across the world so this has possibly fed into my fascination. Last year I came across a photographer/fine artist called Phyllis Galembo who resides in New York. She has spent her life photographing in different countries and her main focus has been with carnival and cultural rituals celebrated in various places. Galembo has explored how different countries treat the idea of celebration and festival by visiting the likes of Trinidad, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Brazil, Cuba and Haiti during her research. The collection of photographs that caught my eye are her works from ‘Maske’; a collection of images portraying masquerade subjects from Nigeria. The images, due to the attire of the subjects, are hard hitting, bold and create huge initial impact raising questions about tradition within countries and the survival of evolution with these traditions within the 21^st century. I want to look at the power of costume, its relation to ritual and how this has evolved over the years by interconnecting fashion to performance. 

IN LOVE WITH BASSO & BROOKE 2012

Reflective Statement Unit 1 YEEERR

Looking back into my progression throughout Unit 1 I would say that it was quite a confusing time but had good outcomes. I was a little apprehensive and unsure of how Rough Guide was supposed to be carried out. I get quite caught up in things when really I should just do the work the way I want to do it which I guess is what I did do in the end. What I was very pleased with was my blog, I started that as soon as the term commenced because, being at Chelsea last year, I knew that at some point we would need to document things. Having a blog allows me to put all my scribbles neatly into a more readable format and it shows a lot more clarity in my thoughts.

I used the Rough Guide as a chance to do a lot of photography which I really did enjoy because being given such a creative and exciting area like Shoreditch to explore gave me a lot to document through a camera. It did mean that I probably lacked a little in drawing, I do enjoy drawing so if I had a chance to improve on something it would be to have drawn more around the places I visited.

In reflection I would like to think that I executed the Rough Guide Task and Study tasks well. The personal research that I did for the sketchbook had a clear purpose and showed exactly what I wanted to show. I barely included any notes in the sketchbook though as it is not the look I wanted to create, all of my notes were on my blog. I kept it up to date during this period and was uploading all of my new photography. I like writing about things in a comical way as well so I enjoyed taking the information I gathered from locals and writing it in a different way. My blog is very clearly laid out in order to help the viewer find things easily and also for me to be able to refer back to, it has really helped with the development with some of my projects acting as a technical notebook online. 

Grayson Perry v Power of Making exhibitions/comparative

Firstly, aside from the fact that both of these exhibitions are based on design and craftsmanship amongst society they are two totally diverse shows. I say this because, Grayson Perry’s work has an extremely unique appearance that you do not see everywhere and although the pieces in Power of Making were one of a kind, never to be created again pieces; they had a totally contrasting approach.

The pieces of fine art at The Power of Making- and I do consider them to be fine art as they are one of a kind works that show an incredible amount of value and skill- all show craftsmanship and nobody can deny that. The name of the exhibition is self explanatory- the act of being able to make and create something from our own hands truly powerful and some could say that nothing will ever hold as much meaning.

Due to different portrayals of craftsmanship throughout history and culture, people have come to have different interpretations of the word. Some would suggest that it carries an almost dated attachment to it and is about sticking to tradition. I disagree with this because I think craft is constantly evolving and that we all practice craft and apply it in ingenious ways.

Grayson Perry throws together a mix of his latest creations which do seem rather bizarre yet I suppose wonderful along with historical pieces of art from unknown craftsmen. It raises the topic of context because here we have a collection of excessively twee/comical pieces of textile set in what is a very cultural museum- along with precious pieces of historical artwork- yet somehow it works. Possibly forcing people to view two totally diverse ideas of craftsmanship together actually makes us realise that there isn’t that much difference at all, they were made by man, by hand and hold meaning so therefore are pieces of art and show craftsmanship. I cannot decide whether I truly appreciated this or not but what I do know is that it made me question and that is possibly the purpose of the show.

The Power of Making shows craftsmanship in the 21^st century and this is exciting. Unlike Grayson Perry there isn’t a clear divide in the show, in fact the entire room is a complete mix of everything and has been described as very random. It was quite clear that this representation of ‘craft’ was based more on the idea of initial impact as each piece is there to make viewers question how one could possibly make such objects. The point that the show lacks is connecting the impact and overall image to the technicalities of it. This would make people understand the true craftsmanship that went on behind the object and this where Grayson Perry executes his show successfully. People who go to view exhibitions have a general understanding of what they think ‘fine art’ is and what ‘craftsmanship’ means but truthfully there is no real definition and this is what Perry demonstrates so well. He brings the old and the new, the whimsical and the traditional together and shows how they’re not really that far apart. In doing so he is making the viewer question our society and whether design has developed for better or for worse as well as giving them something to laugh about along the way.