Welcome to my blog o' creative research!
I will be reporting on academic/text-based, "field trips", and studio-based research as I journey through my thesis/ "capstone" project, reflecting on discoveries and challenges.
I feel like this past month since starting school again has fit a years worth of ideas, creative energy, and question-asking! And I haven't even entered full material production yet. Since writing my "Scope of Work" survey outlining my mid-term goals, I am gradually adjusting them as I adapt and try to be realistic.
My current goals for my capstone include: researching text/ studies of wild bee nesting processes (which I hope can influence my designs and samples); exploring various "core" materials for coiling and wrapping around (like rope, wire, paper...); direct printing experiments. Most recently, I've made rust prints and mordanted fabric pieces to use for eco-print samples.
While I am revisiting this technique from last winter, it is still feels new to me. I am interested in seeing the connection between rust being associated with the "industrial" while observing the anthropogenic changes a city makes. Urban building harms many native bees' habitats but this also creates the opportunity for some species to find more nest spaces. (Also, I am a big fan of the colour!)
Initial sample collection list:
· 2 coiling/wrapped structures- one using a softer cord core and one with a wire/flexible core.
*one will integrate eco-printing and/or rust-dying on the fabrics used to wrap to play with surface and colour)
· 1 alternate basket structure (may include coiling too) using natural found material like wood, and scrap fabric
· 1 wire crochet structure- possibly dipped in paper pulp
· 1 knotted/integrating cordage- making my own cordage from scrap fabric and smaller cord to build a form.
Their size will vary and be approximately 8” to 10” in height and width. While I think about the scale wild bees work in, I want to play with what shapes I could “magnify” in sample exploration further.
Now that I have started physical making, I am reassessing and adjusting my sample plan for mid-term. I hope not to sacrifice the overall experience of playing and enjoying the process of sample-making. However, the time needed for the techniques I want to use can be intensive (like many textile processes!) so I will carry forward sample ideas yet to be made by mid-November and reassess their relevance.
Processes and materials: chronological/ to-date
tapestry with scrap fabric and hollow dead plant stems
materials: hemp twine (pink warp), scrap cotton muslin, scrap hemp silk-satin (from a former project- poly-chromatic printing w/ acid dye for colour), and dead hollow stems (plant unknown!)
"soft" basket with scrap fabric
I extended on a knotted sample I made in April, 2020. Using a recycled can as a mold, I worked around it to weave strips of old corduroy pants, cotton t-shirt, and scrap silk and cotton from former projects. I tied the loose ends and used a "figure-8 stitch" to secure the top edge. It has a soft yet strong structure that I am interested in exploring to see if it can be achieved in more samples...
I am excited by the possibility of bending hand-weaving into new forms- like with my tapestry sample- I can see it attaching to tree branches, fence poles, over the ground and other shapes in an urban and natural landscape!
Challenges and questions
I feel challenged by this period of transition, moving into integrating ideas and writing with material research and sample making! It is easy for me to feel as though I have not found enough information or acquired knowledge (especially scientifically) to be able to move into studio-research. For example, learning wild bees' lives and their nests could become my sole focus this year, and I wouldn't even begin to touch the material research. So I am learning to support and balance the intellectual research with the haptic and visual process.
I found a wonderful resource this summer in a paper published through a U of T architecture, landscape, and design course showing some student's designs of structures for cavity-nesting bee species and assessing their purpose and potential effectiveness. This has led to my question:
Which bee nesting process relates closely to coiling and wrapping and radial weaving? Or to my choice to use more found material and fabrics?
Here is a chart I hope will guide my making with this question in mind:
Next steps:
I will continue my sample experiments and slowly introduce alternative structures, like crochet (intended for possible paper-dipping), knotting and cordage, and other basket methods. I am currently working on a twisted-paper coil sample. I am excited to try eco-printing again. I hope it will help me to reflect on what role natural materials I'm gathering will take in my project.
I will be researching the idea of "community structures and relationships". I'm curious to look for spiral or radial structures in both concept and visual structures.
I am wondering....
how this could connect to pollinator conservation?
Where does this apply to Toronto communities and ecosystems?
Stay tuned! And thanks for reading!
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