Fabric Manipulation Swatches:
A. Charles James couture dress
B. Israeli soldier standing at Mount Hertzel
C. View from the top of Saint Paul’s Cathedral
D. Macaroni and Cheese
E. Pond behind my grandma’s house
F. Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, ‘Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump’
Description:
A. These fabric manipulations explore a wide variety of techniques while remaining cohesive with my theme of beauty which involves layers. Each swatch contains the idea of layering using a different method. In the first swatch, I used the technique in which you sew three layers together by creating lines and cutting in between the top two layers so they are only attached to the base layer at the seam. I decided to create this manipulation on the diagonal because it worked better aesthetically and created an added dimension to the work. I tacked the muslin down by curving one side of the strip of fabric onto itself and through the base layer. This allowed me to explore the way the curving could and folding of the fabric could show the layers and add depth through shape and volume.
B. In the piece about the Israeli soldier, I cut small circles out of muslin and sewed each down individually, layering them through overlapping. I sporadically added frayed circles and created an effect where the circles became more frayed and less frequent as they moved down towards the bottom left of the piece. Eventually, I frayed the muslin in the lower left corner so as to bring the eye through from the top right and out from the fabric through this rhythm.
C. In the third swatch, I explored the technique of creating shell smocking. The “shell” shape is light and airy but also very grid-oriented and precisely structured. Each shape leads into the next, creating a layering of shape through repetition.
D. The fourth swatch includes both a box pleat and knife pleats. The layering of pleats comes together and faces towards the inside in a coming-together fashion.
E. The next swatch incorporates cross-pin tucks, which are not perfectly straight, but lead the eye through the piece because the technique is rhythmic and balanced.
F. The last piece was more experimental than the others because it focuses on the expression and making of the piece rather than the technique. I started with a base square that is hemmed with a slip-stitch on each side. I practiced ripping muslin into small strips and tying it all together with one of the strips itself. I sewed down the large knot at the top and tacked down each strip to the fabric towards the end of each strip. After creating the more freeing and rough piece, I added a geometric embroidery that ends up mixing with the knot of strips and losing its geometric stiffness as it moves up towards the knot piece.
Interpretation:
A. The first swatch which incorporates the layering through the dissection between seams and tacking symbolizes the beauty in the Charles James dress. The tacking allows the viewer to see the layers in almost look into the piece. This is similar to the first experience I had with Charles James’ dresses at the Met exhibit. Part of the dresses beauty is that it represents a memory of a place and a time where I learned about an inspiring designer. This exhibit focused on the construction of what was on the inside of James’ master couture construction and showed dissections of his work through technology. This layering can represent the dress because it mimics this idea of looking into the inside and cutting something open to find further beauty.
B. The second swatch represents the Israeli soldier at Mount Hertzel because the circles are the living soldiers viewing their friends at the cemetery along with the monument that encompasses the founding of their country. This feeling can be displayed through the fading of the lives of the friends and comrades among them as they watch and fight for their country while their friends and family are losing their lives for the country they stand for. The fraying exhibits this sense of exiting life and being set free into space as the eye leaves the swatch.
C. The next swatch symbolizes the view from the top of Saint Paul’s Cathedral because the light and airy shapes represent that freedom that I felt which ties the memory I had of my time in London to independence. The freedom is one layer that mixes with the aesthetic of the city’s architecture and history to create beauty in that moment reflected through a scene. This scene’s architecture can be symbolized through the grid-like aspect in which the airy shapes are organized as each shape lead into the next.
D. The Macaroni and Cheese swatch symbolizes a coming-together of people. My family has the tradition of eating the same macaroni and cheese recipe every year on Boxing Day. We all look forward to this tradition and celebrate another day of spending time together during the holidays. The pleats face towards the center and touch through the box pleat. The layer of coming together is among the many layers including, customs, food, and family that create the mac and cheese’s beauty.
E. In the fifth swatch, the intersection of pin-tucks resembles the layers of beauty in the photograph I took intersecting. The photograph is not just a dimensional replication of a scene, but a source of memory, my grandparents, and a place that contains nature as well as the feeling of relaxation and joy. These layers quite literally intersect through the pin tucks to create a visual piece similar to the visual scene of the sunset setting on my grandparents’ pond.
F. The last swatch is an expression piece that tells the story of the Basquiat painting through the lens of my definition of beauty. The rapid brushstrokes and expressionist marks that the artist created are replicated through my process of rapidly ripping the muslin and tying it in a raw state, leaving the edges frayed. That aspect layers and weaves through the straight and geometric lines which are the structured aspect of the painting, seen inside the boy’s figure. The layers of this beauty are also created through my experience of happening upon Basquait’s gallery exhibit in Chelsea and reacting to his work. His use of color and contrast of forms have influenced my work and I think that the contrast of spontaneity and structure are evident in both my layers of experience with Basquait and the swatch.
