Textile Society of America Symposium 2016

Textile Society of America Symposium 2016

The Textile Society of America 15th biennial symposium was held in Savannah Georgia in 2016.

The co-hosts were the Savannah College of Art and Design and Art Rise Savannah.

Ingrid lincoln and I attended the symposium this year.

We caught one of the pre-symposium tours opting to have a group of enthusiastic, knowledgeable students take us on a tour of their university - Savannah College of Art and Design.

The Savannah campus is spread over 80 buildings most of them restored historic buildings in old downtown Savanah, all within walking distance of each other.

The first stop on the tour was the student centre. The beautiful building was filled with art. See the fireplace above.

Pencil drawings on planks of wood.

Next Stop: The Fibers Department, one of 42 disciplines offered.

The entrance art installation - light shining through fibres trapped between acrylic panels on the walls and ceiling.

The dyeing studio.

It looks small but that is because the class sizes are small and only a few students would work in here at any one time. All of the studios are open 24 hours, 7 days a week so students are free to work as their muse strikes or as close to deadlines as they like to.

Induction heating surfaces, steamers and pressurised vat.

SCAD offers 3 fibers degrees - B.F.A., M.A., M.F.A. link here.

Jane Davies' 'Big Fat Art' Workshop

I attended a Jane Davies' 'Big Fat Art Workshop, Jane's Blog.

We did many 'technique' exercises working quickly on large sheets of inexpensive paper.

It was all about layers using many different media and working quickly to stop over thinking it.

A sampler recording how to block out large shapes with different edges.

An exercise in breaking all the design rules. Every added element had to be different in shape, colour, placement etc.

I have never been shown how to work properly with acrylics but this didn't stop me.

I made some ugly pieces but learnt a lot doing each exercise.

We all worked hard and fast and it was very freeing.

Thanks Jane for a great workshop.

Studio Design - Pattern Language #200 Open Shelves, #201 Waist-high Shelf

'A Pattern Language' by Christopher Alexander is a collection of patterns found in well-designed living spaces. I applied many of these patterns to my studio design.

Pattern #200 Open Shelves

The Problem - 'Cupboards that are too deep waste valuable space, and it always seems that you want what is behind something else'.

The Solution - 'Cover the walls with narrow shelves of varying depth but always shallow enough so that things can be placed on them one deep - nothing hiding behind anything else.'

I measured the depth of some of the books and binders I wanted to have in the studio and used that measurement for the depth of the shelves in this bookcase. Likewise in the rest of the studio the shelves depths and the varying spaces between them match the sizes of the articles stored on them. Things are stored only one item deep, mostly.

Pattern #201 Waist-high Shelf

Problem - 'In every house and every workplace there is a daily "traffic" of objects which are handled most. Unless such things are immediately at hand, the flow of life is awkward, full of mistakes; things are forgotten, misplaced.'

Solution - 'Build waist-high shelves around at least part of the main rooms where people live and work. Make them long, 9 to 15 inches deep, with shelves or cupboard underneath. Interrupt the shelf for seats, windows or doors.'

The 12" top of the bookshelf doubles as the needed waist-high shelf where stuff gets put. It also serves as the protective back for the Drawing Centre. Papers won't blow off the desk when the front door is opened.

Drawing Centre

This is where I put the cork mat I made from leftover floor tiles that didn't work on the cutting table. The area is big enough to hold a portable sloped drawing board that I use when doing design work.

Desk Centre

Attached to the Drawing Centre is the Desk Centre and both share the one chair. Underneath there are 2 basket stacks on wheels stored in otherwise unused space. Art materials are stored here and easily accessed from either work area.

Desk Centre

Each morning after I enter the studio, I start work here with some drawing practice and writing in a journal. These 2 activities slow me down and make me focus on what I plan to do that day. I end a studio session here too. I write in the journal  and plan what I will do next day.

Whenever I need extra horizontal workspace I can easily clear off these few things and temporarily free up a large area.The simple L-shaped design gives a lot of flexibility in how the space can be used. 

Studio Design: 38 Steps

After a wonderful open house where many friends came to help me celebrate the completion of my new studio, I wasn't sure I needed to continue writing posts about the place. But one of my sisters said of course I did. She wants to see how the space works, and how it doesn't work, and how I use the different stations I have set up. So here we go...

I am working to establish a routine which is a series of linked good habits.

At 8:30 a.m. I walk 38 steps from my office in the house to my studio.

Once the Back Yard Project is implemented it will be a pleasant walk through the garden to the front door of the Green Shed.

I open the door, turn on whichever bank of lights I need for the area I will be working in and I turn up the thermostat.

I switch from outside shoes to indoor shoes. The third pair belongs to a friend who I am hoping will drop by for tea some mornings.

From the front door I look up at the design wall at the work I put up last thing before I left for the day. I now look at the work with fresh eyes.

I sit at the desk to write in a journal what I plan to work on that day and to record what is on my mind.

I draw for a while (not timed). I am working on one of the books I made during the Dorothy Caldwell workshop. This slows me down so my sense of time is switched off and it makes me focus on one thing.

This is the view out of the window over the desk. It still looks like a construction site but we have great plans for it.

Vancouver Island Circumnavigation

The Captain

Guipse Bay, place of an early 20-century utopian Danish settlement, now abandoned.

The knitting grows.

I am observing, sketching and photographing the boundaries between different elements.

Ocean Beach - Shed 4, Jacobson Point, Brooks Peninsula

One of the best surfing beaches on the West Coast of Canada, so the book says.

Though plastic is the main type of debris on these west coast beaches we also saw this huge vehicle wheel, the wheel of a plane, and rubber boots from Japan.

The day was a little chilly while the sun burnt exposed skin. 

My solution.

Sketching with water-colour pencil crayons and sea water.

Circumnavigation: Things To Do When Not Actually Sailing

Sketching in Roller Bay, Hope Island

Roller Bay, so named because the round stones roll in and out with the waves making such a distinctive noise.

Picking up debris on what should have been a pristine beach. I collected a bag of stuff to incorporate in a work about the world's plastic garbage issue.

And there was always knitting when not required by the skipper to pull my weight.

Vancouver Island Circumnavigation - What I did this Summer

This summer Ron and I went on a big expedition. We explored the island we live on.  Travelling on our sailboat we took a month to circumnavigate Vancouver  Island.

We saw many beautiful sights including much wildlife: orcas, dolphins, sea lions, whales, sea otters, seals, bears, and birds - none of which I was able to capture adequately with  my point 'n' shoot camera.

I got lots of knitting time in. I read most of the books I stowed on board.

I did lots of quick sketches to make me really see what I was looking at.

My sketchbook is full of inspiration and ideas for future works which will keep me busy in my studio over winter.

Studio Construction: Fixtures and Fittings

The hot water tank is installed in the crawlspace below the tub. This energy efficient placement means little heat is lost between the hot water tank and where I need the hot water.

South Shore Cabinetry made and installed the cabinets and some of the furniture.

Here are my drawing and design desk areas...

...backed by a bookcase.

The print table gets its wheels.

These drawers...

...go into both sides of the dye station.

A shelf is made to support the double tub.

The tub is braced while the sealer cures.

The room is finally coming together and beginning to look like a studio. I am enjoying visualising how I will work at each of the stations.

Dorothy Caldwell's Human Marks Workshop

"An individual stroke is an utterance of touch." Dorothy Caldwell

 Dorothy is demonstrating the next Stroke Painting exercise. 

We taped various types of brushes onto long sticks. We dipped them into pots of different dilutions of black ink. With a large sheet of paper on the ground in front of each of us, we were instructed to use our whole body to make the mark on the paper. After we had filled the paper we flipped it and continued making marks but this time very slowly and deliberately. An added bonus was soft rain started to fall adding texture to our marks.

We hung our marks in the breezeway of Gloria's studio. We studied the layers of marks when the papers were more transparent with the light showing through them.

We spent the rest of the day making marks by piercing with a large nail, burning holes with an incense stick, burning edges with a candle, and adding smoke and wax to paper.

Next morning we learned about the history of Kantha embroidery. We then began to make our own Kantha marks on fabric.

This is the result of a group exercise where we all stitched blindfolded, responding to words Dorothy gave us to meditate on.

All of these exercises have helped us to feel centred and focused on what we are doing.