it seems to me that, when it comes to design, the victorian era is often overlooked. perhaps because it’s so ubiquitous - in the uk at least. huge swathes of our towns and cities were built in the 19th century, a quarter of us live in houses built before 1919. and if we don’t live in a victorian house, we’ve been accustomed to using victorian buildings all our lives, so much of our infrastructure - schools, hospitals, police stations, doctors’ surgeries, etc. - is housed in victorian buildings. victorian flourishes and flounces surround us; mouldings, coving, glorious decorative tiling that often survives on hallway floors or fireplaces; all are commonplace. and familiarity breeds contempt.

we only did away with the last of the surviving victorian interior aesthetic after the second world war, and not effectively like they did in the states. that dark wood furniture, those velvet curtains, those panelled doors, they lurked gloomily on for a long time. it’s stuffy, it’s fussy, it’s the antithesis of modern, and we all know how much we love modern. even those who dig old stuff tend to go for the atomic, the mid century, or simpler, rustic, country style. everyone (except perhaps the crazy quilter) neatly sidesteps victorian, it just isn’t cool.

i can’t say i’m any exception to the rule, but i do recognise that the more celebrated movements that grew out of the end of the victorian era - arts and crafts, art nouveau - had their roots well and truly in the victorian age. the modern was born out of the heart of the old fashioned. and i have a huge fondness for ceramic tiles, particularly victorian and islamic designs, which share a combination of botanical and geometric motifs, brought together with some kind of magic that must be specific to the medium (but to a degree is often echoed in textile design).

and i’ve already shared my love of browsing for original sources. so when i found a copy of f edward hulme’s suggestions in floral design (1878), a book that is apparently seminal in the development of art nouveau - most astonishingly - at a price that i could theoretically afford, how on earth could i resist?

i haven’t yet had a chance to read the text, i’ve been too distracted by the illustrations - crisp chromolithographs, many highlighted in gold. all astonishingly beautiful, and often surprisingly “modern”. sadly i don’t think i can afford to hold on to the book - i sank a chunk of my digital camera fund into the purchase, and i’m really aching to move on with that. so its stay with me will be temporary, but i’ve taken the chance to record all 52 plates while i have them, and put them into an inspirational flickr set. i’ll try to annotate the pics as i work my way through the text.

while it’s not the same as the stunning originals, the good news is that the illustrations at least are available in reprint under the title victorian floral designs in full color, although i don’t know whether the text is reproduced alongside them.

such beautiful designs couldn’t have been developed without a thorough understanding of the subject matter, and f edward hulme is probably best known today for his series of volumes illustrating familiar wild flowers, pages from which are readily available as prints. if you’re digging these as much as i am (heh, can you tell how much i dig them?) you might also be interested in christopher dresser’s studies in design, from the same era, available in reproduction.

Art, Design, and Visual Thinking: an interactive textbook. via inaminuteago.

honestly, this isn’t as o/t as it may at first appear. i was once (briefly) an archaeologist and have always found design inspiration in the ancient world. i was just reminded how drawn i am to the motifs on british celtic coins, in particular the horses. many of these coins were made in imitation of greek coins (the gold stater of philip II of macedon, in particular):

over time the designs evolved further and further from the original, becoming progresively more abstract:

you can still see the chariot wheel in both my examples. the cross/ear of corn type pattern on the obverse is derived from philip’s laurel wreath (and ears?).

i was searching for a book with plenty of illustrations to use as a design reference when i came across the ultimate resource; the celtic coin index online. there are thousands of images, you can browse by tribe and every image is accompanied by comprehensive information on its provenance, composition etc.

love it

i got a new book this week. well, new to me at least. crochet workshop by james walters. when someone as talented as helle jorgensen who makes such amazing stuff as this:

highly recommends a crochet book you have to sit up and take notice. i found one online for a very reasonable price (if you’re trying to track down an affordable copy don’t despair!) and snapped it up. i haven’t yet had a chance to settle down for a proper read, but i love that it gives you the real nitty-gritty knowledge that informs a real understanding of the structure of a crochet piece.

i love vintage craft books, i love having a less-well-known source of inspiration. that’s not saying that following a project word for word from a book no-one’s heard of has any greater merit than doing the same from stitch n bitch or knitty (and not knocking that, particularly as a way to pick up new skills, or as simple relaxation). but it offers an alternative aesthetic, as well as techniques that may have been overlooked by modern authors.

i was pretty excited when i heard via inaminuteago that a 1912 embroidery manual - embroidery and tapestry weaving by grace christie - had been added to the guttenberg project. and oh how disappointed i was when i realised that guttenberg doesn’t support illustrations. i mean how much use is that? i’m not a particularly visual learner, i like words (in case you hadn’t guessed :D), but really, an embroidery manual without pictures?

i’ve also been browsing the art&design books on ebay and have found a few crackers, though they’ll have to wait for payday. i feel that going back to original sources like this forces creativity - the work isn’t done for you, you have to translate your inspiration into whichever medium you’re working. it’s reawakened my interest in acquiring a more systematic art education rather than the bits i’ve picked up piecemeal over the years. i still have half a shelf-full of art history books on extended loan that haven’t been read and are due back soon, so i’m going to try to work my way through them. now i just have to stop myself falling asleep in the middle of the greek classical period…

my diy art school stuff has a permanent home now on these pages, accessible from a sidebar link just above the gallery. the bare bones structure is there but it still needs a fair bit of tidying up. i’ll keep posting details of updates, but keep the bulk of it out of the blog.

i’m currently much enjoying my texture studies, although i suspect i’m likely to flit around between things as my interest waxes and wanes (yay! for doing what the hell you like when you like). i’ve posted the second of my drawing on the right side of the brain “befores”, but i’ve rather stalled with that since the next exercise is to copy a drawing upside down that she suggests you take at least 40 minutes over. i just feel that if i’m to set that amount of time aside i can think of many more productive things i could do with it, kwim? i’d rather just sketch my lovely flowers before they die.

Johannes Itten 1888 - 1967

i’m really drawn to the vorkurs (the bauhaus preliminary course), what i know of it so far at least. fingers crossed i’m hoping to get hold of a couple of itten’s books.

ooh i found me a reference syllabus of sorts: Course Schedule - California College of the Arts. gives a decent overview of what bases should be covered.

and on a slight tangent, i’m working on a better way of organising all this d.i.y.a.s. stuff, since there are posts i want to expand on over time. i’m going to set up some pages with a more traditional website structure. when i have time.

i was taken by some texture studies in the bauhaus book and thought i’d try some of my own. i’ve been out gathering stuff today and took some pictures too. i found it surprisingly difficult to differentiate between texture and pattern and found this distinction helpful:

… pattern changes to texture as you loose sight of the individual motifs. This is easy to do with natural patterns, but you have to get quite far away from a checker board grid to see it as texture. Patterns are generally more noticeable than textures. This makes them a stronger visual element for controlling attention. art 104

the bauhaus textiles book is truly inspirational, so far i especially like gunta stolzl (full catalogue of the centenary retrospective Gunta Stölzl - Master at the Bauhaus Dessau - textiles, textile designs and free drawings 1915-1983) and benita otte’s work.

the bauhaus manifesto also appeals majorly:

Architects, painters, sculptors, we must all return to crafts! For there is no such thing as “professional art”. There is no essential difference between the artist and the craftsman. The artist is an exalted craftsman. By the grace of Heaven and in rare moments of inspiration which transcend the will, art may unconsciously blossom from the labour of his hand, but a base in handicrafts is essential to every artist. It is there that the original source of creativity lies.

resources:
bauhaus-archiv museum
bauhaus teachings: an overview of itten, kandinsky and klee’s theories of colour.

i’ll definitely be back to edit this post since i’ve only read the first chapter so far.

Christopher Richard Wynne Nevinson

and on the same subject an article on lucien freud and his women.

another new name for me: balthus

drawing on the right side of the brain was recommended to me, and i’ve just started to read it. there’s an awful lot of chat before she gets down to the meat, but i guess that’s trying to convince people who really don’t think they can draw.

i can draw - to a degree. i liked drawing at school and never found it anywhere near as hard as i did painting. i’m quite good at representational drawing, but i always find the resulting pictures rather bland. i’d like to be able to draw expressively and creatively.

i’m interested in what the author says about developing your understanding of line and space through drawing, and working your way up to colour work and painting. i think i got kinda half way through the change in perception she describes during my art classes at school, but not the full way, hence why i find painting so hard.

so here’s my “before” self portrait. it kinda looks like me, though madam didn’t recognise it was me until i took my glasses off she reckons it looks like me after i’ve had a shower cos i didn’t draw in all of my hair. my pencil kept breaking so i took that as a sign to finish, it took about 10 minutes. the features are all wonky cos i didn’t try particularly hard to get them in exactly the right places - mostly cos i didn’t have a rubber, so i didn’t want to draw guide lines. so the individual bits are quite a good representation, but their overall arrangement is all to pot. i could only find a 6b (though in general i prefer really soft pencils) so it’s a bit over-contrasty.

• cole, b. art of the western world: from ancient greece to post modernism (on amazon)
• coote, j. & shelton, a. anthropology, art and aesthetics (on publisher’s site)
• edwards, b. drawing on the right side of the brain (on amazon)
• gillow, j. world textiles: a visual guide to traditional techniques (on amazon)
• korsmeyer, c. gender and aesthetics (on amazon)
• preziosi, d. (ed) the art of art history: a critical anthology (on amazon)
• roberts, j. art has no history!: making and unmaking of modern art (on amazon)
• wortmann weltge, s. bauhaus textiles: women artists and the weaving workshop (on amazon)

i’ll put all my links here and keep updating as and when:

taught courses/syllabus ideas:
Practical Study Group textile artists and tutors
opus school of textile arts

self study resources:
designing britain: fabrics forming society
hand blockprinted textiles
three weavers
artist’s alphabet
common threads: unraveling the world of textiles
guggenheim arts curriculum online

reading lists:
pattern and textiles (historical)
designing britain: textiles

general resources:
arts and humanities data service
crafts study centre
art history resources on the web

collections:
The Textiles Collection: a teaching and learning resource
v&a
the textile museum (washington)
textile museum of canada

i went to london yesterday and realised that a day trip isn’t as arduous or expensive as i would have imagined. i have definite plans for a v&a trip some time soon, and that idea has nudged me towards thinking about some form of guided study.

i’m a sucker for courses, but in the past my interests have burned out quite quickly. the textile thing is something that has been with me intermittently throughout my life. i still vividly remember a textile class we had at school when i was 11 that i absolutely adored (and shone in). i’ve done random pieces of needle work since childhood and i definitely find it meditative and soothing to work something repetitive, particularly at difficult times.

i think working in a group setting would be beneficial to me (another kick in the pants to join the s’n'b) and i would also dearly love to exercise my academic inclinations again. but i don’t think that it’s physically or financially possible for me to enter some kind of undergrad programme at the moment, i’m not sure whether i really want to, and they wouldn’t let me in anyhow cos i have no foundation course. which leaves me the option of making up my own.

i’ve worked in arts education - damnit i’ve written a sub-undergrad syllabus in the past - so it’ll be an interesting exercise to see whether i can come up with something similar for myself, a kind of hotch-potch of locally-accessible short courses and self-guided study, reading (yay! for access to university staff loans ), field trips, online research and discussion.

i think this could be a good way to test the water before thinking seriously about some larger commitment to a formal course.

i think part of me is worried that if i delve too deeply into things i might get the same kind of burn-out of interest i had in previous areas i’ve studied in depth (archaeology and psychology), but then i think that perhaps i could actually draw on those other interests and bring them into my textile work.

it’s funny, yesterday (at the tate modern) i was saying that i find conceptual art unappealing, that i have no interest in the ideas behind things, it’s the immediate aesthetic or emotional impact a work has on me that matters. but i think i’m finding as i continue with the textile work i’m unsatisfied with the pure craft aspect, the physical construction and development of technique - although i realise i have many many years of that to come beore i can call myself a true crafts person - i need to explore the ideas and the history. i desperately want to create original work, but i don’t have the framework of understanding to do that.

and i’m thinking again about “art” something i’ve kind of sidled alongside for much of my life while refusing to embrace it and often despising and decrying it. but those thoughts are still so half-baked i can’t put them into words.

soooo, i think this leaves me with a plan: to define my area of interest and narrow down what i actually want to learn; to research what might be available to me locally in the way of courses or opportunities to work alongside or in collaboration with others; to research places of interest i could visit; to write myself a reading list; to explore the work of textile artists/crafters; to find if there are any self-study resources available to me; to surf the web a lot finding random (but related!) stuff

cool, that should keep me busy.