My Year at NBCCD

Second semester is finished but one of the last assignments is (was) to present a short summery of the 1st & 2nd semesters. I came to the NBCCD with a very good back ground in Stitched Textiles and have been promoting myself as a professional Fiber Artist for the last 7 + years.
  

I work with  a variety of mediums  focusing on the fine detail of my art.


 But I was looking for more or I should say a a better way to improve my studio practise.

In the fall I had already started to work on the research for my next study/ body of work which is based on the shoreline of the Bay of Fundy

 The collection of hundreds of photos on the subject can be overwhelming

 I have been keeping study journals for over 10 years and it is no different with this work. The journals are rough and not meant to be viewed by anyone but me. I shove everything in them with samples of fiber, sketches, ideas and photos. I keep it all and ecpect something to click after months of brainstorming. This is were I go at 3 in the morning when I am sure I have the perfect idea.

Not knowing or fulling understanding how NBCCD operated I enrolled in a few elictive classes.
Surface Design on Paper was a good referasher from C&G days. It is always fun to play with pattern but it wasn't what I was looking for.

2 D Design was also a good refresher .


 I also enrolled in Drawing from Observation. I had some basic understanding of drawing but really not very good. By the end of 1st semester I was able to draw what I think are decent looking eggs.


 Another 1st semester class was 3D in fiber construction which was a little different for me. I was able to fall back on some old habits of pulling out the synthetics and heat gun to produce an interesting piece


 My Pod of pods was inspired by a bouquet of flowers and there is no stitching in it. I did learn how to random weave which I'm sure I will use at a later date.


 The other project in 3D was to upholster a chair which I had never done before. I decide to work on an old deck chair that I have had for years and it was in really rough shape. The first thing to do was to strip it from all the old material and start from beginning .


 My theme was Fundy mud and the chair is covered in hand dye silk organza with pods  & groupings of other hand dyed silks. The most interesting thing about the chair is all the silk was dyed with one acid dye called Chestnut. Each different silk was picking up a different colour from with in the dye.
 Very "one of a kind"!.



 In 2nd semester I continued Drawing from Observation and even though I have yet to master the techniques I feel I have improved.


 In 2nd semester I had time to work on my Fundy study which is what my Independent Study and Graduate Exhibit is based on . I decided to try screen printing ,some thing I have only done briefly and not overly excited about at this time.


 I have always liked dying my fibers and I tried  a bit of natural dyeing with onions. I loved the results!
I have started a dye journal just in case I want to repeat some of the recipes in the future.
cotton, merino wool, silk

 Also in 2nd semester I enrolled in an advance felting class. I had very little experience with felt so it was really all very new to me. But I sampled -alot-. I worked with a very fine wool called Merino which from what I have read is the finest and easiest to felt.


 Nearly all of my samples were made from my hand dyed rovings using acid dyes and for the final project I decide to work with Turquoise and Grasshopper green.


 The colours work well for the hat and tunic that was inspired by a Peacock Feather


 The challenge for this piece , was for me not to stitch ( embroidery) it. The felted balls,the elastic casement on the inside of the sleeves , the sleeves and the decorating ringson the sleeves were the only hand stitching. The panel on the front to fasten the tunic was a bit of free motion machine embroidery.

Next up 3rd Semester which I should blog after June 17th which is the Graduating Exhibit and where I will be implementing  many of the new techniques that I have learned.

The Grad Piece
The Statement - For the beginnings of a new body of work, I wanted to play with the recently learned technique of wet felting. The combination of wool, water, and friction was perfect for my fascination with the colour and textures of the Fundy Shoreline. My goal is to capture the spectrum of muddy shores, the essences of coarse barnacles, and the illusion of distorting winds on the bay. Keeping the fun in Fundy, I experimented with photos and a variety of felting and dyeing techniques to push myself to a different level of expression.

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