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Kalopsia Collective: It Is A Process

kalopsiacollective:

Contemporary Textiles is one of the most thrilling and innovative art forms there is around. How could it not be? There is so much scope within the Textiles industry for the wonderful amount of new and exciting revolutions going on within it. From fabrics made with unorthodox materials, and patterns made from systems; to Textiles films and live performances, this subject has been around for centuries and is now becoming even bigger and more adventurous in the ‘Art’ industry.

Historically Textiles is a traditional craft, and is usually stereotyped as garments, cushions or curtains. Nowadays that is not the case. Industry professionals and Textiles artists are realising the true potential of their skills and knowledge of this ‘craft’, using them to push the boundaries and invent all sorts of interesting and note-worthy Contemporary Textiles. Unfortunately, this type of Textiles is still up and coming and the public are yet to truly realise this new movement within the world of Textiles. They do not fully understand the “new” approach to the subject and therefore cannot see the immense opportunities this wonderful field has opened up.

Often, it is the final outcomes that are the things that are seen most as Textiles. The wall paper in your home, the garments you are wearing, the seats on the bus. Why only the outcomes? Where have they come from? What about the dedicated hours of drawing, designing, the experimental prototypes it took to create them - are they not all Textiles too? Textiles is a process and that process is no less important, or less Textiles than that of the final ‘products’.

Yes the final outcomes are Textiles, but this wonderful term ‘Contemporary Textiles’ also takes the process into account when describing the discipline.

If something is created with the intention of becoming a “Textiles” item such as a garment or fabric etc, but does not become a physical outcome, the developmental stages can surely be counted as Textiles as well. That is where my mind is set in this vast subject of Textiles/Contemporary Textiles. I have always worked (sometimes subconsciously) to produce something that is traditionally considered Textiles – garments, designs, textured patterns. However, my work stops just before the point of becoming an actuality. That is not to say I don’t create physical work, or give up at the last hurdle. I feel that my work does not need to finish at the stage which the audience would expect. I create drawings, which yes, could become designs for a commercial object- a dress perhaps - but for me the drawing itself is a piece of Textiles art.

Textiles starts with drawing you cannot produce pieces or develop your ideas without a drawing. Creating interesting marks, shapes or patterns all begin with that initial ‘drawing’. Whether it is in the traditional sense of a realistic image or that of the less traditional mark-making, your ideas develop and creativity soars when you draw. Allowing your right brain to take over and push your creative potential to its maximum, there is no saying what you might create or invent.

I think with the intentions of a Textiles creator and produce work with that thought process too.

This Textiles Process is what is important to me and with the intention to change the publics’ view of What Textiles Is, I aim to show them the process in live performances, or filmed performances of drawing and creating Textiles. For me, these performances and films automatically become Textiles pieces – they are showing the audience where it can begin and questions their view to what they think is Textiles.  In my mind everything I do is Textiles. It will always be Textiles.

  

1 week ago - 2