Thursday 27 December 2012

Pre-Raphaelite Reads

Ever the avid reader I am always striving to expand my library and seek out invaluable reading material with which to expand my knowledge. Books are certainly my favourite gifts to both give and receive, so I was overjoyed to receive two beautiful books for Christmas, both on the subject of my favourite art movement; The Pre-Raphaelites.

'Pre-Raphaelite Drawing' focuses around the lesser seen Pre-Raphaelite studies, which were the subject of the 2011 exhibition 'The Poetry of Drawing' at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. 'The Pre-Raphaelite Language of Flowers', is an utterly fantastic insight into the Pre-Raphaelites extensive use of floral symbolism. Having been engrossed in this specific subject for a number of years, it has had an immense impact upon both my design work and my personal art work, so a well researched observation of The Pre-Raphaelites use of the Language of Flowers is both a wonderful reference tool, and a joy to read!


Saturday 22 December 2012

Mimaki

During my Print Technician internship I have thoroughly enjoyed advancing my existing technical skills. One of the most rewarding aspects of my internship has been becoming a competent operator of the Mimaki TX2. I have enjoyed learning how to operate the Mimaki, change its inks, fabric/paper, perform general mantainance and set up, and use RIP software to create layplans. Printing students work and helping them to achieve their goals and their digital design dreams has been a very rewarding experience, and today on the final day of my internship I have had the opportunity to use my beloved Mimaki again to print my own design for the first time since completing my degree.

I would like to thank all of the technical staff, textiles students and Design lecturers at The University of Derby for making my 13 week internship a delightful experience! I have enjoyed working with you all immensely!



Friday 21 December 2012

Lord of the Flies

Of late I have been working on an utterly unique, one-off print called 'Lord of the Flies', which incorporates both my love of symbolism and nature (but in a very different manner to which they have been combined previously). This highly personal creation strongly reflects my interest in macabre, unusual art, design and literature. The design (created for a wall hanging) features various insects and beetles, all of which historically symbolize evil, the devil or disease radiating from the great, central 'Lord of the Flies'.