Drawing for Textile Applications
Daniel Heath, Loughborough University
This project aimed to set up a focussed program of drawing activities aimed specifically at students practicing in the Textiles specialism, with the intension of documenting and collecting examples that could be shared as part of an online learning resource, and a virtual archive that could be built upon year-on-year on the Loughborough University Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). We ran t...
What were the aims of your project?
To set up a focussed program of drawing activities aimed specifically at students practicing in the Textiles specialism, with the intension of documenting and collecting examples that could be shared as part of an online learning resource, and a virtual archive that could be built upon year-on-year on the Loughborough University Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
What did you do?
We ran the series of taught sessions designed to help students explore the many ways drawing could be used to within the discipline. The workshops were documented through video and photography and were directed as follows:
SESSION 1 - ‘Loosen the Hand’
This session is aimed at increasing the participant confidence with drawing. Some students may need a drawing ‘refresher’ - an opportunity to let loose with materials working out of the sketchbooks and onto a bigger, A1 format. Students work primarily with line and are asked to push the scale of their drawing through a number of timed drawing exercises.
SESSION 2 - ‘The Figure in Space’
In this session the focus is on composition. Lighting and backdrops are used to accentuate shadows, form and the positive and negative space around the model. Students are encouraged to think about where to position the form on the page. Students bring a sponge, fat brush or roller to block colour onto the page with confidence.
Figure 1
SESSION 3 - ‘Recording Texture’
Students bring clothes and props to this session - a dressing up box for the model. The focus of this session is texture and surface so students are asked to think about that when choosing items to bring. They could be fury, shiny, reflective, patterned or smooth, feathered, metallic, rough, natural or synthetic. Mark making tools and collage papers are brought to the session.
SESSION 4 - ‘Fashion Illustration’
This session focus is fashion illustration and students bring clothes and props for the model to wear. Students style the model in groups. This is an opportunity for students to select from the skills they have gained throughout the series and apply them.
SESSION 5 - ‘Installation & Composition’
Students are divided into small groups and given 1 hour to create an installation that they will be asked to draw. Students must consider the mixture of materials and surfaces, where the light falls, positive and negative space and the composition of the set-up. Students must bring interesting items to the workshop to combine.
SESSION 6 - ‘Multiples’
This session focuses primarily on drawing using the layering of media. Students build up an image using a combination of collage materials and line. Students bring items that you can build a structure from, so must think about multiples and how things can fit together.
The following Repeat workshop was taught in smaller groups using a detailed handout available and downloadable from the VLE as a PDF:
REPEAT
A step-by-step instructional video and hand-out that show the students how to create a repeat by hand in all-over, block and in half-drop structures/compositions. The recording also explained the distribution of imagery, translation of marks, layering and cut-through for application to silk-screen.
Figure 2
Figure 3
What have been the key outcomes of your project?
The key outcomes of the project are mainly to do with the way that students can receive and access information. Utilising the Virtual Learning Environment (Loughborough Learn) we have been able to upload more information than ever before - lectures are recorded using ‘Lecture Capture’ (an audio visual recording set-up now installed into some lecture theatres) and related internal funding (supported by the Fellowship) has been granted for devices that help us to interact with students through the VLE, such as tablet PCs.
How has it impacted on your teaching practice?
It has made me think about ways in which teaching practices can constantly be archived and readily available to students through formats with which they are familiar.
The VLE is used much more effectively within the department and across the School of the Arts. As an early career academic, it has enabled me to form a research narrative based around pedagogy and ‘e-learning’ that continues to grow.
How have students benefited, or how will students benefit from your project?
Students have benefited from this project this year, but cohorts will benefit incrementally year-on-year by gaining access to a growing catalogue of online videos, galleries, lectures and hand-outs that teaching staff can direct students to. The VLE resource will be wider, covering more diverse topics that limited budgets and workload models will not accommodate into the curriculum.
Students can benefit from the teachings of past lecturers and re-visit lectures in their own time and as many times as they wish. This access will be of particular benefit to students with disabilities or additional needs, which represents a high percentage of the students in the School of Art at 36.33%.
How can the wider art / design / media subject community benefit from your project? Are there processes, knowledge, resources that can be shared?
Potentially, the resource could be shared with national and international partners, broadening the archive and impact within the sector, though additional funding will need to be sourced in order for this to be achieved.
Any other information you’d like to share with the art, design and media subject community…
Our students and cohorts are nearly all online through various mobile devices and this means that reaching students with online content is of huge relevance and importance in all disciplines. Tumblr, Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook and Pinterest are used widely within the design industry and by students socially - I think it is important to consider how social media can be utilised as a tool for teaching or distributing information.
Contact information
Photos: Daniel Heath
Figure 1: Image taken in the styling workshop where students were asked to create a setting using a model, props and lighting, which they then drew.
Figure 2: Still from instructional video of live workshop about repeat design for textiles screen-printing.
Figure 3: Archive image taken of repeat example produced in live workshop. Several examples are given, this is of a block repeat drawn quickly by hand with cut-through.
Header image: section of photograph from a life drawing session.
Listing image: section from figure 3
