Leeds Arts University Repository (CREST)
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446 research outputs found
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BEINGS
No full text‘BEINGS’ is a creative project comprising an exhibition and a published photobook.
Research process: In 'BEINGS', objects and environments are what they appear to be; a cheese pot, a ladder, a piece of laminate flooring, a road. However, they are also constituent parts of a larger whole, like the matter from which they are themselves made. Where these object-particles collide, they create something new that is without a particular purpose, but which takes on a new sculptural form. In this context of remixing the everyday, some subjects instead sit as-found. Sitting in the glow of their reconfigured counterparts, they are somehow altered by association. They have a sculptural potential radiating beyond their use-function.
Research insights: The project adds to the conversation about how photographic images speak about the sculptural nature of their subject, and in fact contribute to a transformation of 'things' into something that can be interpreted as sculptural objects. Objects come into being with an intended purpose; a reason to exist. This ‘stuff’ then sloshes around the everyday, like detritus: sometimes being useful (as intended); sometimes just being stuff. The area outside these two states is like a transformation, when an object or an environment can be seen as a separate entity from its particular function. Dissemination: The research was exhibited at Village bookstore, Leeds, 22 August – 4 September 2019, as part of Index Festival, a series of fringe events alongside Yorkshire Sculpture International. It was also disseminated via a photobook published by Salt n Pepper Press
Chew the fat: In style, out of fashion
No full textThe output is a design reflecting on the phrase “In Style, Out of Fashion” in response to a call-out for submissions from ‘Chew the Fat’, a charitable series of panel discussions exploring big topics in bite size chunks. It comprises two zero-waste fashion artefacts (bomber jacket and trousers) and an accompanying presentation. Research process: Sustainability is and will be an ever more important driver in everything we do as human beings. Sustainable practices and responsible fashion design are of increasing concern to the fashion industry and are being demanded more by the industry and wider public as a whole. This project aims to highlight the methodology that ‘Fashion’ has established to address this issue through the use of zero-waste garment design and construction, which itself derives from the close study, documentation and physical replication of historic zero-waste garments. The presentation and considered display of two contemporary zero-waste garments with their associated colour coded pattern key is intended to inform the viewer of zero-waste design/construction principles whilst educating the wider public as a whole.
Research insights: This public presentation of the designs has helped demystify the often cloudy creative process that fashion designers utilise in order to eliminate material wastage in clothing, through the use of clear visual language and logical display methods. In addition to this, attendees were also able to inspect and touch the fashion artefacts on display, providing another critical form of sensory communication and reflecting Bannister-Bailey’s practice-based research. Dissemination: The project was disseminated at ‘Chew the Fat: In Style, Out of Fashion’, Sheaf St, Leeds, 24 October 2019
Beyond the feminine: The politics of skin colour and gender in visual representations
No full text‘Beyond The Feminine: The Politics of Skin Colour and Gender in Visual Representations’ is a textbook tool kit, which looks at the normative constructions of race and gender in visual representations and the politics of the gaze and how contemporary image-makers can challenge these readings, through the production
and theorization of alternate images.
As a strategy, Lori uses one overarching case study: the black and white female dichotomy and their uneven distribution of power, afforded to how they are both seen to appear in visual representations on screen.
From the controversy that surrounded the blacking up of a mixed-heritage Latin-American actress Zoe Saldana in playing legendary dark- skinned Soul singer Nina Simone in Nina 2013, to the privileging of using light and white women over dark and black women in Black British music videos and the advertising of black women’s’ hair products, to a return to classic paintings such as Manet’s Olympia; this book encounters the historical trope head on and re-visions another narrative.
Through acts of appropriation, subversion and inversion and ultimately aiming to transcend these power dynamics related to the look, Lori as artist-researcher takes an interdisciplinary approach in offering up practical, visual strategies in encountering difference through the lens
Call it what you like. Art as words, spoken and heard.
No full textFeature article, responding to the event ‘New Writing with New Contemporaries’ at Leeds Art Gallery (9 Nov 2019). Via an exploration of performances by artists Jude Browning, Lucy Rose Cunningham, Freya Dooley, Malachy Harvey, Leo Hermitt and Ruby Lewis the article considers modes and motivations for the use of verbal language in contemporary art. Publication: Corridor8 [online
‘Their defining moments: narratives of critical incidents and key influences that prompted progression into post compulsory education in the arts’
No full textThe ontological position of this study focuses upon prevalent inequalities of access into post compulsory education. How individuals’ who may be experiencing multiple factors of disadvantage can surmount barriers that limit their upward social mobility. Access, participation and success through post compulsory education into secure employment is considered the solution. This thesis argues that it is necessary to consider how the home context, location, health, welfare and financial security of an individual and their family are highly influential factors. The literature review identifies key texts from a number of perspectives; including education, philosophy, psychology and sociology. The review of the canon of literature addresses the question whether education can, or cannot, compensate for society or achieve it in isolation of other agencies interventions. (Bernstein, 1970. Gorard, 2010. Coffield and Willliamson, 2011). The research question underpinned by the key literature subsequently becomes: ‘Can widening participation (WP) interventions begin to compensate for society and education?’ The research design is within the context of an Arts specialist institution. It provides a lens on progression into a subject that is experiencing systemic marginalisation within the curriculum. An interpretivist, dialectical and hermeneutical approach is taken. The case studies bring together authentic accounts of lived experiences. The hermeneutical analysis then occurs at several levels; the students’ own accounts, the researcher’s transcription and analysis of their stories and the reader’s interpretation on reading the research. The epistemological position taken is pragmatic, logical and rational; giving an interpretation of what is real, in the context of society, education and the arts. The research population are highly engaged students who have contributed high levels of studentship beyond their course, demonstrated by employment as Progression Student Ambassadors, Student Union activism or work experience through extra-curricular commissions. The narratives identify participants’ ‘critical incidences’, gathering personal stories of recalled experiences. The limitations of the study is its time constraints, the sample size and a single subject field, however the qualitative findings are transferable across the whole education field. Impact of this practitioner-research is occurring at many levels; personally, professionally, upon the WP team, the institution and informing a wider community of WP practitioners
A case study of collaborative practice: working to promote cross-curricular thinking and making within schools.
No full textWithin the changing landscape of secondary education, the role of making and creative thinking is increasingly marginalised within the curriculum. As a result, we are seeing an emerging skills shortage for those contemplating studying not just fashion and textiles or other creative disciplines but also courses that value the ability to work creatively and blend a mix of attributes at a higher level.
The case study outlined in this short paper, documents a project undertaken as part of the Crafts Council’s (2017) Make Your Future initiative which looks to partner schools, art teachers, makers and higher education institutes, with the aim of promoting craft and making to the next generation. The project saw Wadkin and Pratt collaborate with a selection of key stage 3 students across two schools, with the aim of encouraging greater take up of Textiles and Fashion as a GCSE subject, helping to develop essential skills for creative thinking and improving motor skills in relation to making. Drawing upon the textile heritage of the North of England, United Kingdom (UK), students developed contemporary fashion print outcomes that reinterpreted traditional woven textile techniques for the sportswear market. The focus was on improving hand skills through analogue design methods, while linking with technology, science and mathematical concepts to further cross-disciplinary thinking. In addition, key stage 3 students involved with the project were introduced to roles within textiles and fashion not currently explored within the curriculum. The project culminated in a collaborative exhibition at Leeds Arts University, celebrating the work produced across a number of institutes involved in similar projects across the region. As a result of this project, participants were given the opportunity to develop and explore competences required within the fashion and textile industries thus promoting the need for universities to work with schools in order to protect creative education, foster essential skills and inspire the next generation of designers and creative thinkers
The cul-de-sac in the forest: the supermodernity of Center Parcs
No full textThis co-authored text takes Center Parcs, Whinfell Forest, as a site through which to explore the multi-layered construction of ‘place.’ Marketing images, holiday photographs, maps, poetry, anecdotes and terms & conditions all impinge upon the lived experience of the holiday park. The article combines academic and creative approaches to writing to present a portrait of the site. Developed as part of Practising Place – an artist led research project by In Certain Places, at the University of Central Lancashir
The iconography of disruptive bodies: social media and medical identities
No full textAs an artist I examine how photographs discipline an individual’s relationship to her or his body and society. Working on the premise that the idealization of certain bodies has led to a reduced visual language of expression for the body, I explore ways of expanding this iconography. As a historical backdrop to this study, I discuss photographs created in La Salpêtrière hospital in the late-nineteenth century. During this time, the women who best performed the contorted shapes of hysteria were photographed for the Iconographie photographique de la Salpêtrière (Charcot). Film stars began to imitate the women in the photographs, and the gestures of hysteria transformed popular expressions of passion. In this chapter 1 examine the cyclical relationship between body ideals, online social networks and individual bodies by exploring the selfie’s potential for self-creation, performance and masquerade. Alongside the ‘healthy’ productive body I will consider illness as a form of unconscious protest, referring to hysteria and its contemporary counterparts, binge and restrict eating disorders. Using the Foucauldian notion of the disciplined body, I will theorize online social networks and selfies as potential sites for disruption of hegemonic body-image ideals
Traditional leather making
No full textThe output is a collection of artefacts comprising handmade leather accessories which explore traditional techniques, made from Vegetable Tanned leather. Research process: The focus of the research process was sourcing vegetable-tanned leathers and exploring traditional techniques and executing them to a high standard. Sourcing the leathers was mostly done online, contacting suppliers and tanneries directly and speaking to other leather-makers. By building up a library of vegetable-tanned leathers, Roe found suitable leathers for the artefacts. This included a matt grey leather which felt modern and relevant to the objects. Learning traditional techniques came from a combination of reading, connecting with leather-makers and observing the techniques to learn the process. A lot of experimenting took place to execute the techniques, such as the saddle stitching, well. Research insights: Learning traditional leather-making techniques and working with vegetable tanned leather to create modern artefacts has allowed Roe to have a thorough understanding of how craftsmanship can be applied to contemporary, everyday fashion apparel. The process of hand-making resulted in extremely high quality, long lasting pieces. There is a market for this in the current fashion climate where fast fashion is having such a
detrimental impact on the environment. The research also highlighted some of the challenges that crafters can face in modern society, such as: the time it takes to produce each item (for example the tote bag takes 18-19 hours to produce), the high costs of materials (vegetable tanned leather is 2.5-3 times more expensive than chrome dyed other leathers). Craftsmanship lends itself to small batch production, higher retail costs and a specific market. Dissemination: The artefacts were disseminated via social media and an online portfolio on www.zealous.com
Rethinking commercial textile design frameworks to align with biophilic theory.
No full textWith urban habitation becoming ever more prominent, nature can often seem a far away and unobtainable sanctuary. It is now widely accepted that connecting with the outside world is a valuable antidote to societal pressures and can assist in combating our compromised health and mental wellbeing; yet bringing awareness of this connection to a space seemingly devoid of nature can prove problematic.
Within interior textiles and wall coverings it is often the most literal interpretations that explore our connections with nature but what if the surfaces and objects within our interior spaces could also help to harness and awaken our connection to the outside world beyond the figurative? – What if textile and interior designers could introduce an experiential and heightened awareness into the objects we consume? This paper suggests ways in which this connection could be achieved. Exploring new ways of working with botanical prints and abstracted characteristics, this research looks to align existing
repeat pattern structures with nature based systems and develop a collection of design outcomes which promote the consumer to engage in a heightened awareness of the natural world