I received some feedback from Abby Grewcock today about my work which you can see above. I really appreciate her feedback, I only wished that I contacted her sooner as what she has suggested could have really helped me to enhance my work. She is a really great artist and I am really pleased that I had the opportunity to chat to her about my work.

Since this Angela McRobbie has stated that there is a re-traditionalisation of women, where old traditions such as baking and sewing are popular rather this time it is something that has not been forced upon women as a tradition but accepted as a pleasure. Dr Rachel Moseley describes the participants within the BBC’s shows as ‘conservative, post-feminist nostalgia for a pre-feminist past’ ^[2].

I have accepted this new reflexivity which reflects my position and this is strongly represented in my work. I have also mixed the art of baking with fashion which is a personal expression, Linda Scott’s Fresh Lipstick shows that this is a part of the second wave of feminism; which enforces that fashion is not an indication of submission and we should not be prevented from being free by the reduction of fashion to sexually objectifying others ^[5]. These two messages do contradict each other but by merging them shows that women can still be strong and driven in whatever they choose to do. It is the tension inherent in these two contradictory states that my work addresses.
The genus of which was research around Pro-Ana communities and the images that they use for inspiration, or in their terms ‘Thinspiration’. This led me to my secondary research of Debra Ferreday’s Unspeakable Bodies research paper ^[3], within it she claims that by Pro-Ana’s suggesting their bodies are the same as the models, they imply that the Pro-Ana community are able to reach out and claim the models as members.

At this point I trialled a thought experiment: I would develop three ‘characters’ – a young female around the age of 10, an older teenage female and a young male. These three “avatars” would then populate Pro-Ana environments online, seeking and taking advice, with visible results manifesting on the avatar’s appearance (each avatar being a composite of several people). I came across fashion illustrations whilst working this through and trying to understand how I could respond creatively to these issues as a maker which has dominated the evolution of the project.

To enable me to resolve the tensions that I found in the traditional approach to researching a highly emotive and contentious issue; by working this project through as a maker I have come to understand that Pro-Ana’s project themselves onto models the same way that illustrators project themselves onto their work. I now see that fashion illustrators creatively purge themselves into their work the same way that Pro-Ana’s harm themselves to show dedication to their cause – all in the name of fashion.

References

^[1] Queen of florals Cath Kidston bucks the recession to profit from love of nostalgia | Life and style | The Guardian . 2009. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2009/aug/09/cath-kidston-recession-floral-empire.

^[2] THE GREAT BRITISH SEWING BEE: WATCHING SEWING ON TELEVISION by Rachel Moseley. 2013 [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.cstonline.tv/great-british-sewing.

^[3] Ferreday, D, 2003. Erasure, embodiment and the pro-ana community. Unspeakable bodies, 6(3): 277–295, 3-17.).

^[4] McRobbie, A, 1991. Feminism and Youth Culture

^[5] Scott, L, 2006. Fresh Lipstick: Redressing Fashion and Feminism. 1st ed: Palgrave Macmillan

Overall I am happy with my final pieces – although I wish that I hadn’t over researched this project. Due to the fact that I am not an illustrator and I didn’t know much about the art form, I did so much research that it blurred the vision that I had at the beginning of this project – so that when I came to sit down and actually produce something I couldn’t think of a good idea. What I should have done is actually sketch and take it back to the basics and then work from there – I did do this to a certain extent but I think that I should have done a lot more. I also think that I didn’t know what theme to go for with my work – most people have a social theme or an underlying message and I was unsure which road to take with this; as at the beginning of this project I was focused on creating something that looked at the issues of body issues and pro-anorexia – I feel that because I was affected and felt really down about the whole pro-ana project that I wanted to do something more upbeat and happy. Although through my journey of this project I did eventually learn that when an illustrator or and artist creates something, it is something that appeals to them and it has things that they like (unless they have been briefed to do something but even then it has their style) – I have been trying to find my style for the last three years at university and for some reason I had totally forgot about it when I started to actually create this work. I think when I caught onto this it was a little bit too late in the project and I had to go with the idea that I had and try and make it reflect me and by then I wanted to do more but feared that I wouldn’t have time to print them.

I thought the timings that I set myself for research, actually producing the images and for printing were on target and I met all of those dates. Although I did finish my work and gave more than enough time for them to get printed as I wasn’t confident enough that they would be done in time as my university isn’t the only university that is going to be having their degree shows this month, so I felt that I had to leave more than enough time than usual. Also because I was printing them on a different paper I felt if something went wrong with them I would still have enough time to get them reprinted. Due to me having them completed so quickly I felt that I didn’t give myself enough time to show others my work so that it could improve and now that I have had a lot of waiting time I kept thinking about my work and wanted to add other things that I have thought about over time to them. So I feel that I shouldn’t feel pressured to get the images out as quickly as possible – if they were too late to be printed I could have presented them in another way. However since I put them in the frames they do look good and I am happy with the frames that I chose and the overall look.

I think that the images on there own are not strong enough, but in the environment that I have created for them within the set up I think that they bring them to life more – this is also something that I have always wanted to do and I knew from the beginning that I wouldn’t have just created a couple of photographs and just hang them because that is not me. I like that I have actually created something, I think that the only problem with this is that the audience will be passive, so looking at them at first it may not be obvious that I have hand painted all of them and also drew certain elements onto them. I think that is why doing a sketchbook of my blog to show the progression and inspirations for the images so that it makes it easier for people to deconstruct the images. Looking back I also wished that I recorded the process that I went through and then it would be a good element to add to the website or have a little link so people could watch on their phones – then the whole experience would have been interactive.

I think that my images are very fun and the fact that they are so bright it will bring people over to them, but I am unsure if they will take them seriously as a piece of art? This is not a concerning issue for me as I do want people to enjoy the experience more then anything.

The thing that was most unexpected in this project was the progression of the whole ‘experience’ and how that became the forefront for this project. I am more than happy with the overall look of this project and hope in reality when it is put up in the gallery it will have the same affect it does just in an image right now. I think it is something different and people will be intrigued with it. This is something that I have always wanted to do and I am glad that I did it in my final project, because it is like my projects have slowly evolved over the past three years and this is the pièce de résistance. I like the fact that I was able to pull knowledge from my hobby of baking, being an avid follower of food blogs and just being a re-traditionalised woman, and create something that is different and not well known to others – it feels like I am helping to re-invent something that once was traditional.

I am really looking forward to bringing everything together for the final exhibition and seeing it come to life. I also think that this is a project that I can develop and fit the series into a niche market, for example the pop surrealism movement. It would be good to get feedback from people at the exhibition but to also put them in circulation within a market where I think they would do well. For example the food bloggers or Pinterest as this audience enjoy artwork like this and receives inspiration for their own work, whether that would be a craft project, interior design or even a party – it is amazing where they retrieve their inspiration from. I also think they would be good to use commercially within a unique bakery or website, as trademarks or mascots for a window display/campaign.

I have learnt a lot from this project, either about myself or the way I work. There defiantly needs to be some tweaks in the future, but I think the main thing is not to fear what others think about my work, I have to create what I want to create and not worry if people enjoy it or not because there is a group of people out there who will – they may not be in my university, family or friends but out there is someone who will appreciate it. Don’t be hard on myself – go hard or go home.

We are in business! I have my ice cream sign and it looks amazing! I was a little bit worried as I remember Greg (the man who is helping us set up the gallery) that we couldn’t put anything that needs a plug into the gallery unless it is pack tested. The reason I was worried was because I was unsure how long this would take to be done, he told me to bring it in to him and that he would sort it for me. When I gave it him it took all of 5 minutes to be pack tested which I thought was amazing – job done and it is now ready to be put up in the gallery.

I think that cutting my images to fit my circle frames was one of the most nerve wrecking thing I have ever done! I did actually try and get others to cut the whilst I held the glass for them to cut around but everyone in my household declined – they said they didn’t want to feel my wrath if they didn’t do it right. Which I can understand but it didn’t help me and my shaky hand! Luckily everything went fine and the images fit perfectly into the frames and I have to say they look even better with the frames! It really makes the pop and brings them to life. I am really glad that I chose these frames instead of just going for standard square ones, also I think that spraying them was the best idea too. Here’s a little sneaky peek of one of my finals below.

The order of the sketchbook will be as following:

• Proposal
• Mood board of research (Artists)
• Screen Printing mood board
• Mood board of looks (make-up & fashion)
• Ideas
• Process – Images I started out with/changed mind
• Mood board of ice cream parlour – things that inspire me
• Continued process – Show stripped down versions before and after colour etc.
• Printing finals
• Paper I had them printed onto
• Cut offs when putting them into frames
• Contextualisation

Basically this sketchbook is going to be a physical version of my blog – no new information just the important posts that help to show my working. It is going to be a handmade book, a skill that I learnt within my second year at university.

I found some fab material to cover the front and back cover (above) – I like the retro style of the fabric and I think it matches my theme.

I have also purchased some paper that has a sort of grain to it – I thought this would be nice and easy as all of the pages are the same size and I can print right onto them.

At the beginning of this project I was introduced to the work of Abby Grewcock a London based costume designer. Her works are wonderful and I like the bright colours that she uses. I can see a difference between her work compared to fashion illustrations within her work there is more emotion within the fabric and colours – because obviously they are meant to convey something whilst on show. Where as fashion illustrations fit more into a trend and the emotion reflects that trend – for example grunge the models are usually really lanky and thin, with a sabre look upon their face. You can see the movement within Grewcock’s illustration and I really like that. I am going to contact her to see what her take on fashion illustrations are (as I think you have to put your own personality into them to make them look different, like a part of you are portrayed into the illustration). Also I would love feedback on my own work – even though I am not an illustration I think you can look at them as an art piece just like Grewcock’s work.