This project has asked us to focus on the National Trust, and work towards either a design/product for the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair or an item for the Gift Shops.
At first I was keen to carry on my Children's theme from the last two projects, and work towards a print design to feature in the National Trust gift shops. I also thought first of all that I could create a print to re-invent the Gift Shops- bringing something abstract and contemporary to them.
After some very initial thinking and research via the National Trust Collections online, I found it difficult to find children's-themed items which had inspiring forms and graphics.
Over Easter and during the Dunham Massey and East Riddlesden House trip, I noticed kitchenware objects had the most inspiring forms, in my opinion, and began to use different techniques to draw them -
I also found objects such as candle holders, and banisters inspired me when using blind drawing and thinking about structures. However, at this point I was aware that only focusing upon form of objects wasn't helping colour work or contextual research, and was quite lost to say the least.
Paul Scott, an artist from Cumbria, combines fine art, craft and design to create his individual ceramics. He visited the university to talk about his work, and I was very inspired by his works.
Using a traditional Chinese ceramics design, he uses political and current affairs to spark his "Cumbrian Blues" collection, such as the Foot and Mouth disease, the Morecambe Cockle-pickers tragedy, and the Sellafield factory settings to name a few.
I like the blue and white colour theme as it is very traditional, and is featured throughout the houses (in their more traditional designs), as well as the gift shops.
After this, I tried to find other colour inspiration from my visual research I collected from the visits, mainly from the gardens (i.e trees; flowers; chickens; deer)
Unfortunately, I felt very uninspired from the colours in the gardens, as I didn't feel I could bring something new to the Gift Shop collections with the neutral colours I found from the unblossomed gardens.
Looking through my visual research, however, I noticed forms and structures within the gardens, taking advantage of the unblossomed and bare trees, and the forms of the plants in the orangery at Dunham Massey. Since I was at a stage of experimentation, I began to draw from these inspirations, too.
I really enjoyed using different media, techniques and these pieces to inform my sketchbook work. I also began to use blues to inform my colour work.
Contextual research is important also, and after visiting Dunham Massey and East Riddlesden House and their gift shops, I would like to think about creating a print for a mini collection, such as aprons, tea cosy's, and oven gloves.
These aprons are from a National Trust gift collection and are an example of homely, humble prints which really suit the Trust's Gift shop feel of products, as well as an example of a Toile De Joux blue and white print. Because I don't feel my work fits in to the feel of the Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair, I want to design or create prints very suitable for the Gift Shops, however featuring exciting new ideas and designs.
My theme for my project, will be the Maid's Quarters. A view of the house from the Maid's perspective for example, the kitchen (i.e pots and pans, jugs), view of the gardens from the windows and the yard.
