Summative Reflection Statement

When I look back over the past few months and completing the exposure module of my third year I have very mixed emotions going through the whole process from the beginning to the end. I wanted to make my final major project about something that I am very passionate about, the environment and all it’s living creatures. The recent bushfires have been something that has devastated not just Australia but the hearts of everyone around and with me. Steve Irwin has always been my hero and inspiration, so I wanted to take this time to give something back and raise awareness for the bushfires and how we need to look at our own lifestyle, business and industry and see what they can possible change to be more environmentally friendly to help the rise of climate change. I wanted to look closes at my own practice and how I could change the way I work to become more environmentally friendly.

I have been so shocked through this process to find out how many chemicals are used in the textiles industry to dye, bleach and treat our clothes and to find that a lot of these chemicals are not disposed of properly. I have discovered natural dyeing and eco dyeing which has become a big influence in my recent work and is something that I want to be able to develop and carry on with in the future. I also decided for this project that all the fabrics I would use will be eco dye, naturally dyed or found fabrics.

The found fabrics have become a big part of my installation and have worked very well especially as most of the fabrics that I have gathered over the months mainly have floral patterns on them, this has been great as they link lovely with the scenery that Australia has in it’s forests and bush.

Over this time research and sketching for this project I have discovered that I really love the use of charcoal so much that I have created my own which I felt was very poignant with my brief being about the bushfires and that is what will be left once the fires stopped. I found it very easy to work with charcoal sometimes I did find it a little tricky. I have very much enjoyed getting to work with different media especially colour as this project has been full of a lot of different colours that I have been able to experiment with along the way.

I have also been able to get back in naturally dyeing more with this project experimenting with different dyestuff to create beautiful colours. During this project I have also been able to look at eco dyeing this has been a huge part of my installation especially with my second panel of my installation. By eco dyeing yellow onion skins I have been able to achieve a range of yellow tones that work great relating to the fire. These have become a huge part of my work and I have really enjoyed working with this type of dyeing. I feel it’s the range of colours you can achieve.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 I have felt like everything this year has been a little up in the air for me, not knowing what is going to happen next is the hardest part, especially with this being the final year of my journey through university. It felt a sad and upsetting to have to pack up my desk space in university and bring that all home with me knowing I will not being going back and this was it really.

The first week when the news broke out was the hardest, but that being said I sat and thought about it all and that this whole situation can take away my graduation ceremony and degree show but I have no intention of this taking away getting my degree or ruining my grade either. I motivated myself to get my work done. Each day I have wrote a list each morning to make sure that I accomplished everything that I wanted to do that day to make sure that I stayed on track. Even with the two week extension I made it my mission to be able to finished at the original deadline point.

One of the things that I was really determined to do was still create my installation piece I really didn’t want to spend all this time and hard work not to make my final piece. When I first started this I was very hopeful about everything. Then one by one there was a new issue after new issue. At times I did feel like giving up and changing my mind and doing some CAD visuals as this felt the easier way, but one by one I managed to overcome each issue and tackle it. The biggest issue I had was trying to get hold of three big panels. I was very stressed when I didn’t know how to get these from B&Q, then I found a way. Then B&Q said that these were not essential items so I wasn’t able to order them. Then lucky a local business had reopened and I managed to get them from there and bring them back to my apartment.

The installation build itself has felt very rewarding each day I have got up early and gone straight downstairs to start on each of my panels. I am very proud that each day I have motivated myself to get on with each day and know that I am achieving something. I didn’t want anything being taken away from my degree.

Once I had finished creating my installation piece it was very overwhelming to finally look at all my designing and idea in person infant of me. I am beyond happy that I have managed to complete my installation piece, but at the same time as feeling proud I also became very emotional that this was the only celebration I was going to have. I am still upset that we are not getting a proper celebration but I am very happy with my installation.

Just For Fun: Steve Irwin POP Vinyl

For a little fun I wanted to include my little POP Vinyl of Steve Irwin. Steve Irwin is one of the reasons I wanted to create an installation piece on the bushfires in Australia. He has been my hero since a young age and always wanted what was best for the environment and all it’d living creatures. I wanted to take the opportunity to use my practice to highlight issues that are important.

 

Final Outcome: Whole Piece

Here is the final outcome to my installation. It doesn’t feel real to be standing in front of it after all these months of coming up with my self set brief; researching into my theme; sketching my theme; experimenting and finally building the physical thing. i never imagine a few months ago that I would be creating my final major project in my back garden but here it is. After overcoming many obstacles and with everything that has happened with Covid-19 I feel even prouder that I have managed to still create my final piece with all of the stuff that has been happening. There has been a lot of scenarios that I thought I wouldn’t be able to overcome but one at a time I have tackled them. Then here is the final outcome and I could not be happier with the outcome, I could have never imagines that this would be possible a couple weeks ago. 

Final Outcome: Panel Three

I am very happy with how this panel has turned out. When designing this panel for my installation I wanted it to look like a newspaper. I didn’t want to over do it with too many words so I decided on these four main bullet points they are hard hitting, short and get straight to the point of what Australia has truly been faced with, it is so hard hitting and sad to see them statistics right in front of you.

Although I wanted to use nails to create the lettering of this panel but there were too many issues that this wasn’t possible, that being said I found an even better way by adding the lettering using paint instead. The wording look very professional just like you would see in a newspaper. When you see these it really makes you pause and think about what has happened.

Final Outcome: Panel Two

I am very happy with the outcome of the board. I feel I have added the right amount of samples to this board that it doesn’t look empty. There are less samples on this board to symbolise the animals that have been lost in the bushfires. It feels greats to finally look and see my design idea come off the paper into reality. It has had some improvements along the way  adding the thread to the inside of the tree and also having the idea to not completely complete this tree as so much of the forest and bush has also been destroyed not just the wildlife. I did spend more time to do each board.

Final Outcome: Board One

 

I am very happy with the outcome of the board. I feel I have added the right amount of samples to this board that it is not to overwhelming for the viewers that the loose interest as there is too much going off. There are more samples on this board to symbolise the animals that were in Australia before the bushfires happened.  It feels greats to finally look and see my design idea come off the paper into reality. It has had some improvements along the way and more time has been taken to do each board.

Sorting Samples On Boards

Once the boards were up I then focused on sorting out my samples on each of the boards and also the strands of yarn that is on the second board as these had moved and got tangled in the process of bringing the boards outside. 

I had already added most of the samples to my second board before we moved the boards outside. I just had to make sure all the yarn was hanging down properly like it was before and move some of the samples so they were facing the right way. 

I then  focused on the first panel as I had only added a couple of my samples before we brought the boards out to the garden. I gathered my remaining samples and prepared them for the boards. I used my pinking shears to create a decorative and professional look for these samples. I add a lot more samples to the first board to make sure that it symbolises the amount of animals there was in Australia compared to the second board when when the fires were happening. 

I created a couple of videos of my work now that the boards are all done and ready blowing in the wind. 

Construction Outside

Now that the weather is nicer outside I have taken the boards apart inside and began to move them outside into the natural light. This was a little awkward as the board are so big and it was hard to manoeuvre them out to the garden.

Once they were in the garden I propped them up agains the wall to make sure that I had them all outside before I started building them back together. We started attaching the third and second panel together again. It was a little harder to move the boards on the concrete and we had to be much more careful not to damage the boards on the concrete. Once the two boards were in position, we then began to screw the hinges back together. It was much easier than when we were screwing them in inside as the holes were already there and we just needed to line to hinge up with the holes.

Once the first two boards were hinged back together we then focused on attaching the first board back to the second board. This was also a lot easier than before once we had lined the boards up.

I am very happy that the boards are back together in the garden and I can start adding the last touches to them.

Construction Inside

I wanted to try and set up my installation inside by adding the hinges to the board inside so that when I move the boards outside the nail holes will already be here and it will make it easier to assemble the boards. I purchased a number of hinges to go into the boards on each side.

After looking at the board and measuring the hinge against it I have made the decision to use 5 hinges going down the side of the two panels. I made sure then that I had ten hinges for this. I made sure that when attaching each of the hinges that they were evenly spaced apart I did this for both lots of hinges.

I one the hinges were on panel one and panel three, I then began to level the third panel up to the second panel. This was very hard to do so as I wanted to make sure that they were level for when I open the installation up. I then screwed the other side of the hinge into the second board. This took a bit of time and was stressful at times also but the third and second board are now fixed together.

I then started looking at attaching the first and second board together. I then began to level the first panel up to the second panel.  I wanted to make sure that they were level for when I open the installation up. I then screwed the other side of the hinge into the second board. This took a bit of time and was stressful at times also but the third and second board are now fixed together.

Third Panel

For the third panel I wanted to look at using some bullet point statistics of some of the devastating numbers that we the human race have caused,

• 33 People have died from the bushfires.
• 18 Million hectarces of forest and bush has burned.
• 3,500 homes have been destroyed.
• 1 Billion animals have died from the bushfires

My first idea was to use the same method as the other two panels and put veneer pins and add thread to it. At first I thought this would be a good idea but I found three issues with this idea. The first is that I had lost so much time when doing the first two samples that I thought it would take me too long to complete this one, I just don’t want to run out of time creating the third panel. The second reason is that  I just don’t think I will get the same affect with this board doing the yarn to fill in the lettering, I want the wording to be bold and really make you think about the devastation. The last issue is that I am slowly running out of veneer pins and I don’t think I will be able to finishes the whole board with all the lettering. 

I am very happy with the result of this. I firstly used the projector to project the bullet points onto the board, I then used a pencil to sketch the wording onto the board. I then decided to use a gouache paint and paint the wording onto the board. This took me awhile as I used a smaller brush so that I was able to be more accurate. Once I had finished and stood back and had a look at my work I was very happy with how it looks. The wording looks like a newspaper which is the exact effect I wanted to go for.