Art 438: AATCC Project

Geometric Waters FINAL

This is my textile design project for the AATCC.

Art 438: Print designs on garments

louboutinplaid

plaidsuit

stripecardigan

Today we learned how to put prints on top of white garments/greige goods. It was a nice reminder of how much work goes into putting print designs on garments digitally.

Art 438: Floral designs

flower1

Untitled-3

These were the flower designs made for Art 438 today.

438 Class blog

Today I taught a lesson out of the book. We made floral images and used them to layer them to create an image of a larger and more detailed floral design. It was nice to review how to use the pen tool and the rotate tool.

Art 438: William Morris Report

William Morris Report

Andrew Simmons

Art 438

Textile Designer Report:

William Morris

Textile Designer: William Morris

William Morris was a famous textile designer who’s designs still live on in modern times. This specific textile designer was a man who’s ideas towards textiles greatly influenced how people of the time would wish to have the inside of their homes decorated. He was a textile designer who was heavily influenced by nature and natural surroundings. William was a fascinating man who brought his character into his textile designs, as well as the other forms of art he developed.

Born on the 24th of March, in 1834, William Morris started life in the town of Clay Hill, Walthamstow. The estate he was born in was referred to as Elm House, which was his father’s suburban residence. Shortly after William Morris was born, the family moved to another residence. This residence was called Woodford Hall. This area neighbored a Forrest and this would be where the heavy influence from nature would be absorbed by Morris, and would later be seen in his works of art, especially his textiles. As a young boy, Morris had the best of educations. He was privately tutored at one point, and went on to Exeter College, Oxford in the Summer of 1852. This would be where Morris met Edward Burne-Jones. The two would become inseperable for life. Jones would come from a middle class working family and have a very different view on life and art, and this would fascinate Morris.

After getting married, Morris would have more free time to focus on two passions that went hand in hand: building and decorating his own home, as well as starting a team of decorators who also happened to be artists. He considered decoration to be an artform, down to the very last detail. This led to the creation of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, & Company, the dream firm of artistic decorators he had planned. “Rossetti, Burne-Jones, Madox Brown, and Webb were Morris”s partners in the firm, together with C. J. Faulkner and P. P. Marshall, the former of whom was a member of the Oxford Brotherhood, and the latter a friend of Brown and Rossetti”(Mackail, sec.6). This firm would make many works of art including glassware, painted windows, and of course, the main works of art being made from printing on textiles. These items included printed wallpaper, knotted rugs with prints, printed woven cotton textiles, and pieces of furniture with print details. Their first exhibition as a designer decor firm was in 1862, and the success was so tremendous that the firm began to attract some very large business. Shortly after the rise in success, Morris became so ill that he had to choose between living in his own home and working in his firm that he began living in London where his firm was. In 1870 the firm began to make manuscripts. These manuscripts were made by printing on vellum and paper. This would be a very interesting way to offer decor, as most of the prints in the firms collections were that of nature inspired shapes and settings, instead of manuscripts.

William Morris would base his artworks, prints, and poetry on phases that he went through. At one point, he visited Iceland. The natural surroundings greatly influenced his work at this time, and some colors and shapes in these prints are inspired by his trip to Iceland. Another phase that Morris went through is based on his experience of writing his poem “Sigurd”. “During the period of the composition of “Sigurd the Volsung’ Morris had taken up, with his customary vehement thoroughness, the practical art of dyeing as a necessary adjunct of his manufacturing business” (Mackail, sec. 8). This would influence all of his printed works of art. He frequently visited the Staffordshire dye works. It was here that he really focused on mastering either reviving old methods of dyeing, or coming up with brand new methods of dyeing. One method he used was reinstating indigo dye use in his prints. Another method he revived during this time was vegetable dye use. The use of vegetable dyes had long since vanished because of the implementation of anilines when making dyes. Vegetable dyes were an older practice and different, which went right along with the phase Morris was going through. This obsession with dyes would be short lived. “Dyeing of wools, silks, and cottons was the necessary preliminary to what he had much at heart, the production of woven and printed stuff”s of the highest excellence ; and the period (1875-6) of incessant work at the dye-vat was followed by a period during which (1877-8) he was absorbed in the production of textiles, and more especially in the revival of carpet-weaving as a fine art. Amid these manifold labours he was also taking more and more part in public affairs.” This new interest in the production of textiles and textile goods would result in beautiful textiles. He was involved in great deal in the production of his textile goods. This of course could be comparable to his decor passion and being involved down to the last detail.

Business was becoming so abundant and very busy that the original workspace became way too small. The firm was moved to a new location, this time, to a sale room near Wimbledon, in the West End area of London. Works of art would be produced here now. And with a new work space in a much busier area, business was booming for the firm. The firm continued its practice of selling textile goods and furniture. The print designs were genious. Morris took pride in the designs. “His genius as a pattern-designer is allowed by all qualified judges to have been unequalled. This, if anything, he himself regarded as his specific profession; it was under the designation of “designer” that he enrolled himself in the socialist ranks and claimed a position as one of the working class” (Mackail, sec. 19). This was kind of comical, considering Morris’ background and how affluent his family was. He never had to truly struggle as a child, although, as a businessman, naturally hardships happened with the ups and downs of involving other parties in the production and sales of his work.

His textiles were very much so busy. The busier the better in some aspects. The toile effect of some of his monochromatic pieces is not boring because of this business within the print design. An example of this is from his early work, a textile print called “Brother Rabbit Chintz”. It was made in 1882. A year later, a more lively and colorful print was made. This one called “Strawberry Thief”. Of course, this refers to the birds who would steal strawberries in the fields he saw. The detailing in the birds is uncanny. The layers of feathers look very realistic. The red in some birds is contrasted by the blue birds above or below them. The blue birds have very light orange specks in the body of the bird and this creates some really fantastic contrast in the print.  Instead of having green leaves at the top of the strawberries, the leaves are blue, and the green is reserved for the larger leaf portions of the print that are in between each row of mirrored birds. It creates some really interesting contrast between the muted blues and bold green in the print.

Overall, a naturalistic feel and a nod to the things of the past, and a longing to lead the way for the future, William Morris is one of the most influential textile designers in history. His passion for being a part of the process in all ways and his love of decoration caused him to congregate some of the most visually artistic minds and create a design firm that would influence not just the textile industry, but the furniture, home décor, wallpaper, and even apparel industries.

Works Cited

Mackail, J.W. “The William Morris Society U.S.” The William Morris Society in the US. N.p., 1901. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.

“Welcome to the William Morris Society UK.” William Morris Society: Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2013.