Rhiannon Furness

 " Chesterfield offers a town lifestyle set on the edge of the glorious Peak District, a great outdoor leisure experience, local independent retailers, high street names and is a place where history, heritage and modernity go hand-in-hand. With new schools and one of the largest colleges in England, Chesterfield is home to a wide range of businesses including IT specialists, world class engineering and communications companies. From high street names to local specialists, arts and culture, hotels and an historic town centre market, the town has a vibrant heart. We are superbly connected, have history galore, fantastic buildings and places, world leading businesses, enthusiastic and skilled people and most importantly we offer a great lifestyle. As the largest town in Derbyshire and the gateway to the Peak District, Chesterfield is a great place to invest, live or visit, combining both historical and contemporary experiences. We are a place th...

 Extracting shapes from an aerial map of Chesterfield and experimenting with composition, overlapping, adding colour and collage. Lines here can be translated to stitch in order to create multi media pieces. Shapes can become appliqué pieces or inform where to block in textures. Overlapping shapes creates links, symbolising the links within a community. Photography focusing on physical aspects of community including architecture and street signage. These buildings could be both potential sites for my designs and also provide visual reference for my primary experimentation. Illustrative drawings created in reference to the photos I have taken around my local community of Chesterfield. The crooked spire is the most recognisable and notable building/ attraction in Chesterfield and holds memories for a lot of people, making it an obvious choice to include in my design work. Extracting shapes from aerial photos of Chesterfield town centre and using line drawings, stencils and collage to...

For the concept Political Society I'm exploring the themes of Community and Identity. Community is defined as a unified body of individuals such as people living in a particular area or sharing common interests. Identity is defined as the distinguishing character or personality of an individual (Merriam Webster, undated). I will be exploring my local community through different viewpoints including: Housing, homes and buildings/architecture Local publications (newspapers/magazines) People (local groups such as charities, outreach programs etc. and notable members of chesterfield's community) The two textile pathways I will be focusing on are Print and MMT. I will research these processes and linked designers to inform how I commence my design work. Whilst considering my approach to this theme and how it will translate into physical/visual work, there are design and art elements that came to mind: Cubism (the way of displaying different viewpoints of something together in one pi...

 " In an attempt to classify the revolutionary experiments made by  Pablo Picasso ,  Georges Braque  and  Juan Gris  when they were exponents of  cubism , historians have tended to divide cubism into two stages. The early phase, generally considered to run from 1908–12 is called analytical cubism and the second is called synthetic cubism." (Tate, undated). Analytical cubism is called as it is a structured dissection of a subject from different viewpoints coming together to create a fragmented image with overlapping planes. Another distinguishing feature of analytical cubism is a simplified colour palette to prevent the viewer becoming distracted from the form. (Tate, undated). " Synthetic cubism began when the artists started adding textures and patterns to their paintings, experimenting with  collage  using newspaper print and patterned paper. Analytical cubism was about breaking down an object (like a bottle) viewpoint-by-viewpoint, into a ...

  Sam Jaffe "Sam Jaffe is an artist currently living and working in Chicago, IL. Characterized by wacky, toxic color and overstuffed, mutated forms, her recent work explores labor, folk and domestic art traditions, ornamentation, collecting behaviors, femininity, and the grotesque fallibility of the human body. All art materials are recycled, reused, repurposed, dead-stock, vintage, or otherwise sustainably sourced." (Sam Jaffe, no date). The use of line and shape within Jaffe's work reminds me of aerial photography, especially the prints. Her work in MMT displays distorted shapes with the use of techniques that could be used to depict aerial photography or architecture of communities. Although I plan on using a more refined and understated colour scheme, the colours here could symbolise the wide range of identities within a landscape. The shapes are reminiscent of cubism and, to me, mirror the idea of seeing something (a community) from many angles at once.

Visualisations. Three conceptual ideas for the use of my textiles combined with other elements from my design development, including handmade embellishments. The use of torn edges and stitching gives my visualisations an organic feel to connect it to my project as a whole. A fashion collection intended to tell a story of environmental resilience. MMT final design. Manipulated strips of fabric to mimic a simplified version of tree bark. The pop of colour gives it warmth and links in with colours found in corals. This enabled me to bring together elements of woodland and underwater into one design. All materials used are remnants, offcuts and/or natural. A digitally manipulated print extracted from a collage. Shapes inspired by coral reefs, intended to be printed onto natural fabrics.  

My primary woodland research began by photographing textures and shapes within several local woodland areas. Whilst doing this I also collected fallen branches/twigs, as well as small cuttings of ivy and ferns. I intend to use these to create embellishments and experimentation. Attempted to photograph marine ecosystems also but was unable to get good photos despite visiting two aquariums. My first colour explorations. Using yarn wrapping to explore tones of green. I moved away from this colour in order to be able to create something more usable. Deciding instead to explore natural colours that can be found in both the woodland and marine ecosystems. Focusing on the textures using the objects I have collected, including barks, wood, shells etc. I will use these textures to extract lines and shapes to use within my own designs. After deciding to add a pop of colour to my palette, I chose pink. There are many pinkish tones within my initial extractions and it blends well with the warm nat...