Reflection.

Throughout the four technical blocks I have learned and developed lots of new techniques, I would say I came into each of the blocks expecting something different and was surprised at how quickly I got into them. I had never printed before and I think because it was my first block I was a little intimidated by it, looking back I wish I had have gone into it with confidence and a little less hesitance. My second block was weave which I enjoyed. I think I did really well in this block because of my love for putting things together and feeling the yarns. My third block was knit which I enjoyed too, minus my love hate relationship with the knitting machine! I had only ever hand knitted before and I was really pleased with my samples which were delicate and simple and retranslated well from my drawings. The last technical block, stitch, was different to what I anticipated, I didn't realise how much you could do,  my final samples for this I felt went really well, I took an idea and pushed it using different methods to make each one different but so that they still related. When I first started this blog I was a little shy of it, I had never blogged before, I'd always like to watch from afar (obsessing over any fashion related blog I could find). I am excited to carry on with my blog but I think there will be a few changes made. I think that the strengths of my blog is that there is something to read and it has depth, I find it annoying myself when other bloggers have great images but no writing about what they are, who they're by, what they're about. The weaknesses that my blog holds are that it is too simple, I need to make it more personal to me and my style. I also think i didn't put enough pictures up and that there were at time possibly too much writing. I think that the image:writing ratio was too low. My research for my blog was as good as i could have given it, I takes about what I knew and also about what I didn't previously know, I spent time at the exhibitions writing down what I thought would be most interesting.

Comparing Greyson Perry - The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman to The Power of Making.

Greyson Perrys work has a very strong connection between the past, memory and nostalgia. He shows a strong connection to the craftsmanship of historical artefacts and blends those ideas to create his works of fine art, which often have obvious cultural and modern aspects while maintaining the historical 'feel' of his work.

The objects shown at the Power of Making had a similarly unique aspect of time and process. The works shown were all objects created for a specific purpose, the ingenuity and outlandish ideas boldly showed its mark on the quality and use of technique in the work. This method is a different term of craftsmanship to what Greyson Perrys work is about.

Even though art and craft are generally made for the creators pleasure, in my opinion the work of a craftsman differers from a work of fine artist as the craft usually accounts to having a specific purpose or use in its individuality and technique, where as a work of fine art usually has no purpose other than to be displayed for an audience and to be looked at and admired. Where as the work of the designers and makers in the Power Of Making held a purpose or was created in the sense of a purpose.

That, i feel is the main differing factor between Greyson Perry and the craftspeople of The Power of Making. Greyson Perry gathers aspects of craftsmanship and historical technique to create his works of art, whereas the works from The Power Of Making where quite obviously one off uniquely crafted objects which require amazing amounts of specialised technique and ingenuity.

Exoticism in Design - Dr. Clare Rose.

‘Anyone employing Orientalism, which is the habit for dealing with questions, objects, qualities and regions deemed Oriental, will ...fix what he is talking or thinking about with a word or phrase, which then is considered either to have acquired, or more simply to be, reality...The tense they employ is the timeless eternal' - Edward Said, Orientalism,  quoted in Bhabha in Evans and Hall, p372

Orientalism prior to the 1900's was seen with different attitudes to the different cultures, the attitudes of the Europeans was based on myth. Europe saw the Chinese and Indian's for their arts and valuable products and the Japanese and south east asians were seen in light for their exotic ways of life. The Europeans wanted this richness for themselves. In 1761 the Poganda at Kew Gardens was put up by King George the third, around this time 'Oriental style' became fashionable to the rich and elite. At our visit to the V&A after we saw a Chinese style chippendale which dated back towards the 1770's.

In 1815 the Royal Pavilion in Brighton was decorated in a Chinoiserie style, which pushed the trend further, after succeeding the Chinese in the Opium War in 1842 the British now held new trading laws which changed the next 20 years. America forced the Japanese to open their country in 1854 and in 1862 the Japanese show at the International Exhibition in London. From the exhibition and people seeing how amazing the Japanese style of art was in comparison to Europe's artists and designers started to try to copy their style, Manet, for example paints the portrait of Zola in the style of the Japanese in 1867.

‘In a way, all my work is founded  on Japanese art…Japanese art,  decadent in its own country,  takes root again among the  French Impressionist artists’ –

 Vincent van Gogh, letter, 1887

From the 1800's the europeans were utterly fascinated by the eastern cultures, they saw it as exotic and they were even more interested with the women whom were covered from head to toe and hidden. This sparked an underlying buzz as such which gave artists the chance to give admirers of their work a 'look' at what went on. It was mostly because of their differences with the western woman, she wore a corset and a bare face, and the oriental woman, she wore a veil which hid her face and loose clothing.

J A D Ingres, The Turkish Bath 1862 

We entered the 1900's and the strive for all thing oriental still went on, Paul Poiret opened his independent fashion hour in 1904 and in 1909 he showed an oriental theme throughout the show. The Russian Ballet performed shows such as `Cleopatra', `Prince Igor',  `Scheherezade' and `Firebird' which were all influenced heavily by oriental customs. Even now to this day we are still just as intrigued by orientalism, in fashion, art etc but it is shown in a less obvious manor.