Project developement based on theoritical research

As my research aims, I want to apply some alternative materials in costume making for performance in order to shorter the amount of budget used. I’ve made a theoretical research on artists and designers. For the conclusions, I’m going to discuss how applicable could some of their techniques be.

Simple  

This group I can put Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and Robin Barcus Slonina. Among their work often could be noticed precision in terms of silhouettes and details but mostly the impression on the work as a whole.

Robin Barcus Slonina is expressing her ideas in a symbolic way where the whole photo session represents a meaning and the dress is a tool of association refracted by the prism of the designer. Her work is extremely low budget as I discovered most of her costumes cost around a pound which a great inspirational in term of materials.

On the other hand, Marvin Chetwynd, which is also the only artist who is actually designing for performances, is working with fabrics and other often used materials but presenting an unusual point of view to the performing arts. Her art can be classified as destructive and chaotic but the way she is presenting the flaws as effects is really unique. Additionally, the budget for her creations is extremely low, as I calculated in my cased studios, some of her costumes cost around 5-6 pounds. Chetwynd’s is often using calico and muslin bases and adding on them other fabric pieces by sewing, gluing or painting them.

Intricate

The other second group relates to artists which are using more complex forms emphasizing the details.

Jennifer Henry and her work are presented mostly on photo sessions, red carpet events and fashion reviews. I was really surprise when I searched for the actual price of cellophane which is her favorite material. The prices for a 10 meter cellophane wrap vary from 2 pounds for a normal transparent one to 7-8 for different colorful ones which makes it a really suitable for my project.

The Patssi Valdez’s paper project also contains extremely intricate shapes. They represent the paper in a very interesting way. It’s hard to calcite an exact amount of budget used on this project but for sure the creations will affect my practical work. For me, one of the fascinating details were the etiquettes hanging from the hat.

Zoe Bradley and her work will also be influencing on my work. An interesting material to be used in my practical work can be the CD disks, which she is using for one of the dresses.

Most of the art works I’ve explored, excluding Chetwynd’s, aren't really applicable in an actual performance  because they won’t sustain the different movements and dances of a performer on stage and could also be worn out really quickly which is not advisable for a theatre performance which may be running for a week or longer period. For that reason, for my practical work I’ll be trying to create a collaboration of fabric (mostly calico or use some clothes bought from vintage or cheap shops) and some unconventional material for decorations or details. 

Zoe Bradley - installations, sculpture and fashion

Zoe Bradley is a contemporary British artist and fashion designer best known for the paper sculturing. She started her work with paper in 2005 while working in a collaboration with the japan fashion designer Michiko Kashino. The most often techniques in her work are folding, stitching and cutting. In her most recent work she also started using laser cutting to create even more complex sillhouettes.
Bradley's favourite material is paper, but her she is also experimenting with great variety of alternative materials such as recylcled plastics, wood, fabrics and mary more.

Zoe Bradley's work is very extraordinary. As the designer states and I discover it myself while experimenting with paper, it's a vry sensitive material which could easily fall apart but the other materials could a good inspiration for my practical work as the materials she is using (cds, straws,etc.). Zoe Bradley has also worked on variaty of art decorations and which seems applicable to an actual set design for performance.  And considering the fact that theatre has been one of the designer's mains inspirations that sort of experiment could add a new Arte Povero wave to contemporary performing arts. Here are some of the decorations made by her:

Showcase decoration fro Tiffany & Co

Zoe Bradley, n.d. n.d.[online] Available at: http://www.zoebradley.com/profile/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]

n.d, 2011. Zoe Bradley [online] Available at: http://supertacular.com/2011/05/zoe-bradley/ [Accessed 26/04/2014]

n.d.,n.d. n.d. [digital image]. Available at: http://supertacular.com/2011/05/zoe-bradley/

Arte Povera

Relating contemporary art form to budget limitation, I can't skip looking at this historical phenomen Arte Povera. It encompassed the 60s and 70s years of the previous century in France and was a movements also be called the art of poverty or th Poor Art.
Arte Povera was formed of artists decided to question the mainstream art (one of which was the Pop Art) of that time creating art pieces using alternative materials to create paintings, sculptures and installations. The name of this art movement was often considered wrong because the art wasn't entirely made of cheap object. Some of the art pieces also contain glass and silk, which were quite expensive at that time.
One of the most important aspect of this movement was that it represented the daily life as some special and artistic. For that reason, nature and live objects were also very often included in their creations. Artist weren't afraid to express this idea by bringing breathing animals and plants.

Venus of the Rags, 1967

Michelangelo Pistoletto was one of the most famous artists involved in this movement. The "Venus of the rags" sculpture presents a typical contraversial piece of "Art Pover". It puts an everyday object such as the pile of clothes next to a sacral symbol of the Western art building a collaboration of opposition lighting the idea is that every item is equally artistic. Rags have been a main object in his scultures which is definitely an interesting approach for clothes' usage.

Small Monument, 1968

Orchestra of Rags, 1968

Columns of Rag, 1968

Another noticable artist from the Arte Pover movement was Pierro Gilardi who was widely famous in the 60s. His most significant work were the installations made of molded and painted polyurethane in the shapes of plants, and other landscape forms covering floors and walls. He also organised and work on a broad variaty of street theatre performances and protests analysing the art and culture of these years in his essays.

Pierro Gilardi work for  an exhibition in Nottingham Contemporary  in 2013

The examples of styles and artists from Arte Povera I chose for this articles to another point of view presented into my project - using the objects out of their purpose which I'm actually going to try while creating the final practical work.

sources:

Michelangello Pistoletto, n.d. Arte Povera [online] Available at: http://www.pistoletto.it/eng/crono09.htm# [Accessed 25/04/2014]
Alice Sanger, 2009. Venus of Rags [online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/pistoletto-venus-of-the-rags-t12200/text-summary [Accessed 25/04/2014]

David Ebony, n.d. Pierro Gilardi [online]. Available at:  http://www.artinamericamagazine.com/news-features/magazine/piero-gilardi/ [accessed 25/04/2014]

Patssi Valdez's paper fashion

Patssi Valdez's paper fashion project has been shown in Nottingham Contemporary in Oct 2013 as part of the ASCO performances. She is an American artist, mostly known for her fine art work and her performance.
Valdez is most famous for her contribution to the greative group Asco which started emergence in the 60s. Asco was a collaboration project of 4 artists - Patssi Valdez, Harry Gamboa, Gronk, and Willie Herron. The name of the group comes from spanish and means "disgust" and "impulse to vomit". All the artist were part of the Chicano society in America and relate their ideas to broad world happenings in the 60s and 70s, including political and economical issues. They used variety of art form such as installations, paitings, performances, etc. Their work is considered as avant-garde and extremely provocative.

The project of paper fashion which was released by Valdez last year in Nottingham Contemporary, was originally an idea of the other member of the group - Garry Gamboa who worked on a project of creating a fashion review made entirelt of paper. Unfortunately, I could find any photos and information if it had actually been released. However, for the recent project, Patssi Valdes in ta collaboration of local artist Nadim Chaundry have created 4 paper gowns.

The dresses are extremely interesting in terms of silhouettes, colors and details. They are avant garde and extraordinary. They carry the spirit of American's chicana art of the 70's but at the same time very local and related to the British culture. These art works can be perfectly related to my project's idea how the limitation, as it is to use just one material - paper, could serve as a great stimulation of creativity.

Another unique aspect of the work of Valdez is her determination to keep revealing the secrets of that art movement which is a great inspiration to contemporary artist which constanly use references from previous historical periods.

sources:
Anon., 2013. Asco (art collective). Wikipedia [online]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asco_(art_collective) [Accessed 23/04/2014]
Anon., 2014. Chicano. Wikipedia [online]. Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicano
Jim Hinch, 2012. Walking Mural: Asco and the end of Chicano art [online]. Available at:http://lareviewofbooks.org/essay/walking-mural-asco-and-the-ends-of-chicano-art [Accessed 23/04/2014]
Nottingham post, 2013. Asco's Patssi Valdez on her Nottingham Contemporary exhibition [online]. Available at: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Asco-s-Patssi-Valdez-Nottingham-Contemporary/story-19930867-detail/story.html [Accessed 23/04/2014]
Emma Zakaryan, 2013. Patssi Valdez: Asco and beyond [online]. Available at: http://chicanaart.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/patssi-valdez-asco-and-beyond.html [Accessed 23/04/2014]
Eleonore Welles, n.d. Patssi Valdez [online] Available at: http://artscenecal.com/ArticlesFile/Archive/Articles2000/Articles1200/PValdezA.html
https://www.frieze.com/issue/review/asco-elite-of-the-obscure/ [Accessed 23/04/2014]
Patssi Valdez, 2013. Nottingham Contemporary/paper fashions [digital image] Available at: http://www.patssivaldez.com/nottingham-contemporary-paper-fashions.html [Accessed 23/04/2014]

Get Involved 17

Collabor-8 is en event organised by Get Involved 17 which is opened
 for viewers who wants to familiarize with the work of the group.

Recently, I became part of "Get Involved 17". This is the group runned by Nottingham Contemporary which connects young people to learn, appreciate and experience different art forms. It is also part of the national youth programme of 15-25 year olds.
As a member, I've been involved in a series of creative sessions containing workshops, brain storming and event activities.
An interesting example of our activities is happening right after an opening of every new gallery exhibition at Nottingham Contemporary when the young curators, divided into small groups, are building a short 1-2 minutes performances, describing chosen art pieces from the gallery.
We are currently working on the "Creative Selfie"project which presents the very popular nowadays selfie pictures as piece of art work. The idea of the project is that the selfie could not only be a picture but could also be an art work representation of yourself. The project is planned to be finalised with a massive flashmob on the Old Market square at the end of May. More information about it will be available very soon.
As a foregneir, for me this creative circuit gives a great oppotunity to familiarize with the way British art communicates. Furthermore, "Get involved 17"provides great relations for a future career development in the field of "Art and Design".

Marvin Gaye Chetwynd as an inspiration

After my practice period spent in the Marvin Gaye Chetwynd's exhibition, she became my inspiration number one. Probably, I already explained enoght details about her work so now I'm going to focus how her work has inspired me.

Experimenting during you are creating your work. Many times during the practise we made mistake but Marvin taught us there are no mistake which can't be fixed. In fact, she has shown through the years that her work is different and unique exactly for that reason - her costumes and props are made as they are hand-made. Chetwynd is not searching for a perfection, she is searching for naturalness. The flaws in her work draw the human contribution to art and its balance with nature.
Another aspect of her work is attitude about the performers. As I've probably already mention, for most her performances Chetwynd is using amateur dancers because she believes they could fulfill her expectations best. Her working methods include workshop and physical trainings. The performers' moves are modified for each group of performers. Chetwynd believes that every performer should feel happy while dancing and should have his own contribution to the whole scenery. For that reason, Marvin never say no to anyone who wants to be involved in her working process. The more people involved, the more real a performance becomes. "We are completely free. It's the opposite of being controlled. I am like: Please come and do what you want here!" - the artist says.
In terms of costume making,  Chetwynd is never afraid of using color. Althought the silhouettes are not perfect and the techniques applied are far from perferction, that is exactly the way her art communicates. Even if a costume starts falling appart during a performance that will add even more uniqueness to the art piece. It is amazing how everything looks a bit odds, unfinished and wrong but then suddenly, when the performance starts, every piece of the puzzle goes to its place and the work starts looking extraordinary and extremely charming to the audience.

Here are the two part of the film BBC 4 projected about Marvin Gaye Chetwynd and her exhibition in Nottingham Contemporary. I also got my quick participation around the 3rd minute of the second video:

Case Study 2: The Green Room

The Green Room Performance
Designer & Choreographer: Marvin Gaye Chetwynd

Narration & Ideas:
One of the most chaotic performances. It mixes scenes from the film Cat woman, Star Wars, cat puppets and a sculpture inspired by the Nottingham cave system. The story thats in a wooden cage where a singer, surrouded by many performers including Chewbacca's nuclear family, sings the song from the Cat Woman movie, while on a giant screen behind him there's the video and the sound of the actual song running at the same time. After the song, on the screen are projected scenes from Star Wars Holiday Special. The second stage of the performance, the performers went out of the wooden cage walking through the crowd and an installation inspired by the Nottingham's cave system. Part of the performers went on the improvised stage covered by a giant green fabric where they move cat puppets imporivsing with the audience.
On of the ideas of the all that amazing chaotic art is that the boredom of the Contemporary political world has forced the young artistic people to search for their own magic world around the nature (the caves), expressing their revolt. Chaos is delineated in the pink wookie costume, some male performers which are walkin around throught the whole performers with make up and dresses and the make up on the faces of group of the performers with doted costumes (their make up is inspired from the crowd of 70s rock concert).

Costumes and Budget:
It's hard to be set a particular number of costumes but I divide them into 3 main groups. I also made a small research on ebay how much would be the actual cost of the costume if I have to create them now.

• The Chewbacca's family costumes are 3 costumes - 2 of them around 2 meters high (black and brown), and one small pink Chewbacca's costume of their child - pink. The costume's base under the hair is made of calico - 0,99 pounds (here) per meter which I believe for the 3 costumes will be around 10 meters. The "fur" of the wookies was actually hair extention senw on the calico fabric.I remember Marvin was compaining she can't find suitable hair extentions in Nottingham, especially the pink ones. On ebay it took me less than 5 minutes to find the perfect pink extention (here) for 2,99. It's hard to calcute exactly how many will be needed but easy to assume the wookie costumes are the most expensive one in the whole performance. Probably around 60 quid for three of them.
• The colourful costumes which we glued and are inspired by 60s fashion. The dresses were sewn from cotton fabric (could be found here for 2,00 a meter). The colorful dots, circles and shape glued on it, as I recomended, are best to be made also by cotton fabric so could be ordered from the same link and I will calculate them with the same price. The costumes were 10. If we assume that they are made from 4 colorful cotton fabric - yellow, orange, blue and green, 2 meter of each which to be cut into shapes, and 2 meter of white cotton fabri for each costume. That would make an approximate 56 pounds for all 10 costumes and around 5,60 pounds for each or if the base is made by calico, they will cost even less - just 36 pounds, 3,6 pounds per a costume.
• Third group of costumes are the green ones. The idea of these costume was the performers just to be covered with green and to look as part of the green fabric behind them, holding the furry cat puppets. Their clothers didn't have a particular shape, just looked like long-sleeve straight t-shirts with lenght till the middle of their thighs and their legs are covered by green tights. The costumes are 4 and if I calculate again around 2 meters green cotton for a costume plus a pair a green tights (0,99 p here). There was also a green wig for each costume (here for 0.51 p). This can be calculate around 23-25 (with some xtra fabric) for all costumes and around 6 pounds per a costume.
  
  
  Questionnaire results:
  The provocativeness and dynamics of the costume had their main impact on the audience. They were even qualified as shocking but that is considered as a main aim of the performance. Most noticeable aspect of the costumes are chosen from most to be their bright variety of colors.
  Costumes' role is classified mostly as a mixture of color, pattern and a tool revealing the dancer's movement. The story is put far from the costume impression.
  No doubt costumes were the most important and lively part of the show. More than 90% choose it as the main and most important part of the performance.
  The sexuality and the revolt have also been a deeply emphasized during the performance.
  
  
  
  Photo from the performance: https://www.flickr.com/photos/nottingam_contemporary/12746208795/in/set-72157641458913614