Statement of Intent and Reflection
After discussing my 3 ideas and delving deeper into how all the materials relate to the message I wish to convey, I have a new idea. I am going to combine my idea about the life and health of the local waterways with my concern for fast fashion and how it leading to the excessive consumption of many resources, including water. In addition is the belief that the more distanced we become from the natural world, the less we are connected to it and perhaps less inclined to see the need to care for it.
So I am going to collect old t-shirts in shades of blue, green, white, grey, beige. I will gather garments that would otherwise be disposed of from friends and family. I will use these garments to create a river and river bed- by twisting, scrunching, draping and so on. Some old jeans may also be incorporated. My idea is to make something of interest and beauty to give pause for thought. If I collect enough garments I will have the river wend its way around the studio. I may also write a poem and record it as part of the installation.
I feel very happy with this project and am looking to drawing with the t-shirts and exploring my love of 3-dimensional art at the same time. I hope I will create something special that speaks to people.
This will be a temporary work of art and will be dismantled afterwards. This reflects the fragility of our water systems and the transient nature of many aspects of our environment.
As humans we like to think things will last forever but in reality much care and attention is needed to keep our ecosystems in balance.
The garments will be sorted afterwards. Any that can be donated to a thrift store will go there. The rest of the t-shirts will be made into t-shirt yarn (cutting a continuous ribbon of fabric from each t-shirt) and will be crocheted into rugs. I will let the donors know about this and send them photos of the finished rugs. I may ask who would like one and do a draw for interested donors.
Any old jeans will be repurposed- thoses that are not good enough to be donated will be made into tote bags.
Broken Tap
It seems that fast fashion is a runaway problem. Until we reflect and consider where the garments go once we’re done, it will carry on flooding the marketplace. (I realise some people can’t afford more sustainable alternatives)
I collected a big bag of t-shirts and jeans and came up with the idea of creating a stand pipe with the clothing pouring out. So I went to Habitat for Humanity to find some pipes and fashioned a stand out of reclaimed wood and a piece of dowel.
I had a rehearsal at home to experiment with the garments and get an idea of the composition. It’s completely temporary so I folded everything up at the end and will make another version in the studio tomorrow.
