"For my interpretation of Lord of the Flies I want to look into the decay in the nature of the boys mind, how they begin as rational boys but suddenly this rationality is eroded away into a savage primeval nature. Golding uses a descriptive tone to describe the boy’s surroundings and nature on the island. He contrasts the decaying nature with a gluttonous rich description of the elements.
I looked at rotting nature of leaves in different stages of decay; using a microscope to magnify the intensity of the decaying leaves I created a unique digital print for each character. I also researched uniforms, as I believe uniform depicts power and also how small differences in uniforms can reflect the unique individuality of the characters. The contemporary silhouettes reflect uniformity, transforming to highlight increasing corruption and the savage nature of individuals.
The theatre piece has been designed for an immersive, promenade theatre performance that is for educational purposes. The show would tour, unfolding at each location to advertise and promote learning about different skills, such as textiles, storytelling, and physical theatre. As the set unfolds scaffolding would emerge and be used to climb on. The motive is to depict that the arts are equal and available to everyone and not just for certain epochs of society. Also it is to promote their social responsibility and to avoid becoming the savages that the boys in Lord of The Flies ultimately become."
Georgia Allen
"When I first read The Ice Palace, it immediately took shape in my head as a contemporary ballet. With its sparse lyrical prose, strikingly visual language and perceptiveness about human relationships, it is rich material for translation into dance. Vesaas wrote extensively about the reader’s experience of transforming written words into visual images and emotional experiences. His writing is extraordinary: economical, simple, but reverberating with reference to sound, light, movement, colour, texture. I wanted to reflect the way Vesaas writes in my approach to designing the project. Vesaas uses extensive reference to the natural word to describe the emotional experiences of his characters. Many of his descriptions of rural Norway, I identified with my own childhood in rural Scotland. Making mono-prints, using twigs and plants from my home, I developed these into bold prints. Reaching across the costumes, they reflect the way that the human and natural worlds are so closely intertwined in The Ice Palace. Using these patterns, I created dyed, knitted and printed textiles, experimenting with a wide range of techniques. I was also heavily inspired by vintage ski wear, traditional Norwegian dress and both traditional Scandinavian and contemporary knitwear." Molly McDonell Finlayson
"The concept of storytelling within a family unit is important to me. The technological age we live in is slowly effecting communication and interaction between the generations and as a result many people are unaware of their family ancestry and heritage.For this project i have explored the concept of 'family heritage from a wholly personal viewpoint. I have created textile pieces that are inspired by stories that have been passed on through the generations of my family and are designed to encourage the act of storytelling within a family unit.The catalyst for this work has focused particularly on the life and exploits of my great great grandfather, whose stories of sea faring have been passed on to me through my parents and grandparents.The collection focuses on one particular event, and has developed into a project that is based on the contrasting cultures of the British Edwardian period my great great grandfather lived in, and a native american tribe from the Tierra De Fuego who helped the crew to safety after a storm had sunk their cargo ship.My project has developed into an abstract collection based on the clash between cultures. The story is communicated mainly through the idea of the unexpected, combining delicate pattern pieces with dark heavy stitch and print to create obscure textiles that fuse the traditional Edwardian era with the boldness of the native Onas tribe." Heather Colvin
"Floral imagery has been used throughout textile design and is intrinsic to the imagery of printed textiles. The collection, ‘Unnatural Botanicals’, is my interpretation of floral design. The collection comprises of hand painted motifs that have been developed from drawings of plants found in botanic gardens. These motifs have then been digitally placed into a composition and transformed into patterns through the use of Photoshop. Working with a specific colour palette, the collection incorporates dark muted tones combined with bright accented colours. I want to create a collection that highlights both my unique drawing and design style alongside my competence of digital software in creating a floral collection for the commercial textiles’ market. The collection explores the use of different types of pattern and presents itself on a range of digitally printed interior fabric and wallpaper showing the possible application of the designs for the interiors’ market." Emma McCluskey
