Katie Nolan

Unit X - Reflection  Throughout the course of Unit X, I’ve definitely found myself being more open to alternative ways of working due to having to work as a part of a team.   I felt apprehensive at first, worried that I wouldn’t be able to maintain my individuality if I was restricted to working with other people. I’ve come to release that working as a group allows you to further explore your ideas as you have a group of people supporting you and giving their own thoughts on your work. I worked closely with Sophie in my group, producing collaborative work and using our own ideas to develop our work further in the same direction. I found that this close collaboration made me much more confident in experimenting with materials and scale as I felt I had someone supporting me with my ideas. As well as this, I felt the group tutorials, especially the ones we did with 3D design were really beneficial to my own practice as I was exposed to alternate w...

Further Development of UNIT X Before deciding to focus totally on the use of ice to encase my samples, i tried using clay to create things that could be used almost like a base on which i could tie, hang or cover in textiles. I used clay to do this and was quite pleased with the outcome, i am yet to add textiles to these pieces as i wanted to document them as they are as, collectively, they produce really interesting shapes and textures. I plan to continue playing with the idea of providing a base on which to attach textiles, but going back to the use of ice to entrap my samples, i tried this again but used a wider variety of materials and also wanted to find a way to further highlight the idea of the longevity of the beautiful handmade over the machine made, industrial textiles. I didn't allow the ice to freeze fully, this meant the inside of the pieces were hollow, allowing more of the textiles to show through and also ...

Unit X Development Since beginning the sampling stage of Unit X, my group have been meeting and discussing our ideas and developments and me and another member of my group have decided to collaborate within the group as. After meeting and showing our work to 3D students, we realised that our work was aiming to move in the same direction and we were addressing the same issues as well as making use of similar materials and processes. As well as this, our group as a whole, despite having different ways of working and interests in terms of subject matter, I have noticed that the collective colour scheme, and our focal point being the same craft, our work is moving in the direction of an interesting collection of work that works cohesively but also allows for each persons work to achieve their own distinctiveness. I began my sampling by producing a series of fringes and tassels using wools and yarns, making use of various techniques to achieve different styles ...

Unit X Initial research When receiving our Unit X Brief entitled “Endangered crafts” our group initially decided to try and change the perception of the word ‘Craft’ into something with more of a contemporary connotation. We discussed Using scale to change idea of craft as a small and time-consuming activity into something that can be more widely used and enjoyed. We also eventually came to the decision that we would look at one craft collectively to make sure our research was cohesive. The two main issues affecting the viability of Heritage crafts that we chose to focus on were: Recruitment -A lack of awareness that the craft exists as a career option, Ageing workforce -few or no younger people entering the craft We began discussing Key issues that we can try and tackle within our project: How ?    - Make craft more appealing to young people -        Create a piece that changes preconceptions of ‘craf...