Nature Vs Man Made - Artist research. ZANDRA RHODES, ALEXANDER MCQUEEN, LIZ STEEL

To support my work and chosen theme (nature!) I did some artist/designer research who have featured natural patterns, shapes or images in their collections. The first designer i researched was Zandra Rhodes. I always enjoy reading about Zandra Rhodes, and the book i look at most which i rent out from the library 'Zandra Rhodes - A lifelong love affair with textiles' is probably in my possession more than it is sat on a shelf in the library. She really is an inspiration, her work ethic is amazing, and i would love to look through all her sketchbooks where she gets her inspiration for collections from. The British designer inspires me to create bright bold and colourful work and i would consider her my biggest influence in the textiles industry. Not forgetting to mention her amazing hair!! In the book 'A lifelong love affair with textiles' It shows pages of her sketchbook which she took with her on her trip to china, it then shows her develop it into a print, then onto screens which she then prints onto fabric and it also shows you the final garment. This inspired me to use more than one screen for my final piece. Here is the sheet i created researching Zandra Rhodes. The pictures i used that support nature theme on this sheet are from Zandra Rhodes sketchbook collection.

The next designer i researched was Alexander Mcqueen, i created a sheet using mixed media such as water colour, paint and yarn with information about Alexander Mcqueen and pictures of his collections that have natural prints or patterns or themes. Here is the sheet i created. I did not enjoy researching into Alexander Mcqueen as much as i did Zandra Rhodes, but i think that is because i've researched Zandra before and i might enjoy looking into Mcqueen again if i ever needed to. Although i do like this research sheet i have created. As you can clearly see the natural patterns and themes in his work.

The last artist i researched into is called Liz Steel, she is not a designer or a famous artist but i chose to research her as a part of the man made theme even though i did not choose this theme i wanted to show that i had looked into artists for it. Liz Steel is an artist that travels and creates watercolour paintings of famous buildings. As i enjoyed using watercolours so much in my sketchbook i thought it would be fun to recreate her photos on a research sheet. So that is what i did, i also extended some pictures of her work. Here is the research sheet i created on this artist.

In conclusion to my artist research i enjoyed researching Zandra Rhodes the most as she has always been my biggest influence ever since i knew what textiles was. My least favourite to research was Liz Steel, this as her work is not textile or fashion related, although i did enjoy using watercolours on this sheet.