Fractal Wallpaper

I created this wallpaper using the screen-print method. I used my hand drawn fractal image as the basis for the pattern as I prefer the added textures and flaws that these manual techniques provide. I could have transfered my pattern into digital software to polish the lines and improve the joins, and if this was being produced for a commercial environment I would have done this. However, for me the manual processes of producing the work is just as important and enjoyable as the result, so I try as much as possible to maintain these methods.
Many of my designs begin life as a 2D pattern or image before moving forward to more innovative ideas. With this design, I now plan to incorporate it into a fabric piece using the capillary-action method from my previous work, and attempt to "grow" the fractal pattern on the fabric wall hanging.

Fractal Patterns

After producing the piece "Floral Hanging" in October which used capillary action to create colour and pattern, I chose to further my research in natural growth and other processes in plants and flowers to find other possible methods or patterns for wallpaper designs.
Much of my work in this medium is influenced by horticulture and natural pattern so I found it very interesting and inspiring to look beyond the mere aesthetics of floral patterns in wallpaper and consider a more scientific approach.
The fractal pattern idea came to me after watching a natural history programme on which it was explained that the first living organism was formed through the simpest of fractal formations. I find fractals are aesthetically pleasing in themselves and the more I looked into it I realised how common they were in nature from trees and leaves, vegetables such as brocolli, and even cloud and lightening formations.
Keeping with the theme of horticulture, I have begun drawing simple plant-like factals and plan to develop these into screen-printed wallpapers and later, experiment with combining the fractal patterns with the time based 'capillary action' method to create a wallpaper that not only mimics the pattern of plant growth but also the method in which it grows and spreads.

Wall(tracing)paper

As I enjoyed working with tracing paper on the piece "Anthurium", I decided to further experiment with it in a wallpaper based project. What I particularly liked about the tracing paper as a medium was its transparency, lightness and movement, and it was these three elements I wanted to accentuate in this wallpaper design.

I wanted to create a wallpaper that would interact with the presence of the people who walked by without being overtly visible. The use of plain tracing paper links to the opinion that much of the time, everyday wallpaper goes unnoticed-it is not until somebody passes by this wallpaper that its presence becomes clear. The thin, cut-out strips sway and rustle lightly as the person moves and displaces the air infront of it.

As is often the case, time and space restraints meant I was only able to produce one strip of wallpaper for the 'Link' exhibition (mid year exhibition) so it was not as effective as it could have been if it covered more space. However, I plan to further this work and possibly collaborate with a fellow student who's work is based around the movement of people. We will look into the possibilities of projection onto the wallpaper ans well as filmed documentation and photography.

Front Design Company "Rat Wallpaper"

This particular piece of work is perhaps one of my favourite pieces of alternative wallpapers I have seen. The artists placed rolls of plain white wallpaper in a cage with some rats, knowing that the rats would inevitably gnaw at the paper making holes through it. As the paper is unrolled, a lace effect emerges that is entirely the rats' design. This "Rat Wallpaper" is then hung in front of existing wallpaper, revealing small sections of it to the viewer. This way there is a comparison between traditional decorative design and contemporary art.
The piece challenges the usual role of decoration and indeed challenges how decoration can be created. Front Design Company is in a way handing over the design aspects of their wallpaper to a more spontaneous creator, removing their own control and allowing risk to take over.
Like the majority of Front's work, what stands out the most with this is its humour, and it is this refreshing lighthearted take on the subject that makes it such a favourite of mine.

Linda Florence "Sugar Floors"

Linda Florence is an arist I have become interested in while researching for my university dissertation. Her work, like mine, is based around interiors, especially wallpaper. This particular piece named "One of a Kind Tea Dance" was installed in 2008 in the V&A museum as part of the artist's "Sugar Floors" project.
The piece is a floral wallpaper-like print applied to the floor of the gallery using white sugar and presumably a stencil. Ballroom dancers then took to the floor; their graceful movements shifting the original sugar pattern, creating a new pattern with the traces of their dance steps and turns.
By doing this, the artist is allowing an element of risk into the work as it is not certain where the dancers will go, how the pattern will change and whether the new pattern will be effective or not. With much of her work, Florence challenges the normal concept of wallpaper and pattern. Here she pushes the boundaries of the medium by placing a wallpaper pattern on the floor. Why should we stop when the wall reaches the floor or ceiling?
I think this piece is extremely beautiful and delicate and is a refreshing way of using the medium of wallpaper when so many others use it as a tool for political comment. However it is questionable as to whether the piece can still be considered a wallpaper when it is placed on the floor. But then again, who can possibly say?!
It was interesting that I came across this piece after I produced my work for the No.5 Balmoral project as the basic concept is so similar. It has however increased my interest in interactive patterns and decoration, and Florences other work has opened up many new ideas of manipulating the medium of wallpaper.

Christopher Pearson "Environment sensitive wallpaper"

For many wallpaper designers and artists, William Morris has been a huge influence. This is clear with artist Christopher Pearson and his piece "Environment sensitive wallpaper". This design is almost a replica of Morris's "Willow Boughs" 1887, with the same repeats and very similar colours. However, the wallpaper pattern is created in a way so that it reacts with UV exposure and the temperature in the room that it is displayed in. The effect is that the pattern develops 'naturally' over time the more exposure it gets; and appears to grow and spread over the paper. Presumably this is done using heat and light sensitive paper or paint but there is little information given about this.
The fact that it's reactants are heat and UV exposure poses questions on the wider environment and the effects we have on the planet and the environments we live in.

I would like to find out more about the technical methods the artist has used as it would be very useful for me to use as a method of conveying my own wallpaper designs and ideas on horticultural patterns.

Floral Wall Hanging

"Floral Wall Hanging" is a textile piece I created for the Collective Vision exhibition, part of the Free For Arts Festival. Staying with the theme of interior decoration, i created this piece to experiment with different elements such as time and alternative methods of developing a design or pattern. Previously, my work centred around its interaction with the viewer or vise-versa, this time however I wanted to focus on reaction rather than interaction. I wanted an item which, once set up, could be left over time to change and develop in its own way without interference from myself or other viewers.

Due to the time consuming nature of producing the fabric hanging, it was not necessarily as large as I'd have hoped, however the effect of the capillary action is still striking yet subtle at the same time. What I enjoyed most about this piece is that, once in place, I had no control over how the colour spread and absorbed into the fabric and so some element of the final design is left unknown.

The capillary action is the most important element of the wall hanging as it is this link to horticulture that follows through the majority of my wallpaper and fabric designs. I intend to continue with this idea of capillary action and "growth" of pattern and colour within the wallpaper/wall hanging.