Presentation 6 (9)

DIGITAL PORTFOLIO BY: DANAI KAMARIKOS

INTERNSHIP DAY PROJECT

Mistakes and solutions: I don't think aiming for a mistake should be part of the steps (if one should try and replicate this) nevertheless it was a step in our process. Each time we would stretch the fabric to fit and mold into the crack between each marble, another part of the fabric would break free and cease to stick. As a solution to this we began to mold and pin around each marble after every step then repeat the process . At this point it was starting to look like something out of a jigsaw movie. (I keep forgetting I was working with real skin)

FINAL PIECE ON MODEL

This was fully assembled, painted and sewn around the headband structured by me. The leaves around it are made from the same type of leather in a green/ brown color, laser cut to different sizes. Overall I had an extremely educational and fun time making it and I am very happy with the end result.

Louise Bourgeois

My chosen artist for textiles in a levels

What I like about her and what I've taken:

She doesn’t hide the seams she lets construction stay visible. I’m taking that honesty into my own textile work.

The body doesn’t have to be perfect or realistic to feel human, the distortion can hold more emotion than accuracy.

Scale changes everything. Making something larger than life forces it to have presence.

Little me at her exhibition when living in Ottawa ( the start of my infatuation)

• Experimenting with structure through fabric

• Testing how seams and tension can create form.

• Using a trapunto-inspired technique to build subtle facial relief.

• Letting construction stay visible instead of hiding it.

• Treating fabric like skin: stretched, and pulled, Started off with trying to replicate one of her 'spiderweb' textile pieces

Using the trapunto technique to create a face with raised areas such as the cheeks and brow bones, then transformed it into a pillow because the fabric I used was originally from a part of our old couch and I wanted to return it there.

Planning

Sewed initial pieces together in same format

Stuffing underneath each section inspired by the trapunto technique to create the submerging areas such as the lips cheeks and brow bones

Brainstorming on how to make the face in the bathroom whilst having a face mask on and the answer became very clearstarting point of the face

Layered more fabric to round out the head

This small sample changed the entire course of my project. What I wanted to achieve

What was going to be a small, irrelevant sample just for the sake of experimentation, inspired by her house forms, unexpectedly became something much more significant.

• In full honesty the felted square looked so much better in my eyes

• furthermore it took me far less time to complete then the house and I really just had much more fun with it. The personal and more avant guard touch that it has is more comfortable for me to work with as I have previous experience with felting from my early Steiner education.

The best out of the initial photos in terms of movement.

Started another little side investigation with hair to explore identity and the body in my new found way

Observed how it moves loose, unpredictable, aiming to control it.

Free hand embroidery of my own side profile in hair like thread on water soluble fabric

• Used my own hair, , and ink to test line.

• I made initial drawings of the hair with the hair dipped in ink. I liked these drawings a lot, It reminded me of a Japanese talesman

Monoprints and heat transfers on paper, lace and sheer fabric, I like the lace one best it reminds me of my mother.

Embroidered with my own hair which I did not have nearly enough patience for, you can see my experimentation with thread and how thick it is compared to my hair

Planning and placing colleague and strangers hair on my 'canvas' Wet felted it, thus creating my own constructed forms.

The base of the figure in a specific interlock- knit fabric that allows the wool to grasp through This was made by creating a template adjusted to the size of the previously made head that was slightly larger size than a 'regular' head.

Also experimented with dry felted which did not retain the hair as well as free hand embroider on top of the fabric, then felted and stitched onto a hand, found out what materials allow the felt to go through and what stuffing grabs onto it best

• Collected discarded hair from barbers and hairdressers around Chiswick.

• Asked for hair that would have otherwise been swept away and thrown out. Using natural materials is very famliar for me due to my education history and the way I was brought up.

Stitching the sperate limbs to each other with minimal but secure hold to allow the option of mobility one the felted forms are added on top

I added a freehand embroidered side profile of my own face, stitched onto water-soluble fabric. This allowed me to work directly and intuitively with line, Louise Bourgeois’ use of stitched forms. Replicating my own profile made the piece more personal, while the dissolving fabric left the embroidery exposed and fragile, reinforcing themes of vulnerability and the human body.

Final piece

Human figure A level studies

This is me holding it up whilst standing on a chair to see the full size. It's incredibly heavy but suprisingly does not shed a lot.

Taking inspiration from my heritage and old watercolor paintings for the tone.

Me (18) taking inspiration from me at age (11) with old watercolor paintings produced when learning about ancient Greece and Egypt in year 5

References from https://lykeionellinidon.com/el/ sylloges/topikes-kai-astikoy-typoyendymasies-kai-kosmimata

LIVE CONTINUOUS MOVEMENT DRAWINGS AT THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF ART

This class was truly incredible, It forced me out of my comfort zone with the intense time limit of following every movement frame by frame. it was virtually impossible to be a perfectionist. At the end of the class my work was showcased and I left feeling quite happy.

this was the last final piece created in the class, I began to understand what it really means to construct a figure within a space, rather than drawing it in isolation.

• The negative space around the figure is just as important as the figure itself.

In regards to fashion, garments are shaped by who is wearing them and the context in which they are seen, meaning space, movement, and presence are as significant as the design itself.

Lifeguard tower oil painting

Reference pictures taken by me in Miami

Did not execute colors well. Failed painting

Unfinished portrait oil painting in 15 hour mock

All street photography –reference images taken by me

Charcoal drawings to experiment with scale (A2)before painting

Monochromatic finished oil painting

Final piece in art

These portraits sit between progress and completion. While areas such as the backgrounds and final glazing are still to be finished, key elements particularly the faces, are fully resolved. This stage allows me to stake some time away from it and then assess the contrast and the emotional intensity that I want to evoke before refining surrounding details.

These two pieces are based around the question "do you see the glass half full or half empty" ( I'd love to elaborate in person )

The second portrait in video to view the brushstrokes.