TEXTILES, MIXED MEDIA: EXPLORING APPLIQUE AND COLLAGE TECHNIQUES

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TEXTILES, MIXED MEDIA: EXPLORING APPLIQUE AND COLLAGE TECHNIQUES

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Department of Arts

72 Pages 8,438 Words 2,246 Views PDF Format No. of Chapters: 1 to 5 Chapters

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial

fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of

wool, flax, cotton, or other materials. Textiles are formed by weaving, knitting,

crocheting, knotting, or pressing fibres together (Balter, 2009).

The words fabric and cloth are used in textile assembly trades (such as tailoring

and dressmaking) as synonyms for textile. However, there are subtle differences in these

terms in specialized usage. Textile refers to any material made by interlacing fibres

(Abamowicz, 1998). Fabric refers to any material made through weaving, knitting,

spreading, crocheting, or bonding that may be used in production of further goods

(garments, etc.). Cloth may be used synonymously with fabric but often refers to a

finished piece of fabric used for a specific purpose (e.g., table cloth). The word textile is

from Latin, from neuter of textilis, woven, from textus, past participle of texere, to weave

(Bethany, 2008).

The discovery of dyed flax fibres in a cave in the Republic of Georgia dated

34,000BC suggests textile-like materials were made even in prehistoric times (Scheman,

2002). The production of textiles is a craft whose speed and scale of production has been

altered almost beyond recognition by industrialization and the introduction of modern

manufacturing techniques. However, for the main types of textiles, plain weave, twill, or

satin weave, there is little difference between the ancient and modern methods (Lazarov,

2004). Incas have been crafting quipus (or khipus) made of fibres either from a protein,

such as spun and plied thread like wool or hair; from camelids such as alpacas, llamas,

and camels or from a cellulose like cotton for thousands of years. Khipus are a series of

knots along pieces of string. They have been believed to only have acted as a form of

accounting, although new evidence conducted by Harvard professor, Gary Urton,

indicates there may be more to the khipu than just numbers (Abamowicz, 1998).

Preservation of khipus found in museum and archive collections follow general textile

preservation principles and practice. Before the 15th century, textiles were only in a few

towns but during the 15th century, textiles were the largest single industry and they

shifted into districts like East Anglia, and the Cotswold (Scheman, 2002). The picture

below shows Sunday textile market on the sidewalks of Karachi, Pakistan.

Textile fabrics are decorated in different ways. Decorations are done either

directly on the loom, by varying the colours and fineness of warp and weft yarns, or by

decorating woven cloth by dyeing, painting, collaging or using appliqué methods.

Appliqué is a method of cloth decoration which has become popular in many African

countries such as Ghana, Sierra-Leone and Cameroon (Godden, 2008). However, in

Nigeria, this method of cloth decoration has not been given desirable attention by

traditional artists.

There are reasons to account for this. The first is derived from the fact that many

contemporary Nigerian artists especially seem to work in diverse media such as Clay,

water colour, plaster of paris, wood, among others. Textile artists in particular opt for the

use of fibre rope, tie and dye, dyes for fibric printing and other pliable media.

Textile exhibitions tend to concentrate only on wearing apparels for the

promotion of tourism, and strictly, for economic and commercial profits to the neglect of

creative textiles in such areas as mixed media and textile sculpture. In this instance, one

can readily recall that a textile artist, by name, Ifedioramma Dike, has devoted his creative energy to the exploration of indigenous textile ideas, materials and forms to

produce unique products. Art traditions in Nigeria are filled with the use, and

application of appliqué and collage, in producing veritable works of art. Among the Igbo,

the maiden spirit mask players in the Awka area, the monumental Ekwe masquerades, the

latter with strong tradition among the Nsukka Igbo, provide good examples of artistic

brilliance and richness which can be achieved with the appliqué. What this suggests is

that while masking traditions in Igbo land, for example, provide adaptive potentials for

effective, and aesthetically driven textile creation, contemporary textile artistsâ€Ÿ designers

have not taken advantage of this. Pleasing textures, contrasting colours in their chromatic

balance, and even brilliance, complimented by enhancing production of techniques,

remain a creative challenge to the textile artists. It is therefore of research interest to

explore into the manifold potentials of collage and appliqué for designing contemporary

wearing apparels, and other aspects of creative textiles. This is the challenge facing

present research effort over the issue of adapting and exploring into appliqué and collage

techniques, using conventional and unconventional materials.

Conventional materials are conceived mainly as imported textile fabrics as well as

those produced by various textile mills in Nigeria. Unconventional materials, on the other

hands, refer to those discarded fragments of fabrics and other discarded materials from

the immediate environment.

These can be adapted inventively and by improvisation, in producing textile art

forms. Appliqué has been described as the application of pieces of fabrics cut to the

surface of another. It is a rather heavy and unattractive way of constructing most

attractive and decorative art. In appliqué, areas of fabrics are cut out and stitched onto the background fabrics in a variety of ways depending on the use of the finished work,

whether it is to be utilitarian or decorative (Agujiobi, 2002).

Textiles have an assortment of uses, the most common of which are for clothing

and containers such as bags and baskets. In the household, they are used in carpeting,

upholstered furnishings, window shades, towels, covering for tables, beds, and other flat

surfaces, and in art. In the workplace, they are used in industrial and scientific processes

such as filtering. Miscellaneous uses include flags, backpacks, tents, nets, cleaning

devices such as handkerchiefs and rags, transportation devices such as balloons, kites,

sails, and parachutes, in addition to strengthening in composite materials such as

fibreglass and industrial geotextiles. Children can learn using textiles to make collages,

sew, quilt, and toys.

Textiles used for industrial purposes, and chosen for characteristics other than

their appearance, are commonly referred to as technical textiles. Technical textiles

include textile structures for automotive applications, medical textiles (for example:

implants), geotextiles (reinforcement of embankments), agrotextiles (textiles for crop

protection), protective clothing (for example: against heat and radiation for fire fighter

clothing, against molten metals for welders, stab protection, and bullet proof vests). In all

these applications stringent performance requirements must be met. Woven threads

coated with zinc oxide, nanowires, laboratory fabric has been shown capable of "self-

powering nanosystems" using vibrations created by everyday actions like wind or body

movements (Green, 2009).

Many artists have explored the use of fabric and stitch in mixed-media art, but

often do not have the time or desire to create big quilts or complicated sewn pieces. Easy

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