About art is said, "everything is a remix."
In Dutch we say: there isn’t anything new under the sun.
An interesting thought, don’t you think?.
To quote the words of Jason Silva I heard in an interview with Marie Forleo lately [link] : " .. and everything is build on preexisting knowledge base. Creative people, are people that are able to connect the dots in a new way".
For a Dutch contest of the Dutch Textile Museum ‘I Contest, Print-it!', I took "everything is a remix" literally.
As a basis I drew a flower in bright colors. The flower was inspired by folk art.
I divided this basic rectangle in ‘squares’ and rearranged them. By copying this new basic shape and flip it over two axles, a new pattern arose. I manually traced this pattern in illustrator, so that every part of the pattern got its unique character. The resulting vector file (illustrator) can be repeated into a seamless pattern in any desired scale, depending on the final product and printing process.
The example I scaled for a print of 1x1 meters. I opted for a somewhat larger scale, in this case the details of the creation process and the hand-drawn look and feel of the design are still visible.
The power of a good pattern, in my opinion, includes the composition, use of color and scale. After the first worked out sketches, I gave pretty much attention to these parts of the process.
This design is suitable for silkscreen or block print; the total number of colors have been limited and the colors can be easily separated for the requirements of the print process.
Once printed on textile I can see it in cheerful kitchen textiles, but also other purposes within the home decor are imaginable. I am thinking of the quilting market too. For those who dare: apparel.
Inspiration: Scandinavian folk designs
Tools: (digital) drawing tools, computer and ipad applications.
My contribution to the contest can be found here.
From August 16th till September 5th everyone could vote in the contest gallery.
My contribution received enough votes, the print will be shown to the official jury.
A big thank you for supporting me so generously.
September 14th the final winner will be honored.
All the nominations wil be exhibit in the museum from 11 to 14 september.
Textile Museum/ Textile Lab, The Netherlands
Special recommendation for Print and Pattern lovers
Exhibition Artists Textiles: Picasso to Warhol
June 14th 2014 till September 14th 2014
I Contest, Print it!
A contest for artists and designers.
With a special focus on printing and the pattern design.
Wow, Esther! You sure have been busy, haven’t you! I love the results of all of your creative activity. This design is absolutely beautiful and I would love to have that textile in my home. 🙂 I will definitely go vote for you now. Good luck, my friend!
Wow, Dawn. Thanks a lot. Haha and yes I’ve been quite busy lately. Thank you for taking time to walk through the pages of the website. And your vote is so much appreciated. It would be a lovely promotion if my work was shown to the jury. Thank you 🙂
Geweldig ontwerp Esther!
Dank je wel, Richard. Ik begrijp hier uit dat je ook je stem hebt gegeven? Fantastisch en natuurlijk heel erg bedankt. Leuk om je reactie hier terug te lezen. 🙂
[…] week my design‘Everything is a Remix’ was nominated as one of the thirty that will be judged by the official jury of the i-Contest, […]