Angol Saxon Attitude

I have browsed the internet for a while to find designers and artists who have used Anglo Saxon archaeology as direct inspiration, I have not come across much, although I did find this shoot for vogue UK December 1993:

"Anglo Saxon Attitude"

The shoot is grungy and dark, there are knitted patterns which remind me of the embossing on the Saxon treasures, but again there is no clear direct inspiration taken from the patterns in Anglo Saxon archeology.

Lino prints

I have been inspired by the English Eccentrics to experiment with block printing. They used wood block printing, however I have used lino as it is easier to cut intricate patterns into.

The print design is taken from one of the drawings I did of a gold belt buckle. I picked out key shapes I liked from the drawing:

 

 

I chose this particular fabric to print on as it reminded me of bark cloth...

a fabric used by tribal people across Asia, Africa and the Pacific islands. I wanted to include this information to link back to how Henry Moore was inspired by tribal historical references as was I inspired by the Maori tribe. I also think the lino print itself has turned out looking quite tribal.

 

A huge advantage of printing using a block printing method is that it allows rubbings to be made of the surface, which has meant I was able to explore how I wanted my pattern to repeat before physically inking it up and printing it. 

Working over the top of one of the rubbings in ink. I wanted to add greater detail to the potential print, reflect the amazing details on the Sutton Hoo treasures. The pattern I did ontop of the rubbings was again, like the print itself, taken from one of my original drawings.

 

Photoshop of the Lino rubbing I worked into above, showing how the design could potentially look if turned into a home furnishing fabric.

I have lino printed a second piece of fabric. I used one of the two lino blocks I used in the first print, but worked into it further, creating more scratches and areas of detail. I wanted to give the print more of a hand drawn quality, however I feel I should have scratched into it even further to achieve the effect I wanted.

I printed in a dark red to reflect the garnets in a shoulder clasp I draw from.

 Above I explored drawing into the lino using Biro, inspired the liner sketchy style of Henry Moore's prints, however, I don't think the Biro was a strong enough drawing medium compared against the bold ink of the lino print. I draw in blue and black Biro to see if one was stronger then the other, but they both looked faint against the lino print. I  used blue as I was inspired by the many intense colours of the gems in the Sutton Hoo treasures.

English Eccentrics Prints

The English Eccentrics are a group of print designers who became popular in the 1980's for their fun, creative hand printed garments. They to took inspiration from historical sources, with references to mythology, medieval England and renaissance influences. I have done quite a lot of previous research on the English Eccentrics in my contextual study, where I look at how artist and designers are influenced by historical references.

I'm attracted to how the English Eccetrics work. They transform paintings and drawings in their sketchbooks directly into prints for clothing and accessorize. I like how they work loose with a free approach to design and print, mixing different methods of print and layering images. There is a fabulous book called 'English Eccentrics: The Textile Designs of Helen Littman', in which photographs of the original sketchbook pages are seen alongside the finished print.

Some photocopy's of pages in the book:

 Spirit of the Forest

 The 'Spirit of the Forest' print behind the test in the image above reminds me of this print by Moore,

 They both have swirling patterns and layers of images

Spirit of the Forest, wood block print

Again a print from the 'Spirit of the Forest' series

 I'm interested in the 'Spirit of the Forest' series as it depicts scenes of pagan beliefs and mythology, similar beliefs to those the Anglo Saxons would have had. The Saxons beliefs can be seen on close inspection carved into treasures from the hoard.

Further examples of English Eccentrics prints with historical references, particularly to Greek mythology,

Peace of Women AW86

Mosaic scarf SS80

Hayleys comet SS86

I'm interested in experimenting with mixing print techniques inspired by the English Eccentrics. They often mix print techniques such as screen printing with block printing, giving different surface quality's to the fabric.

Henry Moore Printed Textiles

I have previously mentioned I want to concentrate on print for this part of the project. I feel with the shapes and appearances of the drawings I have been creating, it feels as though the print I will produce will be more suited towards interiors. Henry Moore is an artist who produced a popular range of prints during the 1950's. Not only is it relevant I look at his interior prints, as I aim at producing a print suited to interiors, but also Moore often sought out inspiration from historical sources, as I am doing.

 

 

 Moore was inspired by ancient tribal art from places such as Africa. The style of art he looked at reminds me of the Maori tribal artwork I researched in the last half of my project for my first outcome.

 

 I like how painterly and 'free' Moore's prints are. They are simplified yet still hold lots of details.

Archeological drawings

As the Sutton Hoo treasures are archeological finds, I thought it was important and would be interesting to research the original drawings archeologists had done of the finds, to see how they captured the intricacy of the objects.

Gilded copper alloy roundel, from a shield

Gilded copper alloy axe-shaped pendent

Copper alloy, garnet, ivory and gold sword-fitting

The archeological drawings are very accurate, even mathematical as they record every detail. I have done some drawings in response to looking at the archeological drawings. I wanted to draw with more accuracy compared with the looser style of drawing I was using before. I feel drawing the objects more accurately will allow the amazing details of the treasure to be greater justified.

Shoulder clasps

Square headed brooch

Detail on red shield

I found it difficult drawing very accurately, however I did try to achieve the correct shapes and proportions. I am particularly pleased with the drawing above. The other two are line study's, like the original archeological drawings, however, I really wanted to work into this one with marks to create tone. I feel this keeps it feeling painterly. I am pleased with the outcome and the dimensions the mark making has created.

Drawings

Details from red shield

Drawings I have done of patterns and details in the Sutton Hoo finds. I have experimented with different medias to see how well different drawing utensils capture the intricacy and the free flowing lines of the treasures. I have mainly focused on the details of shapes rather the whole object as I'm more drawn to the impressions of such details. I have built up a collection of drawings which I can later experiment with and transform into prints.

 Red shield

 Shoulder clasps

 Red shield

 Many of my drawings are from the same finds, such as the large red shield, as there is so much design in one objects its difficult to capture many of the elements all in one study.

Belt buckle

Shoulder clasp and buckle

Shoulder clasp

Futher Reaserch on the Treasures

As the Sutton Hoo center holds a limited number of the original Sutton Hoo finds, the rest are kept in the British Museum in London. I have trawled through the enormous amount of archives they have on Sutton Hoo at the British Museum website to find further beautiful treasures from the ship burial for inspiration.

Bead neclace, Gilt copper-alloy composite, cloisonné disc brooch, inlaid with white shell, garnets set over hatched gold foil, and panels of sheet gold decorated with filigree

I'm particularly drawn to the wonderful array of colours in the necklace above. Its fascinating to see how many garnets and gems were accessible as many are exotic, causing the assumption they would have had to travel along way to reach the hand of the craftsman. The middle charm is richly interlaced with tiny patterns of blue and red shapes.

Silver bowl

I'm drawn to the more simple geometric shapes in the bowl above. I have notice many of the objects designs are very symmetrical, this bowl being a good example. I like to appearance of the aged silver and how it has picked up a greater variety of colours as it has aged, such as hues of orange and an acidic green.

Square headed brooch, gilt silver

Silver dish

These black and white photographs are the original photos took in 1939 after the finds had been cleaned. I like that seeing the objects in black and white draws more attention to patterns and shapes, as color is not there to distract.