KT Doyle
Artist > Designer > Maker, Australia

Craft articulating Culture

However, as a grid, the bead structure does not appear complete, featuring worn edges and areas of the design punctuated by holes. As certain areas of this textile image are eroded visually, so too are they eroded metaphorically. Berger (1984) refers to the central point being where a horizontal and a vertical line intersect. Metaphorically, the vertical line links the heavens with the underworld while the horizontal line marks out all of the possible directions to follow on earth. At this central point one is close to the gods and ancestors, as well as being at both the starting point and returning point for all journeys in this life. The digital works intend to embody a representation of textiles worn with the vertical and horizontal passage of time. These works are a fragment of a journey: a site at which the past and present, and the physical and metaphorical intersect. In fact, the very concept of the Digital Rug as metaphor for the weaving together of these journeys through the interlacing of implied warp and weft is pivotal to the inception of these works.

Figures 8, 9, 10

Further to this, Digital Rugs 4, 5 and 6 share a common source image in their design, the brick as both building block with structural significance and motif as the textile bead and contemporary lozenge shape. A computer-manipulated photograph of a brick wall with a striking combination of markings and colouration, created during the kiln firing process, provided this key motif. The geometry and initial colours were reminiscent of those found in works by The Bauhaus weavers, and the construction analogous to that of loom weaving. The similarity between the way in which a brick wall is built and textiles are constructed, by starting at one end and finishing at the other, became a key signifier to the metaphoric potential of an image created using this as motif. The relationship between the bead, the brick and the pixel was also of great value in exploring the connections between textiles and the computer as a tool in the construction of design.

COLOUR

Whilst two of the most important considerations in textile creation are that of structure and motif, colour cannot be disassociated from the initial conception of the work. The colour palette developed for these series was significant in positioning the work within the extensive global language of colour.

The colours in the original imagery were manipulated and pulled to extremes to create sharp, acidic colours with a range of tonalities to add depth and contrast to the overall design. The resulting exhibition of the works was titled, ‘Acid Weave’, and highlighted the major role that colour plays in the impact of textile based work.

Of course, colour is a predominant factor in delivering subtle and emotional content in advertising. In this case, the printed page and television screen carry the weight of psychological persuasion in the mind of the consumer, influencing mood, taste and desire. In the digital works, colour was used both for impact and to position the work within the spectrum of contemporary design practice that uses intense colour in the communication of meaning and emotional content to the viewer.