Application to Arts Trust Scotland Thursday 21st February 2013 Project Title: Colour-Ecology Kathy Beckett www.kathybeckett.co.uk www.colour-ecology.co.uk To aid the project Colour-Ecology, highlight the growing importance for ecological/sustainable creative practice via the purchase of vital equipment. I am a textile artist, designer and researcher and within this an avid colourist. Colour has always been intrinsic to my work and over the past few years I have concentrated on developing a broad knowledge of colour theory. Since graduating from The Glasgow School of Art (The GSA) in June 2012 with BA(hons) Design:Textiles I have focussed my interests particularly on researching the potential impact that textile dyeing can have on the environment. This is important to me because my graduate work used high impact methods of production. In particular I used glass fusing techniques involving a great deal of gas, and the textile work used over 100 different colours (please see supporting portfolio). After participating in Uist Wool's CALANAS workshops in Autumn 2012 I was given a strong foundation of knowledge about wool processing and natural dyeing techniques. I learnt about aspects of textiles that as a textile practitioner I felt I should have known all along. The knowledge I gained on the workshops twinned with my early research into human-ecology captured my imagination and has inspired me to pursue the project Colour-Ecology. Over the past six months I have been building on this research and I am excited to share what I have learnt with others. In January I participated in Pecha Kucha 14: Colour at The Lighthouse delivering a presentation titled 'The Environmental Cost of Colour'. I then went on to extend this talk in early February for the current Textile and Fashion students at The GSA giving a more in depth talk 'The Cost of Colour' looking at the social and environmental impact that pigment and dye production/manufacture can have. While a great deal of the work I am doing is research based, I believe it is vital to maintain a practical understanding to the project Colour-Ecology. The focus of which is to encourage textile practitioners and any other creative practitioners working with pigments/colour to understand the environmental impact of their medium. I am currently working on a range of fabrics that I hope to create large scale knitted pieces from. Arts Trust funding will help me to purchase vital tools that will further my practice and aid my learning in this topic – facilitating my continuous development as a self-employed textile practitioner/teacher specialising in environmentally low impact textiles.
Colour-Ecology : The Project (please see attached budget for material INPUTS. Care has been taken to source second hand or refurbished equipment where possible. I have also attempted to use local suppliers.)
The Textile Industry is the number one polluter of water in the world. This pollution largely comes from the process of dyeing fibres and fabric with toxic chemicals. These chemicals can change the pH balance of water affecting soil and plant growth, they can pollute drinking water, and can directly affect people's skin and health. Colour-Ecology aims to uncover the facts around this issue and to investigate possible lower impact alternatives, such as natural dyeing.
The project will unfold in multiple stages outlined below. 1. Dye plants/ herbs will be planted in a garden space and grown (my own garden or possibly LegUp common good land ElderPark Govan). (March/April 3013) 2. Colour-Ecology collection – I will personally produce 3 large scale pieces of knitted fabric (0.6m x 3m). Knitted from un-dyed fibres, natural dyed fibres, synthetic/coloured fibres (using up yarns that I already own in order to present the other view point).The production of these pieces will aid my learning process and knowledge of natural textile dyeing vs. synthetic use, which I can then transfer forward in part 4, the pieces will also act as examples in part 4. (March-August 2013) 3. Plants will be harvested, some wild plants will be foraged (native and plentiful Scottish plants like Ivy, Privet, Dandilion, Nettles, Heather, Gorse – extra care is taken to forage responsibly1). (late August due to growing season) OUTPUTS -Renewable dye resource, three large scale pieces, collection of dye stuff. 4.1 Colour-Ecology symposium - A two day workshop/symposium will be held, possibly in a space like the New Glasgow Society on Argyle Street or Verge of Glasgow Artist Studios in Govan (The Verge and LegUp combination would be preferential due to locality) 2. These are both spaces that have a great deal of natural light and are very open, they also allow a certain amount of spectating to take place – the public are free to gaze at the happenings of the event and it becomes a form of performance in itself. The event will be well documented in order to create an awareness film. (late August early September 2013) During the two days I will organise speakers including myself and invite other creative practitioners (or general public) who are interested and active in making their practices low impact and environmentally friendly. Alongside these informal discussions I will run workshops where we will prepare the dye that has been harvested and we will dye wool yarn and knit large scale pieces of fabric. Day one: -introduction to 'Cost of Colour' -preparing dyestuff -dyeing yarns -yarns dried -further talks/working groups - exploring the dye garden/ learning about the plants -beginning collaborative drawings Day two: -yarns are wound onto cones ready for knitting -drawings are taken into analogue pattern formatting and digital pattern formatting, we can begin to test patterns. -utilising the electronic and the analogue (my existing machine) knitting machines we will aim to produce at least two large scale pieces of fabric that can be exhibited. While the fabrics are designed in a participatory method, they will be curated to a certain extent by myself. 1. Under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act it is illegal to uproot any wild plant without the permission of the owner or occupier of the land. It is also illegal to pick, uproot, collect the seed from or sell any of 107 particularly rare or vulnerable species. 2 Please note that no specific spaces have yet been secured for the project and the above are simply suggestions.
4.2 We would then hope to curate the work produced over the two days in the existing space in to an informal but organised exhibition, sharing the work the group has produced. OUT PUTS - at least two large scale pieces of collaboratively made fabric approximately 0.6 m x 3m. (One analogue, one digital.) An informally curated show of the work produced and short documentary. 5.Exhibition at a larger public gallery with an atrium space (e.g. The Lighthouse). The documentary of the Colour-Ecology symposium will be shown alongside the minimum of 5 large scale pieces and an edited collection of working drawings from the project. (September-October 2013) OUTPUTS – edited/curated exhibition of all work from the project 'Colour-Ecology'. Throughout the five stages of the project I will be updating the website www.colour-ecology.co.uk to act as a resource for people who are interested in the topic. Arts Trust funding will not only aid the outlined stages of the project but it will also contribute to this online resource. I will also be facilitating an informal Sustainability Working Group that plans to meet monthly in order to discuss what we as creative practitioners are doing to tackle the growing concern of sustainability. Everything I learn throughout the project Colour-Ecology will be shared at these group meetings in the hope to encourage others to pursue similar interests. The project hopes to introduce traditional techniques with a contemporary twist. Illustrating that traditional methods, like foraging for and growing renewable resources, can be combined with modern methods of production. It seeks to make creative practitioners and consumers aware that their choices have power and these choices come with a responsibility. It also hopes to engage people with the valuable resource that is our environment acknowledging that if we are to rely on it for our economy and existence we must treat it with respect and care.
Budget and Expenditure