Concept Development: C. Module to Textile

Reflection:

After submitting my textile to the production company, Spoonflower, I knew that I was pleased with my final design, as I had been fussing with color schemes and patterns for a while. I finally decided with this pattern that rotated the module by 120 degrees and then had them meet in the middle in a radial fashion. I did this because it emphasized the idea of coming together, one of my main focuses in the project. I decided in the end to eliminate color from the design, as my photo inspiration was black and white and it followed my concept of diversity (with the color contrast). Overall, I am very pleased with the way it turned out; I love the design and the way the design stands out against the black background, who knows maybe when this process is all over I’ll have fabric to make my self a sweatshirt!

Concept Statement:

The old photograph of Washington State students gathered on a train that carried them across the state provides the inspiration behind this textile design. The connection between these students and the current students implies the movement from past to present. While train appears to trail into the distance, there is a connection to the time these students spent at the college because it too has faded into the past. The application of this idea to the textile is apparent through the double lines that meet in groupings of three at the center of the module, and then are linked to others, allowing the mind to conjure the words of movement, connections and the transformation from past to present. The color scheme for the design was derived from the photo too, as the photo is in black and white. This connects to the idea by recognizing not only the nostalgic and historic quality of the photo, but also emotionally as white is seen as new and pure, or present and future; and black represents the distant shadows, old things already discovered, which is the past.