Cloth and Human Experience

This module is available to learners who have no previous knowledge or experience of textiles.  People have an innate, complex and intimate relationship with cloth and it is our silent companion in life. This module explores this relationship, with emphasis on textiles as a material and conceptual tool.  The term textile here refers to  the following realms: textile industry, textile craft (mechanical or artisan), social and cultural, economic or political, rather than foregrounding a technique or industrial/commercial production process. The learner is encouraged to reflect and respond to one of these textile sites. The learner’s personal ideas and aesthetic sense is developed through materials and process unique to textiles.

1. Develop an understanding of diverse contemporary art practices where cloth is both a material and a concept. Learners will be able to discuss their own work from a critically aware perspective and be able to make comparisons with the work of other contemporary artists who employ textile and cloth in their practices.

2. Make an informed decision on a personal area of interest by exploring the medium of textile and its relationship to humanity.

3. Design a self-directed project to include research methodologies, combined material and concept exploration through to realisation, informed by the learner's individual unfolding practice.

4. The ability to understand and utilize lateral thinking, textile material, and problem solving exercises in their work practices.

5. Will develop abilities in textile making through a range of practical undertakings in workshops, and will be able to critically document progression and observations through ongoing sketch and process books.

6. Contribute to peer learning by demonstrating the ability to conceptualize and articulate in appropriate language their work process in lectures, group seminars, tutorials and peer critiques