Jackie Chou — Final Project Documentation

(Not sure why this is sideways)

 

My Intention:
My intention was to create a map of the Bay Area, where I’m from. It’s a very special area to me because I was raised there and I consider it to be one of the most unique places ever. My starting inspiration for the project was my existing interest in maps and the research I did for Alexandra Kehayouglou, my Textiles Talk subject. At first, I wanted this project to be a less abstract, more direct political representation of the Bay Area.

 

My Process:
My starting sketches:

 

As you can see, my first sketch had the idea of using different colored fabrics for the different metro areas, but it also included labels/words and more granular details.

I started by projecting a map of the bay area onto muslin and drawing the different contours and features. I ended up using this piece as a template to cut out fabric, so I used another piece of muslin as the actual base of the map.

I used a mix of fabrics scraps from the bins in class as well as fabrics I purchased at LOOM in the strip district.
Because my pieces of fabric weren’t big enough to cover entire areas (except for the blue ocean/bay) so I ended up using a bit of a collage technique, with small cut pieces of fabric and iron-on headband.

I primarily matched fabrics using color, so that green areas were done with green textured fabrics, and I chose an interesting grey, lightly colored pattern to represent developed urban areas in the map. I kept on doing this until I covered the entire surface.

Along the way, I found a few representative, special fabrics that I could incorporate into the map. This included an computer-y chip fabric for Silicon Valley, a boat pattern to represent the port of Oakland, and also a funny patterned fabric with shirtless lumberjacks to represent gay culture in San Francisco.

I think I learned a lot about creating accurate forms with textiles in this project with techniques that I borrowed from previous experience and also Alexandra Kehayoglou (her projection technique).

Your Learning
I learned a lot about technique, but also ways of planning the framework and executing a large project with a few complex steps, rather than just a single weaving or aspect of a project. I also think I learned more about the storytelling property of maps, as well as textiles, and how those can work together to crate something interesting. If I were to continue or do something differently, I would remove the “map” details (scale, directional arrows, etc) and keep it bare, or do the opposite and really embellish it with a lot more details like latitude/longitude, a key, etc

 

Details:

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