Academic literature on the topic 'Carving (Decorative arts) New Zealand'

In this article, the author explores previously lost techniques and practices associated with reproducing a New Zealand Māori wood carving of a poupou (panel) that was collected by Joseph Banks in October 1769 from a partly-constructed house on Pourewa Island, Tolaga Bay (Ūawa), North Island. The original poupou, a rare Māori artefact that pre-dates European influence, is curated today in the University Museum, Tübingen. A conference in Oslo, Norway, in 2014, provided the author, a tohunga whakairo (master carver), with the opportunity to demonstrate the use of Māori pre-steel tools, notably pounamu (greenstone) and argillite toki (adzes), greenstone and toroa whao (albatross bone chisels), and hardwood tā (carving mallets). The unique, historically inspired and practice-led empirical research undertaken in carving the poupou has helped to recover previously lost indigenous wood-carving knowledge. The replica poupou, carved in totara ( Podocarpus totara) and coated in kokowai (ochre), was subsequently completed at, and donated to, the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum in Middlesbrough, UK. The empirical approach to this research required detailed analysis as well as experimental archaeology and ethnography. The carving of the poupou honours the legacy of one of the most famed Māori carving centres and traditional higher schools of learning of pre-European times, namely Te Rāwheoro.

The art of carving, known as carving, or decoration with various flora, fauna, figurative and even geometric motifs which is an ornate image with some parts being concave and some parts convex both horizontally and vertically and elliptically arranged in a very beautiful image. (Study of Cultural Anthropology)(1) The carvings, which are known in the works of Decorative Arts, still survive and are in demand and are found in various areas such as the Biak Numfor Islands, Yapen Islands, Waropen Wondama Bay and various other areas that are included in the Kuripasai cultural family, Mananarmakeri, and Sairei. A special highlight in this writing is the carving motifs that are still practiced by carving craftsmen in Woinap Village, Wonawa District, Yapen Islands Regency, where until now there are very few carvers. This carving motif was inspired by the legend of "Suandei" by Drs. Frits Maurid Kirihio, alumni of the University of Leyden, the Netherlands, in the 1950s, who was recorded in the book “Dongen Tanah Kita,(2) Descriptive analysis method is a method used to analyze data by describing or describing the data that has been collected as it is without intending to make conclusions that apply to generalization or generalization, Sugiyono (2014:21)(3) Excellence Carving motifs based on beliefs that have been practiced so far in the village of Woinap, Yapen Islands Regency. or skulls, all of which are manifested and the decorations that are usually displayed on family tools such as boats, wooden pans (sempe) art tools (tifa) net buoys, all take symbolic or philosophical meanings from their original form.(4) The indigenous people of Woinap are a community categorized as living in the outermost area of ​​the Yap . Islands Regency en and still isolated from the rapid development of the era. However, it cannot be separated from local wisdom techniques that are often adopted from neighboring areas which are more innovative in people's lifestyles because culture is dynamic and always moves with the times, so the people of Woinap also move with the habit of living with the times by way of -a new way that is still considered cultural even though indigenous cultural values ​​have been eroded.(5) The cultural heritage of the Papuan people in the saireri strait region, especially the unique carving art of the Woinap community, has an economic potential that can bring ecotourism and increase the PAD of the Islands district government Yapen.(6)

This study aims to understand and explain the problems of aesthetic adaptation through the development of ceramic art design in Mayong Lor Village as a cultural strategy in facing market competition to maintain the local characteristics. The research data was through by participant observation technique, in-depth interview, and document data tracking. The results show the following: First, the type of ceramic products can be classified into four categories, namely: 1) celengan (piggy banks), (2) childrens toys/remitance (keg, jars, cups, glasses, plates, paso, teapots, earrings, angklo, kekep) , (3) glassware for household purposes, such as jugs, kendil, padasan, and cowek, (4) decorative items (vases, jars, pots, wuwungan tiles, pencil pot, souvenirs, and carving. Aesthetically, the expression on ceramic pottery of Mayong Lor Village is simple and non-complicated as well as prioritizes the aspect of physical function which is oriented to economic value. Second, the social and cultural environment of Mayong Lor society creates typical patterns of interaction and lifestyle (with the support of its natural resources) resulting in the process of skill transfer of ceramic pottery traditionally from generation to generation and produces a unique and simple ceramic product. Third, in the midst of the strong influence of modern industrial pressures, the craftsmen struggle in the process of creativity by performing an aesthetic adaptation to develop new design with new artistic and economical values as the embodiment of a cultural strategy to maintain the creative potential of their local arts.

AbstractThere is no lack of literature on Hendrik Willem Mesdag (1831-1915) in his capacity of an art collector. Most of it focuses on the collection in the museum which the painter built in The Hague in 1886 and presented to the nation in 1903 (note 1). Little or no attention has hitherto been paid however to the large collection of fine and decorative art that was kept at the time of Mesdag's death on July 10 1915 in his house, which adjoined the museum. The greater and most important part of this collection was eventually sold in New York in 1920 and thereafter dispersed. It is not known what criteria Mesdag applied in consigning items from his collection to the museum or keeping them in his home. No clear-cut distinction can be made between the kind of objects in his house and the museum. In both locations the tone is set bv the Barbizon and Hague Schools. Concerned about the future of his most prestigious creation, the enormous Panorama of Scheveningen, better known as the Mesdag Panorama, Mesdag set up a limited company in 1910 for the purpose of maintaining and exploiting the Panorama and the building that housed it. He gave the shares to his future heirs. Under the terms of his Will, his house and its contents were to pass to the Panorama shareholders on his death. The nation had the first option to purchase, which suggests that Mesdag wanted his house and a major part of his private collection to go along with the museum. Since there was a war on, the government regarded the purchase as imprudent. Part of the inventory was sold among the family, but the most important items were put up for auction. The auctioneer Frederik Muller & Cie compiled an illustrated catalogue. Before it was ready, however, the American art dealer J. F. Henson made an offer for the whole collection. The auction was cancelled, and the catalogue was published in a limited edition of 125 numbered copies (note 3 1). After the war most of the collection was shipped to America and auctioned in New York. A completely new catalogue was printed for the occasion (note ; 35). The said catalogues and a series of photographs of the interior convey an impression of the size and quality of the collection in Mesdag's home. There Mesdag left an important collection of paintings and drawings from the Barbizon School, including fourteen drawings by Millet (figs.4 and 5). Antonio Mancini is amply represented in the museum with fifteen paintings and pastels, but that is a mere fraction of the total number of works by Mancini amassed by Mesdag. He naturally possessed a large amount of his own work, as well as paintings and drawings by other artists of the Hague School (figs. 6 and 7). His collection of 17th-century masters was less important. Even so, Mesdag had a marked preference for Dutch 16th and 17th-century artefacts, witness the oak panels, furniture and other items of decorative art in his studio (fig. 2), a taste he shared with painters like Bosboom, Weissenbruch and Jacob Maris (fig. 9). Some of the furniture was quasi Gothic or quasi Renaissance, with ornate fittings and a profusion of carving, in keeping with the 19th-century notion of these styles. The most advanced aspect of Mesdag's collection was a collection of modern china from the Rozenburg factory, designed by Colcnbrander.

The Qutb complex in Delhi contains the array of early Sultanate Period Muslim monuments that demonstrate the earliest artwork development stage of Muslim monuments from 12 to 13th century especially the architecture style and the stone carving patterns that exists in the monuments of this complex like in masjid Quwat-ul Islam (1191 A.D), Qutab Minar (1202 A.D), Illttutmish Tomb (1235 A.D), Alai Darwaza (1311 A.D). These splendid monuments have a new architectural style in India. Their beautiful carvings in red sandstone and marble that includes the patterns of arabesque style along with Kufic and Naskh calligraphy, the delicate floral and geometric patterns along with some Hindu motifs that depicts the earliest amalgamation of Hindu and Islamic architecture within the subcontinent. This paper not only aim to explore the architectural plan of this Qutb complex under different monarchs but also the decoration of this Qutb complex, its analysis and the aesthetic changes of design after the amalgamation of two different cultures. This complex is famous not only for its architecture but also for varieties of decorative arts. This paper also attempts to discover not only aesthetics but also the traditional and regional logic for using these motifs. This explorative study is from available historical data and literature. In the end concludes that the amalgamated motifs of decoration was excellent experiment and first addition in the design vocabulary of Indo-Muslim art and architecture. These designs provide serenity and majestic feelings to these monuments and in whole to Qutb complex.

Seni ukiran Palembang telah dikenal luas, seni kerajinan ukir kayu yang lazim disebut Ukiran Palembang. Adapun sentra industri seni kerajinan ukiran kayu Palembang berada di Kampung 19 Ilir, Kecamatan Bukit Kecil, sebelah Barat Masjid Agung Palembang. Kampung 19 Ilir, memproduksi berbagai bentuk perabotan, alat-alat rumah tangga, dan hiasan rumah dengan ukiran kayu khas Palembang. Kegiatan mengukir di Palembang sebelumnya memiliki hubungan erat dengan rumah tradisional adat Palembang, yakni rumah Bari atau rumah Limas. Rumah tradisional yang saat ini masih digunakan oleh masyarakat Sumatera Selatan, khususnya di Palembang dengan segala perlengkapan rumah tangganya. Pertumbuhan ukiran kayu Palembang mengalami pasang surut dengan kondisi sosial dan ekonomi di wilayah tersebut. Seni kerajinan ukiran kayu ini hanya diproduksi oleh keluarga-keluarga tertentu saja, masih banyak masyarakat Palembang dan para perajin beralih mengandalkan penghasilan ekonomi dengan mencari profesi lain. Perubahan yang terjadi pada proses pengolahan bahan kayu yang semakin sulit digunakan, kreasi motif ukiran, dan teknik pengukiran telah bercampur dengan daerah lain seperti Jepara, dan negara luar India, Eropa dan China. Akulturasi ragam hias ini telah menghasilkan suatu bentuk, gaya dan cita rasa baru menambah khasanah ukiran kayu Palembang. Kajian utama penelitian ini dititik beratkan pada kontinuitas, perubahan dan analisis ragam hias pada motif ukiran kayu. Kajian ini menggunakan pendekatan multidisplin, yakni pendekatan sosiologi, dan estetika. Metode penelitian yang digunakan adalah metode kualitatif, dengan analisis deskriptif analitik. Penelitian ini bertujuan menganalisis dan mengidentifikasi perkembangan seni kerajinan ukiran kayu Palembang terhadap kehidupan masyarakat, terutama bagi pelaku budaya tersebut, mengkaji terjadinya perubahan dan perkembangan bentuk, motif ragam hias seni kerajinan ukiran kayu Palembang dan menggali pengetahuan secara mendalam mengenai kebudayaan Palembang.Woodcarving arts from Palembang are widely known and commonly referred ro Ukiran Palembang. The center of woodcarving art industry of Palembang is in Kampung 19 Ilir, District of Bukit Kecil, West of Palembang Grand Mosque. Kampung 19 Ilir, produces various forms of furniture, and home decoration with wooden carving typical of the Palembang style. Woodcarving arts from Palembang previously fostered a very close ralationship with the traditional homes of Palembang, known as the Bari or Limas houses. Bari or Limas houses are Traditional houses that are still used by the people of South Sumatra, especially in Palembang equipped with household accessories made in Palembang. The growth of Palembang woodcarving has experienced fluctuation relative to regional economic conditions Art craft woodcarving is continued only by certain families, as the economic situation of the region causes many craftsmen to search for employment in other industries and professions. Changes in wood processing procedures have caused materials to become increasingly difficult to use. Also, carving motive creations, and engraving techniques have been hybridized with other regions such as Jepara, and countries outside India, Europe and China. The acculturation of this decorative variety has resulted in new forms, styles and flavors adding to the treasures of Palembang woodcarvings.

The article is based on the data of the field researches carried out by the author in the north-eastern regions of the Republic of Bashkortostan (Duvansky, Mechetlinsky and Belokotaysky Districts) in 2011-2014. In late 19th - early 20th centuries, this territory was part of stans 3 and 4 of the Zlatoustovsky District of the Ufa Province. Most of the Russian population of this area were the “Kunguryaks”, the descendants of immigrants from the northern lands (the former Perm and Vyatka Provinces). The author of the article considers the traditions of wood processing that existed in the Russian villages within the area under study in late 19th - early 20th centuries. Most objects required in the household and in everyday life were made from wood: there were many carved, chiselled, bent objects as well as those braided from rod, birch bark, and bast in the peasant’s house, they were daily used in all spheres of life. Many crafts and trades were connected with wood processing: carpentry, cooperage, joinery, etc. In the villages, there were wood carvers and “painters”, who turned wooden objects into pieces of decorative and applied arts. The traditions of wood processing were brought by the “Kunguryaks” from their historical homeland and they have much in common with the traditions of the Russian North. Among the artistic images of wood carving, there are both ancient amulets - images of ducks, horses, the sun, and Christian symbols - images of a cross, a chalice with grape bunches. In the painting on wood, both the Ural and Vyatka traditions are notable. The article fills in the gaps in the studies of the traditional culture of the Russian ethnos that for now is investigated unevenly in various regions, and the author introduces new material on its material culture into scientific use.

"One Life’s Mission: Lajos Pákei’s Role in Establishing the Industrial Museum and the Industrial School in Cluj. The development of museums and schools of industry took place in some important industrial cities of the Dual-Monarchy, a part of the capitals in Salzburg, Graz, Prague, Brno, Czernowitz starting from the 1870-1880s. In the last quarter of the 19th century several school and some museum buildings of industry were erected in Hungary. Some of these new edifices were capable of performing dual, educational and museum tasks due to their special spaces: their list includes Ödön Lechner’s Museum of Applied Arts in Budapest, Alajos Hauszmann’s Technologic Museum of Industry in Budapest and Lajos Pákei’s Museum of Industry in Kolozsvár (Cluj Napoca). It is exactly in this period that Lajos Pákei graduated from Theophil Hansen’s studio in Vienna, and soon after, in 1880 he became chief architect of the city of Kolozsvár. In his new position the young architect played a prominent role in the infrastructural and institutional modernization of the city. One of the biggest investments of the city focused on the reshaping of the industrial institutional structure – this process was articulated around the foundation of the Museum and School of Industry of the city. Acting also as the director and professor of architectural disciplines in the school of industry of the city he had a significant impact on the development of a master builder, stone and wood carving classes and moreover in the curriculum of the educational profile of the institution. Lajos Pákei followed the architectural principles of Camillo Sitte in terms of urban city planning in Kolozsvár under the influence of the Austrian architects work published in 1889 entitled Der Städtebau nach seinen künstlerischen Grundsätzen. Kolozsvár, the par excellence renaissance town of historic Hungary. The town was the birthplace of the last great medieval king of Hungary, the earliest renaissance ruler over the Alps, King Mathias (1443-1490) whose political and cultural legacy as national king and the town’s long goldsmith and woodcarving activity have become a points of reference the late 19th century discourse on the modernization of Kolozsvár. Lajos Pákei was one of the members of the first generation of architects having accomplished their studies in the new political circumstances related to the creation of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Lajos Pákei in Kolozsvár has completed diverse missions simultaneously such as did Camillo Sitte in Vienna or Joseph Leitzner in Czernowitz: he actively reshaped the urban spaces of his city, made architectural plans for the industrial museum and school, as director he influenced the educational profile of the school of industry and the acquisition policy of the museum of industry. Lajos Pákei prepared several plans for this building of dual function through almost first fifteen years. After a number of design changes the museum-school building was finally built between 1896 and 1898. Due to the rapidly growing collection, the shift in the acquisition policy from technological profile to applied arts objects, the growing number of students soon it became too small, and the construction of a purely museum building has become necessary. The building of the museum of industry has been erected in 1903–1904 opposite the previous one, according to the plans of Lajos Pákei. The first, museum-school building followed the construction principles of Hungarian secondary school architecture of its time, including a centrally positioned external wing for the technological collection. The second one – planned purely for museum purposes – followed the latest example of applied art museum buildings, the one of Joseph Schulz in Prague built in 1897–1901. The history of two buildings of Lajos Pákei in Kolozsvár reflect the specialization of educational and museum spaces, the characteristics of the changing models in industrial education and presentation of the changing profile of the collection as “ideal of a modern museum” as an attempt to develop. The study interprets the foundation and the management of the museum and school of industry as the lifetime project of Lajos Pákei in the context of architectural modernization (both in education and practice) in the Dual Monarchy and in the theoretical framework of urban planning. Keywords: urban planning, museum of industry, vocational education, decorative arts, museum of decorative arts "

This edition is the first issue of Dewa Ruci’s Journal, in which all articles are in English. We deliberately changed the language of publication to English to facilitate information delivery to a wider audience. We realize that English is the official language for many countries rather than other languages in this world. The number of people who have literacy awareness and need scientific information about visual and performing arts regarding the archipelago’s cultural arts is also quite large.The decision to change the language of publication to English does not mean that we do not have nationalism or are not in love with the Indonesian language. This change is necessary to foster the intensity of scientific interaction among writers who are not limited to Indonesia’s territory alone. We desire that the scientific ideas outlined in Dewa Ruci’s Journal are read by intellectual circles of the arts internationally. We also want to express our scientific greetings to art experts from countries in New Zealand, the USA, Australia, Europe, especially Britain, and other English-speaking countries such as the Philippines, India, Pakistan, Zimbabwe, the Caribbean, Hong Kong, South Africa, and Canada. Of course, a change in English will also benefit intellectuals from countries that have acquired English as a second language, such as Malaysia, Brunei, Israel, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka. In essence, Dewa Ruci’s Journal editor wants to invite writers to greet the scientific community at large.We are grateful that six writers can greet the international community through their articles. The first is Tunjung Atmadi and Ika Yuni Purnama, who wrote an article entitled “Material Ergonomics on Application of Wooden Floors in the Interior of the Workspace Office.” This article discusses office interiors that are devoted to workspaces. The purpose of this study is to share knowledge about how to take advantage of space-forming elements in the interior design of a workspace by utilizing wooden floors like parquet. The focus is on choosing the use of wood by paying attention to the elements in its application. This research result has a significant meaning in the aesthetics, comfort, and safety of wooden floors in the workspace’s interior and its advantages and disadvantages.The second writer who had the opportunity to greet the Dewa Ruci Journal audience was intellectuals with diverse expertise, namely Taufiq Akbar, Dendi Pratama, Sarwanto, and Sunardi. Together they wrote an article entitled “Visual Adaptation: From Comics to Superhero Creation of Wayang.” This article discusses the fusion and mixing of wayang as a traditional culture with comics and films as contemporary culture products. This melting and mixing have given birth to new wayang creations with sources adapted from the superhero character “Avenger,” which they now call the Avenger Wayang Kreasi. According to them, Wayang Kreasi Avenger’s making maintains technical knowledge of the art of wayang kulit. It introduces young people who are not familiar with wayang kulit about the technique of carving sungging by displaying the attributes in the purwa skin for Wayang Kreasi Avenger. This creativity is an attempt to stimulate and show people’s love for the potential influence of traditional cultural heritage and its interaction with the potential of contemporary culture.The next authors are Sriyadi and RM Pramutomo, with an article entitled “Presentation Style of Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun Dance in Pura Mangkunegaran.” This article reveals a repertoire of Yogyakarta-style dance in Mangkunegaran, Surakarta, namely the Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun. The presence of this dance in Mangkunegaran occurred during the reign of Mangkunegara VII. However, the basic character of the Mangkunegaran style dance has a significant difference from the Yogyakarta style. This paper aims to examine the Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun dance’s presentation style in Mangkunegaran to determine the formation of its presentation technique. The shape of the Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun dance style in Mangkunegaran did not occur in an event but was a process. The presentation style’s formation is due to a problem in the inheritance system that has undergone significant changes. These problems arise from social, political, cultural, and economic conditions. The responses to these problems have shaped the Bedhaya Bedhah Madiun dance's distinctive features in Mangkunegaran, although not all of them have been positive.Hasbi wrote an article entitled “Sappo: Sulapa Eppa Walasuji as the Ideas of Creation Three Dimensional Painting.” This article reveals Hasbi’s creative process design in creating three-dimensional works of art, named Sappo. He got his inspiration from the ancient manuscripts written in Lontara, namely the manuscripts written in the traditional script of the Bugis-Makassar people on palm leaves, which they still keep until now. Sappo for the Bugis community is a fence that limits (surrounds, isolates) the land and houses. Sappo’s function is to protect herself, her family, and her people. Sulapa Eppa means four sides, is a mystical manifestation, the classical belief of the Bugis-Makassar people, which symbolizes the composition of the universe, wind-fire-water-earth. Walasuji is a kind of bamboo fence in rhombus rituals. Eppa Walasuji’s Sulapa is Hasbi’s concept in creating Sappo in the form of three-dimensional paintings. The idea is a symbolic expression borrowing the Lontara tradition's idiom to create a symbolic effect called Sappo.Mahdi Bahar and his friends wrote an article entitled “Transformation of Krinok to Bungo Krinok Music: The Innovation Certainty and Digital-Virtual Contribution for Cultural Advancement.” Together, they have made innovations to preserve Krinok music, one of Jambi’s traditional music themes, into new music that they call Bungo Krinok. He said that innovation is a necessity for the development of folk music. In innovating, they take advantage of digital technology. They realize this music’s existence as a cultural wealth that has great potential for developing and advancing art. The musical system, melodic contours, musical grammar, and distinctive interval patterns have formed krinok music’s character. This innovation has given birth to new music as a transformation from Jambi folk music called “Bungo Krinok” music.Finally, Luqman Wahyudi and Sri Hesti Heriwati. They both wrote an article entitled “Social Criticism About the 2019 Election Campaign on the Comic Strip Gump n Hell.” They explained that in 2019 there was an interesting phenomenon regarding the use of comic strips as a means of social criticism, especially in the Indonesian Presidential Election Campaign. The title of the comic is Gump n Hell by Errik Irwan Wibowo. The comic strip was published and viral on social media, describing the political events that took place. In this study, they took three samples of the comic strip Gump n Hell related to the moment of the 2019 election to analyze their meaning. From the results of this study, there is an implicit meaning in the comic strip of pop culture icons' use to represent political figures in the form of parodies.That is the essence of the issue of Volume 16 Number 1 (April Edition), 2021. Hopefully, the knowledge that has been present in this publication can spur the growth of visual and performing art science in international networks, both in the science of art creation and in scientific research of art in general. We hope that the development of visual and performing art science can reveal the various meanings behind various facts and phenomena of art life. Therefore, the growth of international networks is an indispensable need.Thank you.

From the void, the night presents an unfolding encounter via a series of letters between two artist/designer/academics as they explore symbioses between their practices and thinking. The correspondence traverses topics that resonate with ideas of darkness, light, time, space, and sensation. Confronting spatial and epistemological boundaries, it begins to carve out a space of practice that embraces dark knowledge, material agency, and the unknown. The conversation begins with the discovery of an already-existing dialogue between bodies of work and thought stretching back to 2003-4, when, in separate efforts to transcend binary oppositions of figure/ground, inside/outside, nothingness/everything, two women made drawings on walls. 1 Unknown to one another at the time, both researchers were employing similar strategies to explore the embodied spatio-temporal performances of drawing and inhabitation – rhythm, repetition, sensation, and the field. These wall-drawings and the texts that accompanied them set up divergent practices that converged again in early 2017 at the Performing, Writing symposium. 2 Here, both undertook performance works 3 that employed drawing-as-writing, and sought to capture the spatial, temporal, material and affective unfoldings of durational practices. While the two works took very different forms, they shared parallel methods, establishing simple parameters for embracing the unknown of live practice. The six letters of the enclosed drawing-writing correspondence look to further this encounter, and explore how the two practices might rub against one another, approaching Tony Godfrey’s definition of a ‘drawing’ as ‘two objects or materials touch[ing] and evidence of their meeting [being] left behind.’ 4 The form of a ‘letter’ was taken loosely, considered as an assemblage that might contain writing, images, and other materials – a mode of ‘letter-writing’ that sits somewhere between writing, drawing and performance. Written over the course of two weeks in which they were the only form of communication between the pair, the letters are the raw product of an intensive creative exchange. While the authors are colleagues at the same College of Creative Arts, the correspondence presents a genuine temporal journey of getting to know one another’s creative thinking process, carving out a dynamic space of speculation about future practice. They reveal this process to be embodied and situated, with references to cultural events and indigenous understandings particular to Aotearoa New Zealand being entangled in the process of thinking-in-place. Intentionally presented here in their unrefined state, the letters are themselves a statement about resisting the pull of the light (of light-as-clarity). They are not writing-as-explanation but writing-as-drawing; a live material process of thinking-through and drawing-out. Gleefully inhabiting the dark space of not-knowing, they remain a dark, cloudy, lively mass of potential energy and material.

Allowing decorative pattern to take flight is a theme that has preoccupied my art practice ever since becoming infected by Deleuze and Guattari’s writing, A Thousand Plateaus:Capitalism and Schizophrenia, while completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Textiles. It is evident as an underlying thread or feeling in my making processes and thinking. According to Deleuze and Guattari (1987), to think new thoughts involves ‘a wrenching of concepts away from their usual configurations, outside the systems in which they have a home and outside the structures of recognition that constrain thought to the already known’ (p276). In this project I have found myself continually challenged by the intent and consequences of ‘shaking things up’, as I believe this quote implies. A wrenching of concepts away from their usual configurations has come through drawing a comparison between the conceptual structure of decorative pattern and the orders and structures of everyday life. What has emerged is a synthesis of ideas which create a picture of the dis/order that is evident within decorative pattern and in everyday life. I have come to conclude that decorative pattern is passive aggressive. It occurs to me that I could have described decorative pattern in a more positive tone in terms of passive resistance. But, in my mind, this implies a heroic gesture of superseding dominant orders. In this project I consciously employ the term ‘passive aggressive’ as an analogy because it acknowledges human flaw as a pattern that is inherent in everyday life. It alludes to the actuality of a relation to order and subsequent disorder that is not heroic, but rather implies humanness and the everyday struggle. While my challenge has been to present a new way of thinking about decorative pattern, underlying this has been a questioning of the structures that define my practice itself. This is evident in the experimental works that I have produced. It has been an evolutionary process that has played out according to a rhythm of shattering and shoring up. I see the resolution of this exploration coming in two parts. One is as the sum of my experimental works and how these artworks inform each other and are read in relation to the text. The other comes through a final installation of work which employs the system for making that has subsequently evolved, moving according to ‘the path of least resistance’.