MA Musings

"Kandinsky" Collaboration with Deepart (J.Hewitt 2018) Best way to get started on something is just to start. so I sat down with the DeepArt IO and doodled exhaustively, using a combination of the basic silhouettes devised with C. Peacey and some vintage pattern blocks to reference the "rules" and history of cutting. I feel there are varying levels of "success" in these. They may or maynot fulfil prerequisites for computational creativity. I think they are certainly aesthetically pleasing rather than simply novel, but how far the algorithm itself is part of the aesthetic evaluation process I need to investigate further. Many are absolutely stunning images, and were I a fine artist who had painted them or had I written the Deepart Program myself  they would easily be worthy of submission as my finished pieces. However, I am a pattern cutter and I didn't write the program, it is simply a design starting point for my 3D pattern creation exercise. ...

"Vintage block" Collaboration with Deepart (J.Hewitt 2018) It has been very difficult to get back to thinking about the major project after the excitement of the group project and the epic construction task in the pattern processes module. Although everything is interconnected, and many sections of the research and development of the other modules will impact on this final piece, I fear I rather suffered from cognitive overload and found getting intensly involved in several projects at once (to say nothing of working and selling my house) very draining. I really don't want to end up just creating a fashion collection based on Deepart AI drawings... the literary research I am doing on neural systems and machine learning is just so fascinating, I want to do justice to the big concepts involved. I accept this is probably just my own personal desire to do something new and meaningful, but as I am reading more of Margaret Bodens work and becoming aware of H creativity...

  Team Robot members with their Toiles 2018 What is the experience of project planning like in preparation for the initial live-pitch? In order to give the best presentation possible we wanted to dive headfirst into the research... We decided it was vital that all the team had experienced the physicality of draping with actual fabrics to fully appreciate the technical issues and quantity of waste produced through this way of patterning, (as well as an appreciation of the skill levels required!) to this end M and I held a mini workshop for R and B so they could try out their first toile creation. We cut 1m lengths of calico and demonstrated different techniques of pleating, darts etc before letting the other two loose with the pins! I videoed the process with an eye to B creating a short R&D series of videos on the final website It was agreed that it was actually harder than it looks, and also that the physical act of touching and handling cloth is an essen...

Christmas Window display 2017 How are the team working? What is the nature of Entrepreneurship? Initial meeting of just the three of us today, to talk in more depth about our joint project. We have a good combination of skills to go forward with, although none of us are particularly website/graphic poster art based, everyone is keen to learn new skills as well as use their current ones... both R and B have a background in film/animation so it would be good to incorporate that somehow into our final piece. We are still all interested in the robot/AI/human ethics idea, not quite sure how that might develop into an "innovation" yet - obviously my own area of AI based digital pattern cutting is also a possibility but it seems a bit of a cop-out as it's already my major project area... then again maybe it's an opportunity for my personal expertise to be of use to the team... We might want to interview industry people as part of our website research - maybe even v...

Retrieved from wallpaper.com     Futuristic Cities Today I participated in an inaugral workshop organised by the Alan Turing Institute (also the national center for AI research) as part of researcher Helen Olivers PHD at Cambridge University. Based around wearable technologies, creative narratives and the relationship between people, their emotional well being and technology, the workshop was fun and thought provoking. It was also really interesting to see another researchers approach to gathering Data in an area that is, like my own, also crossing the artistic and technological boundaries. Storytelling formed a major part of this workshop alongside some physical prototyping with paper, glue and glitter! I have signed up to participate in the longer research process which may take up to 2 years, with a few workshops a year and some interviews. I hope that it may lead to a deeper understanding of this area as well as forming important academic contacts in my are...

Searle, P. (2017) Radium88 in Concert This document, The Ecology of Culture (A Report commissioned by the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Cultural Value Project) by John Holden Visiting Professor, City University, London Honorary Professor, University of Hong Kong January 2015, was very interesting on a personal level. I paused to consider how the industries I've worked in have been a part of creative ecology model... where they fit into different sections and networks - and realised I've experienced all forms of the 3 spheres that make up his model. Publicly funded, Commercially funded and Amateur/Homemade. I received benefits in the 1990's to be in a band (publicly funded) - which made an enormous difference to my creative potential - I had time to make music (which I still do today - 11 albums and counting) and also created costume and art which led to starting my own business... obviously I hoped at that point that the band would be invested in by...

Deepart Algorithm and Hewitt, J. (2018) Intergalactic To develop my own final design to backtrack the algorithmic process through, I created an assortment of work through the deepart algorithm, combining silhouettes of fashion croquis with various neural networking images, chess piece motifs, constellations and other related ideas. These designs will give me an AI generated starting point for the garment I shall be aiming to reach via my manual AI  neural network algorithm.... I shall start with a tube and get a different student each time to alter the shape a little - aiming to get steadily closer to the final design.... and pattern cutting each stage of the designs evolution....

Robot at The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry (2017) Putting together teams, who and why? what's the brief? Teams are assembling nicely for the Material Revolution Conference... although we were a large group interested in the digital aspects, we have split fairly naturally into 3 smaller teams. Our task will be to create a promotional poster and website for a new material/way of working/concept or product that relates to one of the themes of the conference, targeting one of more of the companies that will be present at the gala drinks reception. There was a little shyness in the groups at first, perhaps because we are all a little unsure of what exactly we are letting ourselves in for, and also knowing we will be relying on people we have only just met for our grades. That is quite a difficult trust exercise, and reflects fairly accurately concerns of new developmental teams in industry  too. My team has a good spread of complimentary disciplines (a pattern cut...

Persson, J. (2017) Wizard of Oz Crucible Theatre Why are you choosing this project? How is it likely to affect your own MA? It was exciting to be back and sharing ideas and progress with the other students, although a pause for the holidays allowed me to catch up with reading and think about the next steps for the major project, I had come to a bit of a grinding halt on the motivation front. I find it's very easy to get distracted by other interesting things without deadlines... Todays lecture focused on Planning for the next module, discussion on how to work to get the best results as a group and what the expectations are for final presentation of information. We started with a you-tube video of a very interesting lecture by Tina Selig on her model of an "Innovation Engine" How to come up with new creative imaginative ideas? 6 core components, connected together like a moebius strip so each piece affects all the others, and you can also start at any point on t...

Todays draping exercises involved some complicated asymetric, folding of cloth, origami style, trying to re-create specific designs from the catwalk. I chose a Chalayan dress, which while deceptively simple an elegant in form proved an excellent puzzle to solve. I attempted the front in several ways, including steaming a curve into a bias faced edge... which while probably not the method used in the original gown, proved very effective in toile form... Chalayans work is deeply inventive, and turned up in the manus ex machina exhibition at the met.... his combination of new technologies in showpieces that are more sculpture than fashion inspire thoughts.... Discussion ensued as to what made creative pattern cutting creative, what was ordinary pattern cutting and where draping and flat cutting fitted.....

Machine Learning design Process Interesting case studies today, looking at using Anthropocene and wicked problems as a kicking off point for artistic practise. Also learned to do close reading on reading texts and check through citing properly, Inspired to really get going with a rough outline of where I'm heading thoughts wise, put everything down under sub headings and start thinking it through... I have lots of ideas, which I know are connected, but I need to think about how, and why. So far, Can an AI be creative? has led to, how has technology assisted creativity? on to what is creative pattern cutting anyway? on to aren't we just following rules like a computer program does? Termite mound and Gaudi Cathedral  Watched Dan Dennets RI lecture "if our brains are computers who writes the software" - excellent - his termite/Gaudi references sparked thoughts about bottom up and top down design, maybe T op Down design, (referencing Gaudi)  is closer to ...

Good enough to eat - my pizza slice using illustrator  And... because I don't think I'm working hard enough.... I'm also teaching myself illustrator.... followed the creative suites beginners tutorial today to make a pizza slice logo.... I reckon if I do one tutorial a day I should be fairly competent in a couple of months.... It is important for me to learn a vector based design program - mainly so I can create files for lazer cutting... It's tough not having used CAD as a design tool first time round at Uni, i feel like I'm having to learn all the new tools as well as doing the rest of the work. However, student discount rates mean it's now or never really!

An exploration of the development of a pattern cutting process with reference to AI and machine learning  What is creativevpattern Cutting? Solving of a technical problem Through creative expression or expression of a creative thought through technical means? Can a thinking machine ever move beyond the bounds of its programming and be truly, freely creative? As cutters, can we? Nature of creativity, Inspiration Boundaries Construction Constriction Working beyond what is "possible" Shape repetition  Proportion Aesthetics What are the learned variables a cutter takes for granted?  Grainline, Fabric drape, recognisable shape, reinforced wear points, body movement and articulation, comfort, how can these be incorporated into an AI learning experience. Can you then move beyond that programming” with a creative problem solving pattern leap utilising “robotics”  - eg from many complex pattern pieces to moulded corsetry in Vic...

Books Read "Japan fashion now" and "the cutting edge" I'm looking at how unusual designers have formed cohesive collections while still playing with very extreme concepts..... "I am interested in the space between the body and the clothes so that the body can feel entirely at ease because each persons body shape is so different. this space creates an individual for it also gives the wearer freedom of movement for body AND SPIRIT" Issey Miyake ( note to self - Philip Pullmans Daemons from the Northern Lights trilogy - spirits? what makes an AI spirit? does an AI have a soul?) Hiroaki Ohya - Wizard of Jeanz collection - books that turn into pieces of clothing ShinChiro Arakawa - Canvasses collection - presenting clothes as art in frames yoshiki Hishinuma - developed thermo fabrics so no cutting was involved just the reshaping of cloth into extreme shapes.. (I'm sure there's a victorian corset that was moulded) Rei Kawakubo - oversiz...

Industrial processes and softwear Artificial Intelligence and machine learning Corsetry - body sculpting through history - Symmington collection New materials and processes - lazer cutting, 3D print etc make custom mannequins in 1/2 scale via 3d print? Partnership/power balance between designer and cutter Digital modeling for zero waste pattern cutting Space, galaxies, Black holes, Voids, Things that remain behind Zero waste with lazer cutting - incorporating offcuts into decorative structures Zero waste fabric plus 3D printing is inherently zero waste Zero waste corsetry, is it possible? circular stays.... Quirk wear - pattern line for interesting office clothes Pattern grading - need to learn Arduino Digital world v Real world Augmented reality clothes Perception - how we see ourselves V how we really are Virtual world space not confined or constricted by real world physics New fabrics require new ways of pattern cutting

key thoughts from todays class... Keep an open mind, keep developing ideas revisit skills and learn new ones break preconceptions record EVERYTHING whether you think it was successful or not decide on your specialist direction Identify relationship between a technique and the impact it has on a final visual design key themes and issues that influence a cutter Start creating a portfolio and research file on key concepts and ideas relevant to the major project - photos, samples etc etc Historical context look at placement of seamlines and how they change over time techniques lost due to costs - industrialisation, mechanisation, quality see how dart and seam placements vary even in modern garments season to season Cultural differences and influence on clothing, status and role of the cutter past present and future garments - can we look to the past to extrapolate the future?

Subject for todays seminar with Dr Rowan was "research creation" - I had diligently read Erin  Mannings Ten Propositions and felt my brain hurt. I undertook to attempt to translate it before the lecture in an attempt to try and get a handle on what it was that was trying to be said.... ultimately very interesting thoughts, boiling down to "all sorts of things can be research" "find new ways of doing research and new ways of organising it to be valuable". We are to be put into smaller study groups for moral support and brain-melding. I think we may need this. we discussed what a " Concept " might be... an idea, a startingpoint, a motivation, inspire = to breathe a beginning, a new life. A theme that will define the creative practise, and keep the research and creative process on course. Funnelling knowledge into a melting pot or crucible... Also what " Context"  is - who is your work for and how might that dictate the research...