Studio Investigation:Date Marimekko’s Newspaper
After considering all of the materials I’ve brought to school, I returned to the pretty newspapers that I’ve used as a matt for my elevator ink project (Date #1). I sewed the newspaper covered with two layers of tracing paper in order to create pleats, then I cut through the pleats so that the seams looked like books. The resulting “pages” were interesting and unpredictable, the white tracing paper made a strong contrast to the revealing strips of newspaper. Viewers could only observe patterns on the seams, with most of the content cropped– which made the pattern abstract. I further experimented with newspapers and magazines. In order to preserve the ambiguity of the content, I was very selective with the materials that I used; magazines with obvious commercials were excluded.
Joining the pieces and experiment with presentation.
Next, I decided to go big. I spread the newspaper on the floor, then, spread tracing paper on top. Paperclips were really helpful to fix the sides while I folded and sewed the paper. I also learned that one inch is the ideal width for pleats for structural and aesthetic reasons: not only were the pleats stronger, but a satisfying amount of newspaper was revealed.
Spreading Newspaper and tracing paper.
Large scale piece
I placed a nightlight behind the piece and discovered another effect.
Thanks for putting these up. Since I do a lot of work in Finland, I am surrounded by Marimekko designs all the time. I was brainstorming the idea of putting together some sort of exhibit on artists who reference Marimekko, and your piece comes to mind…
Lauren
I didn’t know marimekko before, but after working on this project I began to be very familiar with her patterns.
It’s very addictive!
Thank you for thinking about my piece. I hope to see what other people has done.
I’m also very curious about working in Finland, I know that their teaching paradigm has become one of the world’s leading role model.