Hunting for Images

Introduction

 You are here as an artist to gather materials for collage: textiles and textures that may symbolize your idea without showing the object itself.  You must travel to at least 3 different websites, and along the way collect 3-4 different textures that you think will work in your Hand Collage. 

The Task

Visit a variety of Internet sites to choose at least 3-4 images.  These textile/texture images should be saved into a Word document on your H: Drive.

 The Process

1. Choose a site to go to, and look carefully at the images. 

2. Think about what you want your Hand Collage to communicate.  Choose colors and patterns that you think will work in your collage: contrasting, monochromatic, etc.

3. Check the resolution of the image by right-clicking and looking at the "Dimensions" - they should be over 500 dpi.  Remember, if the picture looks small onscreen - it is!  Double-click to make it larger. 

4. Once you have the large image, save all the pictures you find onto your H: Drive, inside a folder you make named Art Pictures.  Name them so you know what they are.

5. Open Word.  Type your name and HR at the top of the page. Click on Insert, then Picture, then From File.  Find an image and click Insert. 

6. Click to bring up the Picture Toolbar.  Click on the little dog and choose Tight for Layout.  Not you can move the image around easily.

7. Click on the CROP tool in the Picture Toolbar.  Crop your image in until you can't see the outline edge and lose the object, leaving just the texture of it.

8. Do this for all the pictures you think you might need, then save the Word document and print it on the Color Laser Printer.

The Resources

Remember, you don’t want a photo of an object, but a TEXTURE from the object (see the basketball texture at the top of this web page). 

The Weaving Art Museum and Research Institute established to promote increased appreciation for the historic weaving arts of the Eastern Mediterranean region. Specifically examples created within indigenous weaving communities where social and economic lifestyles remained virtually unaffected by the sweeping political, military and technological changes that occurred in this region from 1500-1850. Museum is in California

Helen Louise Textile Collection – University of Wisconsin Pre-Columbian and Coptic archaeological textiles are among the collection's earliest pieces. Other major holdings include 19th century American and European coverlets, quilts, and needlework, and sub-collection of ethnographic textiles with strengths in South and Southeast Asia, Latin America, and Turkey. 

Peabody Essex Museum  Painted with Thread - The Art of American Embroidery

The Macedonia Folk Embroidery, Auburn University - includes images of over 20 Macedonian textiles, with many more to be added. Details of embroidery techniques used on the textiles displayed makes this a very instructive site for embroidery enthusiasts, and those who love to see detail work - highly recommended.

Lao Textiles Exhibition featuring images of woven silk wall hangings which were exhibited at the Museum, Fashion Institute of Technology, New York in 1995 Lao Textiles Revisited, an exhibition celebrating the hand woven silk fabrics of Carol Cassidy, an American weaver living and working in Laos.

The Museum For Textiles, Toronto, Ontario. Selected text and images from the Museum's collection and exhibits illustrate the Museum's mandate: to provide the opportunity to experience the traditions, skills, and creative genius that make the textile arts such an important visual expression of contemporary and historical concerns.

Heavens' Embroidered Cloths: One Thousand Years of Chinese Textiles-- a selection of images from an exhibition of Chinese textiles from the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, previously on display in 1995 at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. You can see some examples of Chinese textiles in this exhibit: Family Ties in Asian Textiles.

Flowers of Silk and Gold: Four Centuries of Ottoman Embroidery - these textiles are a point of departure for an exploration of the rich Ottoman culture that produced them. View the Textile Gallery and learn about the culture.

This lesson and many of the links were adapted from the Incredible Art Department.