Art and Heritage Online Database

Object Type: garment
Artist/Maker: Dodds, Anah
Place Made: Gray's School of Art
Date: 2022
Awards: RGU Art and Heritage Fashion Design Purchase Award
Classification: Fashion and Textiles

Description:

Kintted cardigan, collaged patches of different colours and guages. E-wrapped with hand knitted hems and fronts.

Exhibition statement:
My collection tries to evoke the emotional and spiritual sensations one encounters when enveloped in a bountiful floral garden, such as my mother’s - the vibrancy of colour and texture, the scents and peaceful serenity, is something I aimed to capture through my knitwear collection. Initial research was gathered using photography to capture the small details of floral structures examining petals and pistils. Through paperwork development I began to abstract shapes and forms and translated these firstly into knitted swatches that celebrated colour and texture extracted from my observations. I have explored a variety of hand- manipulated knit processes, from e-wrapping – a process where each colour is hand wrapped over individual needles, slowly building up the desired pattern. Looped textural elements involved needle punching to add depth of surface, whilst additional decorative elements used screen printed acid dyes to lay flat areas of colour. The collection is a celebration in honour of the love my mother has for her garden and the love it has returned to her.

A more personal statement about my E wrapped cardigan:
I found the technique ‘E- wrapping’ seen on the back of my cardigan as a way of drawing with the yarn. This process left no floats on the underside and felt intentional. Each shape came originally from flowers I had pressed or photographed in my mum’s garden. These were then used to create individual motifs. These motifs were translated onto knit graphs so I could plan each individual needle, and which colour it would be wrapped with. The process of E- Wrapping takes time and intent, this back piece of my cardigan took over ten hours to craft. The cardigan was finished with chunky fronts and embellished arms as if to recreate the layers of texture found in mum’s garden.
Object Number: ABDRG2022.25