THINKING THROUGH DRAWING: PRACTICE INTO KNOWLEDGE

(Jeff_L) #1

128 TEACHERs COLLEGE COLUmbIA UNIvERsITy


material Thinking: Drawing to Record, Understand and Respond


Drawing, for design at the Bauhaus, was some-
thing different from observed and expressive draw-
ing. It was a method of analyzing certain visual and
tactile properties of images, surfaces and objects. It
was also a means of ordering information to explain
the intended appearance of the final fabric, a “tactile
blueprint” (Albers, 1965). In her analysis of drawing
practice in graphic design Schenk (1991) describes
the act of recording through drawing as develop-
ing a visual literacy, perception and visual memory
and developing a visual description, or instructional
diagram to inform production. We understand
from this that designers draw in order to develop a
heightened visual awareness and a manual dexterity
in communicating ideas effectively.
My recent interviews and observations of indus-
try knitwear designers identified drawing sketches
to communicate initial ideas and the use of estab-
lished schemas to explain the production of familiar
fabric types and garment features in new yarns, col-
ors, proportions and configurations. Presentation
drawings are sometimes produced as a persuasive
promotional device to in-house selection panels
and sales teams. Eckert (1999, in her study of knit-
wear designer practices, identified a distinct lack of
drawing in the design development and production
of knitwear and the prevalence of the Mood board
in leading and distilling familiar and routine design
components and their interpretation for the pro-
jected season.
There is no evidence in the research to date of
drawing being used as the catalyst for design inno-
vation in knitted textiles and knitted goods.


Framing the task
The task was limited to one day’s activity of
eight hours of hand knitting during the proceedings
of the public symposium and approximately four
hours of machine knitting by senior knitted textile
design students and the knit production technician
based in Scotland. It required a harnessing of mate-
rials and methods. This entailed selecting yarns,
which were reliable in providing a sound struc-
ture when knitted in a simple loop formation such
as Knit or Purl stitch. The range of yarns selected
comprised wools of medium thickness normally
associated with traditional argyle knitted garments
to very fine sewing thread—like synthetic blends
of yarn. Some of these yarns had regular textured
effects along their length to contrast with the more


smooth yarns such as viscose. I chose a limited
color range from white to cream, grey, brown and
black in order to communicate a tonal mood. This
focused attention on the texture of individual yarns
and stitches. The knitting needles chosen were com-
patible in size to the thickness of yarns to produce
stable structures.
I was not only gathering a stock of yarns in
preparation for constructing linear structures, but
more importantly building a framework of poten-
tial, stimulating my mind to speculate possibilities
and in so doing forming a clearer picture of the task
ahead of me and different scenarios for creative pro-
duction and goal setting. I tested the combination
of yarns and knitting needles and crotchet hook and
their compatibility and this included finger knitting
with rope-like thicker yarns of smooth fibres. I was
developing knowledge of yarns and their visual and
physical characteristics in basic stitches and struc-
tures and also improving my manual dexterity. I
was limbering up to be fit and ready for the task as
I imagined it, and yet mindful of the unknown and
the element of risk. In part I was not able to apply
an operational goal condition to possible solutions
(Kirsh, 2009).
I resisted the temptation to plan in order to
predetermine outcomes. I was consciously placing
myself in a position of uncertainty of how I would
respond, what was expected of me and what was
intended in terms of outcomes. I was clear I wanted
to capture the essence and spirit of the symposium
and embrace the values of freedom, empowerment
and growth through discovery and to be as true as
I could be to the words and thoughts of the partici-
pants. Goals, operators and, choice points, conse-
quence and evaluation functions would have to be
learned in part in the course of the activity.

Developing a system of annotation
By using combinations of knit and purl stitches
along the same row of knitting or from row to row,
a wide variety of textured effects can be formed
and patterns built up. This combination of stitches
formed the basis of my development of linear struc-
tures and was augmented by casting on additional
loops and knitting multiples of two stitches together
intermittently to widen and narrow the width of
the fabric. I also selected loops and dropped them
off the needle to create a textured effect. I also took
all loops off the needle and picked up previously
formed loops lower down the fabric and started
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