Third Space

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – Overall reflections for ‘banana’ and ‘egg’

| elizarawlings

This blog details my overall reflections for the Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity. I made two paintings on this topic and they are captured in the two blogs below:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/08/08/ma-y2-u2-cheongsam-series-food-as-metaphors-for-cultural-identity-youre-a-banana/

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/08/08/ma-u2-cheongsam-series-food-as-metaphors-for-cultural-identity-no-im-an-egg/

The finished paintings are intended to be displayed as a pair because they respond to each other.

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REFLECTIONS

It has taken me some time to write this blog as I am not sure where to start. My reflections on the making process, composition and technical learning are captured within the individual painting blogs. This blog is meant for reflecting more deeply on what making these paintings has meant for me. I shall capture my thoughts as they come into my mind as a form of free writing.

The dressmaking part:

– Throughout the making of the Cheongsam dresses, I thought a lot about watching my mother dressmaking when I was a child. The way she designed the clothes, for herself and for her children; measuring us, making her patterns on waxy paper, chalking the cloth aided by her special yellow wooden rulers and cutting the fabric with the long sharp scissors. Then sewing using her manual Singer sewing machine with a leather belt that turned the wheel as she pedalled. I remember having fitting sessions with part-finished garments and then she would do the final finishing off. Every button was chosen with care. It’s not until I made these canvas dresses for my paintings that I realised how very clever she was. Although dressmaking is not difficult, making it well requires talents and skills just like any craft. She made evening gowns, tailored jackets and trousers! Those are very difficult items!

– One could ask, so what? Many people made and still make clothes. What’s the big deal? I reflected much about her life while making my canvas dresses because the process of dressmaking is largely unchanged therefore I could clearly visualise my mother going through all the steps that I am now replicating decades later. My mother married at 17 years old and became a mother at 19. Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s was a very patriarchal society and she as a Chinese woman was confined to her role – wife, mother, cook, cleaner, homemaker etc.. However, it is clear on reflection that she had ambitions that were not fulfilled by her role ‘assigned’ by society. There were few avenues for a woman of her time to express herself and she chose to do it through her dressmaking. She later went onto Chinese painting and became an accomplished artist with many students. Two weeks ago I was shown the various awards that she was given as an artist by cultural institutions in Hong Kong and China – I hope to explore more about her journey as a painter at a later stage.

– As my father’s career advanced in the Colonial Hong Kong Government, my mother would accompany him to official white-tie dinner balls (British style). She would always design and make her own evening dresses. She was the only woman who made her own dresses at those events. She always sought to be different and I believe in those days, her dress design and making was where she found a channel of expression as well as solace. It gave her an escape from the shackles of societal expectations of a traditional Chinese woman.

– I left home when I was a young teenager to boarding school in England and never lived with my parents since. Sadly they both passed before I really had the time or inclination to get to know them properly. So in a way I’m reflecting on her as a stranger with fragmented information from my patchy memory. Despite that, how did I end up picking up art in later life and in a strange way walking her path? I don’t think I have the answers yet but my own artistic journey has given me insight into what she was seeking as a person, as herself.

The painting part:

– It took me a while to decide what to paint. I like using metaphors in my work and when I stumbled across an image of Warhol’s banana, it gave me the idea to paint something in pop art theme as a contrast to the traditional Chinese dress canvas – I like making work that has an undertone of incongruity because that is afterall the metaphor for myself. Furthermore, a banana was the perfect subject as a cultural metaphor – yellow on the outside and white on the inside.

– I researched the use of the word ‘banana’ to describe a westernised East Asian person and I was delighted to find many insightful and humourous articles that resonated with me. The highlight was finding the film clip from the Hollywood movie Crazy Rich Asians talking about the protagonist being a banana – it was for me an endorsement of the phrase and bringing it into contemporary popular culture.

– As I got older and started to take time to look into my heritage, I felt that ‘banana’ alone was an insufficient metaphor for me. Growing up as a child in Hong Kong, a British influenced Chinese society, it was (and still is) so culturally rich that my core is deeply rooted in that heritage. Hence when I read an article about an egg with the yellow core as a cultural metaphor, I was hooked by the idea and felt it was a good response to the ‘banana’ metaphor.

– As I was painting both dresses, I was keen to adhere to the pop art theme painted on the Chinese dress canvas to capture the incongruity, or perhaps the fusion of the different cultures that I seek to represent in my work. At the end, I felt I have largely achieved what I intended despite much time spent on getting the right ‘green’ for the banana dress.

– The most poignant moment came when I was mixing and remixing to search for the correct shade of yellow and white colours to use for the eggs and bananas. I kept asking myself – ‘Is the white ‘white’ enough?’ or ‘Is the yellow too ‘yellow’?’ The constant search for the right shade of colour to use was a good metaphor for my attempt to fit in especially in my early years as a youngster in a new culture. Like many young people in a new environment, one was always working out how to behave, how to dress, how to do the makeup, what jewellery to wear etc. in order to fit in and be an insider. Or not to be treated as an outsider. It was a mutation process over time.

– The making of the two paintings here has turned out to be a better metaphor for my cultural transmutation journey than I ever expected.

LEARNING

I believe this blog concludes the ‘Cheongsam – food as metaphor’ series of work. I want to continue to make more Cheongsam paintings including looking for a more efficient way to make the dress canvas – it is time consuming but I want to continue with the idea so I need to find better ways of making the canvas.

I will continue to use the Cheongsam canvases to explore my identity which is a fundamental part of my practice. I feel using a Cheongsam canvas is a turning point in my practice, the idea came to me just as I was struggling to find a way forward to bring my ideas together. These two paintings are just the beginning of something, not sure exactly what yet, but I feel it’s a beginning.

Since much effort goes into making these canvases, I want to revisit the first Cheongsam painting that I made with the ‘Blue Willow pattern’ to see if I could make more of it so as not to waste the piece because I was not that satisfied with the outcome at the time.

NEXT STEPS

Revisit the Blue Willow pattern painting dress to give it more meaning.

Explore more efficient ways to make the Cheongsam dress canvas.

Make more work!

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – ‘You’re a banana!’

| elizarawlings

This is the second painting of the Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity. The blog below is the introduction to the series with background information on my thoughts on this topic as well as some research.

MA Y2 U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphors for cultural identity – Introduction

The blog below is for the painting that responds to this one, called ‘No, I’m an egg.’. I was meant to do the ‘banana’ painting first but due to shortage of green paint at the time, the second ‘egg’ painting was completed first.

MA Y2 U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphors for cultural identity – ‘No, I’m an egg.’

METHOD

Since I am not an experienced dressmaker, I am rather slow in making the dress canvases. I constantly look for ways to be more efficient in the dressmaking process, so the canvas materials for this dress was cut at the same time as the ‘egg’ painting canvas by doubling up the calico material to save time.

Here is the completed dress canvas ready for the banana painting:

Different banana images were considered for the design. I wanted a ‘closed’ banana and a half peeled banana.

Clear gesso and fluorescent green acrylic paint were used to prime the canvas and for the background:

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Banana shapes were marked onto the canvas using white chalk to map out the overall composition before painting.

Then initial blocking out of the banana images were made:

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I was not satisfied with the Daler Rowney System 3 acrylic fluorescent green colour – it was too dark and dull, I wanted a neon-look. So I bought some brighter paint by Pebeo.

The Pebeo paint looked brighter which was better.

The Pebeo paint dried slightly darker but still brighter than the Daley Rowney System 3 paint.

Since the Daley Rowney System 3 acrylic paint is a student grade paint, the pigment density was not great. I had to paint three coats to get a good coverage. Then I changed to the Pebeo paint and a further two coats were added. In total, there was five coats of acrylic paint which made the canvas stiffer than the ‘egg’ dress. This made sewing on the ‘frogs’ (Chinese style fasteners) much harder. See below for the not-so-tidy sewing where I had to just push the needle through wherever I could due to the thick canvas by that stage.

Finished work – ‘You’re a banana!’. Acrylic on handmade Cheongsam dress canvas. L105 x W76 x D30cm.

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REFLECTIONS

The making of this painting did not go as well as the ‘egg’ painting because of the additional coats of green background colour required making the process more extensive than before. Nonetheless, I am satisfied with the outcome and the way the two dresses respond to each other. I will capture my reflections in full for both dresses in this blog:

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – Overall reflections for ‘banana’ and ‘egg’

LEARNING

There are several learning areas from this painting…

1. The Velcro ‘zip’

The learning from the ‘egg’ painting on the making of the Velcro ‘zip’ was very important and I am pleased that it worked out well for this painting.

Reminder of the problem on the ‘egg’ dress with the Velcro seam being visible from the front, not ideal aesthetically:

Taking the learning from the above has helped me to improve the Velcro seam for this painting:

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2. Paint materials

Much time was spent on the many (five) coats of paint required for the background green colour. This was frustrating at times, but it was good learning. I should do more research into the colour and materials before embarking on a large painting. I knew student-grade paint typically has less dense pigment load and I should have been more prepared with this knowledge. The pink background of the ‘egg’ painting was ‘abstract innovative acrylic’ by Sennelier. It was relatively inexpensive with higher pigment load than the Daley Rowney System 3 acrylic. I was very pleased with the Sennelier acrylic and will bear this in mind in future paint materials selection.

3. Time saving methods

Doubling up the calico materials and therefore cutting two dresses together saved time. I will continue to look out for ways to be more efficient in making the dress canvas. I want to continue to make the dress canvases going forward because I enjoy the making process and it is good opportunity to think. However, I don’t want to spend excessive time on that part of the process because I knew I would become impatient and would want to get on with the painting.

4. More research up front

I could spend more time up front to test out materials, colour and composition (e.g. in my sketchbook) before proceeding onto the canvas. I think this will be useful and become more necessary going forward as I expect the next series of paintings to be more complex, both in idea and composition.

NEXT STEPS

After making these two paintings, it is a good point to pause and reflect properly on this series of work. I will capture my overall reflections in a separate blog. After that, I will go onto make more Cheongsam paintings because I am still excited and enthusiastic about this method of art making. I hope to crystalise my thoughts about the topic for the next painting while reflecting on this series.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – ‘No, I’m an egg.’

| elizarawlings

After accidentally finding my late mother’s silk Cheongsam (traditional Chinese dress) in my loft, I have been exploring making my own 3D canvas in the shape of the iconic Cheongsam for painting. My reason for wanting to make such a canvas is captured in this blog:

MA Y1 U2: Cheongsam Series #2 – study drawing

Below are two blogs on the first experimental 3D canvas painting that I made as a start to the Cheongsam series of work. I have gained much invaluable learning through making this first dress because I am completely new to dressmaking:

MA Y1 U2: Cheongsam Series #3 – wearable painting

MA Y1 U2: Cheongsam Series #4 – Appropriation. Appropriation.

Then I started to think of subjects for my next paintings. I thought of doing something about my identity which is a foundation topic of my art practice. I explored using food as metaphors for cultural identity and started with a digital sketch of pop art ‘banana’ theme. The blog below explains what ‘banana’ means in this context with more background information:

MA Y1 U2: Cheongsam Series #5 – She’s a banana! – Part A

Then I decided to capture more about my thoughts on the subject with additional research findings. Hence I created a blog as an introduction to the Cheongsam Series – Food as cultural identity metaphors. This blog includes an extract from the film ‘Crazy Rich Asians’ where the meaning of ‘banana’ was explained as ‘yellow on the outside, white on the inside’ – a metaphor for a ‘Westernised’ East Asian person.

MA Y1 U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphors for cultural identity – Introduction

Within the above introduction, I also talked about my personal response to ‘You’re a banana!’… my response would be ‘No, I am an egg.’ The two food metaphors were chosen as subjects of this Cheongsam series.

I wanted to make the ‘banana’ painting first, but I found that I didn’t have enough paint in stock for the chosen green background colour that I wanted to use. So while I ordered more green paint, I proceeded to create the ‘egg’ dress first.

METHOD

I made the canvas Cheongsam dress using the same dressmaking pattern that I had used before. Like the last dress I made, the material used here was also calico.

Learning from the first dress that I made, the pattern was a very loose fitting dress therefore darts are definitely required on the front and back of the dress:

The first dress that I made was hand sewn because my old sewing machine gave up on me. I bought a new sewing machine for this dress and I chose a heavy duty one since I was planning to sew thicker canvas materials going forward.

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Below is the completed dress canvas in calico:

I chose to use fluorescent or neon colours with a pop art theme for this Cheongsam series because I wanted them to be fun. These food metaphors are often used in a light-hearted way from one East Asian person to another, hence I don’t want these paintings to be too serious. I decided to use fluorescent pink for the background for the ‘egg’ dress as a response to the fluorescent green that I had planned for the ‘banana’ dress. Pink was meant to be a fun response and I felt it would help the eggs to stand out in the design. The medium below was used to prime the canvas:

Below are the front and back of the pink dress canvas:

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A variety of egg images were considered for the design:

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The shortlisted eggs were marked onto the pink canvas with white chalk prior to painting:

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Below are images of the finished painting:

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The painting is wearable:

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Finish work: ‘No, I’m an egg.’ Acrylic on handmade Cheongsam dress canvas. L105 x W76 x D30cm.

REFLECTIONS

I am pleased with the outcome of this painting. I feel the colours and composition worked out well with the eggs. I am also pleased that the canvas is wearable. Although I had not intended for it to be a piece of garment, being wearable will give more options of how to present such a piece of work. I enjoyed the making process, too. I will capture my full reflections for both the egg and banana dresses together at the end of the series in this blog:

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – Overall reflections for ‘banana’ and ‘egg’

LEARNING

Since dressmaking is so new to me, there were lots of good learning from a technical making perspective:

For this design, making the darts from the start (before painting) worked better so should bear this in mind. Get the dress to fit (if intending to wear) as well as possible before painting is key. Once the paint is applied, the sewing becomes harder and manipulating the canvas would risk creasing the paint.

The most important learning was the fitting of the ‘zip’. Instead of using a conventional zip, I used a strip of Velcro because that was easier. Since these dresses are not really garments for everyday wearing, I believe Velcro is sufficient and a good alternative. However, I learnt from this dress that how the Velcro is placed can make a big difference aesthetically. The two Velcro pieces have to be placed on the interfacing of the opening in a way that minimises its visibility from the front view. I hadn’t appreciated this because I accidentally did it correctly in the previous ‘blue willow’ dress, but I did it incorrectly here.

Incorrect way meaning the Velcro is visible from the front:

Correct way below – the Velcro is not visible from the front. I must remember that the edge of the seam for the zip-opening on the back piece should be left free, i.e. ‘not sewn down’; whereas the corresponding edge for the front panel should be sewn down so that the Velcro seam is rear facing when in place.

NEXT STEPS

Make the banana dress!

MA U2: Cheongsam Series – Food as metaphor for cultural identity – Introduction

| elizarawlings

Further to my blog on the Cheongsam series where I introduced the idea of using food as metaphor for racial or cultural identity, I want to capture more of my thoughts, ideas and research on this subject to document the meaning behind this series of work. Here is my earlier blog with some background and where I had generated a preliminary design digitally:

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #5 – She’s a banana! – Part A

In the above blog, I referred to the Hollywood film Crazy Rich Asians where the American-born Chinese protagonist was referred to as ‘a banana’ by her best friend because the protagonist was perceived by her future mother-in-law (a traditional Chinese woman living in Asia) to be ‘yellow’ on the outside but ‘white’ on the inside.

Here is a clip of the scene:

‘Banana’ reference, clip time from 1:15 to 1:45:

https://youtu.be/QC8Fdx0OZYY?si=v0sOGeJKtGbUH4d2

In my earlier blog, I mentioned that I remember being called a banana, too, because I moved to the UK as a young teenager and have lived here for decades, hence I have inevitably adopted much of the British culture. As a result, I consider myself a transcultural person and have based my art practice on this subject. I personally do not consider the description of ‘banana’ an insult, it is very widely used within Chinese communities and its meaning is widely known. Also, there is the legacy of colonialism where being considered ‘westernised’ is not necessary a bad thing (reference The Location of Culture by Homi K Bhabha, chapter ‘Of mimicry and man: The ambivalence of colonial discourse’) if one wants to get on in ‘the west’ and avoid being treated as ‘an outsider’. This point deserves to be explored in a dedicated blog so it will not be covered here. All I will say here is that I feel neutral about the term ‘banana’. In fact, I think it is a clever metaphor and a good seeding idea for making art!

In my research, I also found this article which summarises how different types of food are used as metaphors in the context of race and culture identity:

https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/09/12/348008432/overthinking-it-using-food-as-a-racial-metaphor

Although I acknowledge that reducing a race or culture to a colour can be problematic as described at the end of the article, I remain undisturbed by the use of food metaphors for myself because it helps me to start a thinking process. The point about ‘overthinking’ in the article refers to ‘an egg’ which means a person that is yellow in the core but with a white outer layer. As someone who is prone to overthinking, I liked the egg metaphor immensely. Yes, I have a ‘yellow’ shell and much of my core has become ‘white’ due to living in Britain most of my life, but I was born in Hong Kong to Chinese parents and lived there until I was a teenager. The very rich culture and heritage in the Hong Kong Chinese society are deeply rooted within me and will always be part of my core. It is not something that can be erased and also not something that I want to change. So, after much overthinking, I have decided that my response would be, ‘No, I am an egg’ to anyone who thinks I am a banana. Of course, it would be a boiled egg to be precise, but that would be really over thinking it.

NEXT STEPS

In my earlier blog, I had planned to make a Cheongsam painting with bananas as part of the process to explore my transcultural identity. After this research, I want to make two paintings, one with bananas and one with eggs as a response to the former.

ADDITIONAL READING

Here is a list of interesting articles about the ‘banana’ metaphor for East Asians living in ‘the west’ with different points of view and lived experiences:

https://www.thedp.com/article/2016/10/amy-chan-asian-hyphen-american

https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/voices/audio/2018661528/bananas-split-over-their-cultural-identity

https://dchp.arts.ubc.ca/entries/banana

UPDATE (4th October 2024)

Since publishing this blog and making the Cheongsam paintings, there has been a trial where a teacher went to a protest march holding a placard referring to the then Prime Minister Sunak and Home Secretary Braverman as coconuts. The teacher was trialled and found not guilty.

Her lawyer told the court the placard was “a pictorial attempt” at “political criticism” of Mr Sunak and Ms Braverman.

After a two-day trial, the judge ruled that the placard was “part of the genre of political satire”.

BBC news article:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2x202v2ejo.amp

Using ‘coconut’ to describe a person who is ‘brown on the outside but white on the inside’ is equally common as using ‘banana’ to describe an East Asian person.

MA U2: Book art – Part 1

| elizarawlings

During the MA low residency at CSM in March 2024, we had a book art workshop where we learnt to make zines and some simple book. The artist hosting the session mentioned a book art event that takes place in Bristol once every few years. I was delighted to find that it was on this year and I attended the fair.

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There were nearly 100 stands; it was a great opportunity to talk to and learn from experienced book artists. I came away feeling enthusiastic to try this beautiful art form.

Another reason for my enthusiasm was that I recently attended a Suminagashi workshop. Suminagashi is an ancient Japanese technique of making handmade marble paper and washi by floating water-based inks on water, then laying the paper on top to absorb the ink and water pattern. See post:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/07/05/suminagashi-workshop-ancient-japanese-paper-marbling-technique/

Here are some of the Suminagashi paper that I made during the workshop:

Small A4 size sheets
Larger A2 size sheets

METHOD

From the techniques learnt during the low residency workshop at CSM, I made a few different types of simple books using the smaller sheets of Suminagashi paper:

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I experimented with some Chinese ink calligraphy on one sheet of paper, then folded it into a simple book:

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On another Suminagashi book that I made, I chose four Tang Dynasty poems and wrote them in the book using Chinese ink calligraphy, each paired with a small painting:

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The seal on the last page of the book is a new Chinese stone seal that I designed. I managed to have it carved in Hong Kong and brought back to the UK by my Chinese painting tutor. The phrase on the seal means ‘The Third Space’, a concept that my art practice is based on so I will use it like my artist’s signature. The seal is carved in an ancient Chinese font.

Below is a video with my narration, reading out the English translation of the poems. Note that traditional Chinese books open from the opposite direction to English, Romance or Germanic language books:

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REFLECTIONS

I was really inspired by the visit to the book art fair. It helped me to understand how broad the scope of this art form can be. I knew very little about book art until the low res workshop earlier this year and I am excited by it. I enjoyed making the simple books in this exploration, especially using the Suminagashi paper. Here is a summary of what I enjoyed about this exploration:

– I enjoyed the quiet pleasure in the act of folding paper carefully, especially with beautiful paper such as the Suminagashi paper. The feel of the material surface, the edges and creases all added to the meditative effect that this art form has to offer.

– I enjoyed learning a new skill in making books. Although I am only making very simple ones at the moment, I am excited by the potential complexity and scope that book making can offer. It is new knowledge and a new challenge for me.

– Once a book is made, it is like having a new canvas calling out for creativity that requires a new way of thinking compared to my other work.

For me, it is a two stage process: (1) Think about how I want ‘the canvas’ to be and realising that idea through physical making; then (2) express my art on the made canvas. The stages are similar to the Cheongsam (Chinese dress) canvases that I have been making for painting. That approach also requires creating a 3D canvas first through a step-by-step ‘technical’ process before any drawing or painting can take place.

The similarities between my book-making and dress-making to create canvases only occurred to me during the writing of the above reflections. I was beginning to feel concerned that I might be going from one thing to another too soon in my practice. I am not dropping the dress-making work, in fact, far from it – I have planned many other projects based on Cheongsam canvases. But I also want to explore book art and I now realise the similarities between the two in the context of my practice. I believe it can be explained as follows:

– The book-making or dress-making processes start by my following some guided steps, this way of making gives me a structured approach to starting a project. Meaning, it is unlike just getting out a plain sheet of paper or a pre-made blank canvas where you are immediately faced with having to decide what to paint. Through the structural and systematic start of the creative process (i.e. making a book or a dress), I can proceed to create ‘productively’ and while I am making the ‘complex canvas’, I can think about what to paint on the canvas or to finalise the ideas in my head. The process of making the canvas (which in the case of a dress can take several days) gives me quality thinking time whilst doing something productive and not just sat in front of a blank canvas feeling bad that nothing was happening.

LEARNING

Attending the book art fair taught me a lot about the scope that this art form can offer. In my own experiments, I have learnt more about the art of making books from a technical perspective – I am at a very early stage right now but I definitely want to learn more to make more complex or larger books.

My reflections above made me realise that the process of making the canvas myself (e.g. a book or a dress) has been a key part to my enjoyment in making art recently because I have been using the canvas making time and process to aid my thinking and to finalise my creative ideas. I have been doing this without consciously knowing it. I value the fact that making items such as a book or a dress are established processes and therefore give me a secure and stable route to start each piece of work. On the contrary, if I were to create a completely free-form assemblage from found items as a starting point, I would be inhibited by such an open and abstract process at the beginning of a piece of work – I would not know where to start and therefore it would be like sitting in front of a blank canvas again. This realisation is very important and useful for me because I can now think about other potential canvases that I can make from an established method in order to expand my practice.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue to make books and learn about book making to expand my knowledge.

– Think about other canvases that I can create in addition to books and dresses that would enable me to have the quality thinking time as part of my creative process and to avoid the ‘starring at a blank canvas’ problem.

UPDATE:

I made another book using a piece of Suminagashi paper folded into a small long book. In it, I wrote four short Tang Dynasty poems in Chinese calligraphy and coloured some areas using Chinese painting colour.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #3 – wearable painting

| elizarawlings

Following on from Cheongsam Series #2, the plan was to create a wearable painting in the form of a Cheongsam. I have little experience in dressmaking but I remember watching my mother make dresses when I was young. She was a very talented dressmaker and I used to enjoy watching her work. I vaguely remember my grandmother being a dressmaker, too, so I guess my mother must have been inspired by her mother. I also learnt sewing at school so I have some knowledge of the process. I started to research how to make a Cheongsam.

I researched different sewing patterns online looking for one that’s not too complicated and I managed to find one. The reviews of the pattern suggested it was easy to make and I ordered one.

METHOD

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The pattern seemed straightforward and simple which was a great way for me to learn to make a Cheongsam. I measured myself and chose a size on the pattern.

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The fabric I used was a light weight calico cotton canvas material. I felt the light weight yet tough texture of the fabric was suitable for a wearable painting.

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Pieces of canvas material was cut according to the pattern.

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My 40 year old sewing machine which has not been used for many years refused to work due to years of neglect. So I had to hand sew the dress.

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The canvas dress was put onto a dress maker’s mannequin for finishing.

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I was overly generous in my fabric cutting so the dress felt very large. The sewing pattern had provision for darts for a tighter fit. So I marked those out and sewn darts onto the front and back.

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To decide on a primer for the canvas dress, both gesso and diluted white acrylic paint were painted onto fabric samples as experiments.

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Once dried, acrylic paint was applied to both surfaces to see which would perform better. The gesso was preferred because it provided a smoother surface.

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Since the fabric was light weight, the mannequin was wrapped in clingfilm for protection from the painting process.

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White gesso with acrylic blue tint were diluted as primer.

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The canvas dress was primed on both sides. The tint worked well and I could use that as the background for the painting.

The final finishing step was to add the frogs (tradition fabric buttons or fasteners).

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REFLECTIONS

I am pleased with the fact that I managed to make a canvas dress using a bought sewing pattern. This experience has given me confidence to take on other sewing or textile projects which will provide an addition dimension to my practice which I feel excited about. For now, I have made a 3D canvas in the shape of a Cheongsam and primed it. Although the painting was not yet finished, I wanted to pause and reflect on the progress so far and take time to consider what to paint on the dress.

The Cheongsam series started as a result of me finding my mother’s old Cheongsams in my loft, which triggered intrigue and inspiration for me to make work on the Cheongsam subject. I know little about the Cheongsam and I am starting to research about its history especially its evolution and how the style changed over time partly due to influences from the West. E.g. the Cheongsam started off as a loose fitting garment, however, as European designers such as Christian Dior marketed more figure-hugging dresses that were pinched at the waist, the Cheongsam started to evolve as Chinese women wanted to emulate European fashion. From around mid-20th century, the Cheongsam started to evolve as a result of the two cultures coming together and the new figure-hugging silhouette emerged which lasted till today. To this end, I believe the modern Cheongsam is a form of a Third Space phenomenon which fits in well with my overall research topic based on Homi K Bhabha’s book, The Location of Culture. My knowledge on the Cheongsam is very limited and I will be borrowing several books on the subject from CSM library. I look forward to finding out more to inform my Cheongsam series of work.

Having established that the modern Cheongsam is potentially a Third Space phenomenon, I would like to use the 3D canvas dress made here for a painting to show something about the Third Space, perhaps another Third Space phenomenon. I am considering making a series of Cheongsam canvases, each painted with a Third Space phenomenon and all as wearable paintings. I want to make them wearable so that they are metaphors for the uniform that transcultural people wear and the roles that they play as they navigate the different cultures in their environment. This work can help to inform my transcultural identity and heritage research.

LEARNING

I have learnt various techniques while making the dress and the experience will be useful as I go onto making other garments to feed into my practice.

I need to learn more about the history of the Cheongsam because it intrigues me and is an interesting part of the Hong Kong heritage that will help inform my art practice. Especially with my late mother being a skilful dressmaker and I remember clearly the dress that I found being in her wardrobe for many years. My older sister remembers visiting the tailor’s shop with my mother to order the dress. In fact, she has recently found the history of the shop for me – it still exists in Hong Kong.

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NEXT STEPS

Decide what to paint on the canvas and do the painting.

Research about Cheongsam to build on the series of work.

Make, just make and make some more.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #2 – study drawing

| elizarawlings

Following on from Cheongsam series #1:

https://eliza-rawlings.com/2024/04/07/ma-y1-u1-cheongsam-series-1/

where I had made an abstract painting after finding my late mother’s Cheongsam in my loft, I was unsure of where to go from there. I enjoyed the making process in series #1 but didn’t feel like building on that particular piece of work. At the end of series #1, I said that I would make some informal work and have a play in my sketchbook. I studied the dress again to get inspiration. When nothing came to mind, I decided to do some drawings and use that time and the act of drawing to facilitate my thinking.

METHOD

A pencil drawing studying the unique shape of the Cheongsam was made as a first exercise:

I have always been mesmerised by the pattern of this particular Cheongsam of my mother’s:

So I made a colour study of the most memorable part of the pattern. This area of the pattern has been imprinted on my mind since I was a little girl.

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Since the fabric and the dress are so delicate, I wanted to use ink for the colour study. Any paint such as oil or acrylic would seem overly heavy.

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The initial blue ink was too bright, so a darker blue ink (Quink) was used to complete the study.

A study of an abstract pattern on a mid-20th century Hong Kong cheongsam. Ink and pen drawing

REFLECTIONS

I was pleased that I managed to follow through on the plan I had set myself after the last painting – to make some informal work, hence the sketches. Also, I kept thinking about my tutor’s advice – just keep making, make anything – objects, images etc. I have not done much drawing since starting my MA and it was good to play in my sketchbook again.

During the drawing, my mind wandered onto what work to make next. I was so mesmerised by the cheongsam and the fabric pattern that I wanted to make one – to make a cheongsam. I didn’t just want to make a dress, I wanted to make a wearable painting cheongsam. I thought about making a cheongsam using a canvas material then painting on the 3D canvas dress. I have had many ideas about making wearable paintings in the past and that thought has just occurred to me again. So I think it’s time to do it.

Making a cheongsam is not easy and I’m not an experienced dress maker. So I researched online to find easy to make dress patterns. Also, I researched online the books available at UAL to find out more about the history of the cheongsam. I have reserved four books at CSM and also purchased one online. I’m looking forward to properly embarking on this research project to inform my cheongsam series of work.

LEARNING

– The drawing exercise was very useful and enjoyable. Since it was not a highly challenging piece of work, I was able to let my mind wander and came up with ideas of making wearable cheongsam paintings. I should use drawing more as a way to explore and think. I know it does work, I just need to do it more.

– I bought a book on the history of cheongsam online and realised I should have looked at the UAL library first. I was delighted by the library’s materials on the cheongsam and the facility to borrow books from other UAL college libraries was very useful. UAL also had a copy of the book I bought, so I could have saved some money – must remember to search the library first next time.

– I am excited about starting the next project on making a wearable painting with opportunities to research the dress’ history as well as the materials for this application.

NEXT STEPS

– Make a wearable cheongsam painting based on the ideas that came to mind during my sketching.

– Research the history of the cheongsam so I can be more informed in my making.

– Keep making, just make. Make anything.

MA U2: Cheongsam Series #1 – oil and cold wax abstract

| elizarawlings

During one of my visits to Hong Kong some 30 years ago when my mother was still alive, she gave me four dresses as keepsakes – two hand tailor-made silk Cheongsams (traditional Chinese dress) from when she was a young woman and two evening dresses that she made herself for dinner balls that she went to with my father. One of the cheongsams was my favourite, it had a distinctive and memorable pattern. I remember very clearly that I used to open her wardrobe as a little girl to admire it and I was mesmerised by the pattern. Everything about it said ‘my mum’ to me. So I was very happy when she gave it to me to keep as it was very precious and had so much history.

Then in 2001 when I moved house (in Bristol, UK), I cleared lots of old things into a skip. As the skip was driven away, I remembered a small suitcase containing the precious dresses was accidentally thrown into the skip but it was too late. It was one of the things that I have regretted all these years.

That was some 22 years ago. Then earlier this year, I was clearing out the loft and found a box containing some old items, inside which was a plastic carrier bag contain the four dresses. It was as close to a miracle as I could image. I hadn’t thrown away those dresses after all! To find them again after all these years was an emotional moment for me.

Here is the distinctive Cheongsam that I adored. It is a traditional Chinese dress made with a contemporary western style abstract patterned fabric of the time (late 1960s). It is a good example of a piece of transcultural garment. It has some deep creases from being folded for so many years but I am unsure of how best to iron or care for it, so until I find out, I decided to refold it for safe keeping. Below are some photos I took before putting it away.

Front view
Back view
Close up of the Madarin collar design
Close up of the abstract pattern that fascinated me as a child
Close up of the details of hand made stitches along a seam

There is so much history to this interesting dress, its rich features and heritage make it very precious and can provide inspiration for my art making. However, I was unsure of what to do and where to start.

When I recently visited the Stuart Hall Library in London as part of my MA Fine Art course Low Residency at CSM, I saw the book called Fusionable Cheongsam. I was unable to spend too much time there because we were on a tight schedule for the day and I hope to return soon to have a good read of the book. However, I had seen enough to convince me that the Cheongsam could be a good focus for my art making. I decided to start with a painting.

METHOD

Photographs of various parts of the Cheongsam fabric pattern were taken and printed on an EPSON EcoTank ET2860 inkjet printer.

Images were selected to fully cover a 30×20 inch canvas board. Dispersion liquid was used to transfer the printed images onto the canvas and left to dry overnight.

The paper was rubbed off leaving the transferred image on the canvas. As expected, the process usually leaves blank patches as it had done here:

Where there were blank spaces, the outline of the abstract shapes were drawn in using a 0.2mm black fine liner pen.

Using the colour charts I prepared a few weeks ago, various colour shades were chosen for the top layer oil and cold wax painting. The oil and cold wax were mixed in 50/50 ratio.

Blocks of colour were painted onto the canvas. The approach was abstract and without pre-planning, I was just responding to the canvas. Towards the bottom centre area, I wanted to paint a dark red triangle, what came out was part of a mouth or lips. The lips led me to start painting an abstract face:

Once the top layer painting was completed, I started to scratch off the paint, firstly in the shape of a small cheongsam.

Then the paint was scraped off and the area cleaned with environmentally friendly solvent:

I liked the image and I then responded to it by making marks of several other cheongsams of various sizes. Bright red paint was used to depict the traditional Chinese buttons used on garments. Strips of Chinese calligraphy with the phrase ‘third space’ was layered onto the paint then pigment was sprinkled to add texture.

I felt troubled by the face, especially the dark eye, it looked too sinister. So I scraped off most of the dark eye to give it a kinder look.

Finished work below – Cheongsam #1. Oil and cold wax on canvas with image transfer. Size 20×30 in.

REFLECTIONS

What I am happy with:

– The colour palette

– The fabric pattern that came through

– The Cheongsam shaped mark making

– The little red buttons as a colour pop

– The inlaying of Chinese calligraphy

– Enjoyed working with oil and cold wax media

What I’m not happy with:

– The composition, the ‘lips’ accidentally appearing led me to subconsciously start creating a face-like composition. I’m not sure if it worked. When the ‘eye’ was completely filled in black, it became a strange and eerie creature. It was too distracting hence I scraped off most of the black to reduce the impact.

– Due to the strange face, it doesn’t sit comfortably with me which perhaps is a good thing. Better than being forgettable.

Other thoughts:

– I wanted to use the cheongsam series to help me to delve into my thoughts about my family, especially my mother, our relationship and my heritage. I am not sure if I achieved this in just this painting because I was overly focusing on making the work and trying to get the composition right. But I am keen to continue the Cheongsam series and feel that I am at the beginning of something.

– I am intrigued by the history of the Cheongsam and want to find out more.

– The fact that such a traditional Chinese garment of my mother’s was made with a western style abstract pattern was intriguing – this is what the Third Space is about and I have accidentally stumbled upon this excellent example – my mother, a Chinese woman from colonised Hong Kong, chose this dress with this fabric. I have not fully processed this finding yet, but I wanted to acknowledge it here and will slowly delve into what I think and how I feel about this.

LEARNING

– Various symbols have emerged from this piece. I am inspired by Fiona Rae’s work where she often uses playful symbols. I can try a playful approach with e.g. lips or butterflies. The collars of the Cheongsam remind me of butterflies, they could be turned into a signature symbol that I use in my work.

– Other symbols such as the distinctive buttons that are used in Cheongsam and traditional Chinese garments, I loved playing with them when I was a child – I can investigate those further.

– I am intrigued by the Cheongsam and I want to research about its history and other related art such as in the book ‘Fusion of Cheongsam’ to get inspiration for making.

– As I was painting, I felt that I was trying too hard especially in the composition of the oil and cold wax layer. It felt deliberate rather than a free response to the canvas. I could use my sketchbook more to plan composition for my work, do more quick trial and error exploration.

NEXT STEPS

– Continue the Cheongsam exploration because I feel excited by the subject – research into its history and related art to get inspiration.

– Keep making, do some informal work. Not every piece has to be a finished painting.

– Play in my sketchbook.

– Relax and enjoy the making process. Take time and don’t try too hard.

MA U2: Exploring aesthetics – Part 3 – Harbour

| elizarawlings

This piece of work was a continuation of my exploration of how to express the third space through aesthetics. It started with a digital collage in a similar way to the piece I did for the MA Interim Show in Part 2:

MA Y1 U1: Exploring Aesthetics – Part 2 – Painting on silk for MA Interim Show

However, after I started this piece, my thinking took me to reflecting on how I felt about my work in the third space so far. My thoughts are captured in this blog:

MA Y1 U1: The elusive Third Space – Reflections from MA interim show and feedback

Although this work did not start as the abstraction approach that I concluded on in my thinking, I have altered part of the image to be less illustrative and more suggestive as a start of this new exploration.

METHOD

A digital collage was created using Adobe Express comprising an image of present time Victoria Harbour in Hong Kong, a row of colourful Victorian houses at Bristol Harbour and a traditional Chinese junk. The images were manipulated so that the buildings forming the skyline of the two harbours were combined forming a continuous shoreline with the HK Harbour image changed to a subtle but bright two-tone effect whilst the Bristol houses remained vibrant and unchanged. Various colour effect experiments were carried out to achieve this final image:

I recently started to experiment with using old black and white family photos in my digital collages. For this piece of work, the photos formed a collage on the sails of the junk:

Whilst the previous work for the MA show was printed on silk, I feel this image would suit a woven canvas (e.g. a traditional cotton woven canvas). So my plan is to have this printed on canvas then add brush strokes in the style of Chinese calligraphy. The digital collage was exported to Adobe Freso where I used the painting function to try out different compositions. Below are two examples.

Example 1 – using an abstract image done in Chinese calligraphy style:

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Example 2 – using Chinese characters that meant ‘space’ (as in third space) with a red seal stamp drawn in:

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This is work-in-progress and I will order several printed canvases to try out the calligraphy experiments.

REFLECTIONS

I am happy with the progress so far. I like the way the two harbours came together as one continuous shoreline representing the different parts of my life coming together as a continuum. After my reflections on my third space work so far, my aim here is to create images that are more ambiguous so that both the viewers and I have to think deeper to see what’s there. I am not sure if I have managed to achieve it with this work. I will reserve judgment until the work is complete.

What I am also pleased about is that I am becoming less sensitive about using my family photos. I have always felt that they were too precious to be used, like mining a fragile archeological site. Although I have not used the very precious photos of my close family yet, I am feeling more able to consider the idea.

LEARNING

Since this is still work-in-progress, I’ll leave the full consideration of my learning until the end when the work is finished.

NEXT STEPS

– To order a minimum of four canvases printed with the image to experiment with adding Chinese calligraphy style brush strokes to complete the painting.

– I will go for A1 size to start with; it gives a reasonable area for expression without having to commit too much costs or materials. If I like the outcome then I might consider printing more canvases on a larger scale.

– Other experiments to consider are:

a. Covering the image with a top layer of oil and cold wax abstract painting then complete the painting by scraping off areas to reveal the image underneath.

b. Spray painting in street art style to show further Bristol heritage.

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ADDITIONAL REFLECTIONS

After publishing this blog and giving more thoughts about my blog on the elusive third space, I decided not to take this piece of work further. This is because I feel this image is still rather illustrative with images of only ‘A and B’ (as explained in ‘The Elusive Third Space’ blog). So I’m going to leave this for now and focus on the Cheongsam series which may give me more exploration opportunities. I may come back to this later but I’ll leave it here for now.