Nick Rodgers

The triptych project arrived at an interesting time. I have been considering my practice and research for some time. I have been looking at various strands of my work and trying to consider if they are what I really want to do , or things that I think I should be doing.
So a project that encouraged me to consider my approach to drawing forced me to question , further, my practice,
I would say that most of my textile work has had an intuitive approach in terms of mark making and my use of colour. I respond to what I see, hear, think by working directly on textiles with dyes and inks.
At the same time I can identify that I am interested in the processes that I use to create work. I love printing, I love layering colour, I love experimenting with what I can do to fabric , I love trying to work out systems for economical printing, I love lots of things but I don’t always do them.
Why? sometimes fear.
What if it all goes wrong? What will people think?
The Triptych project has allowed me to develop ideas without the need to be prolific in my output. It has allowed me the time to think about ideas , discuss those ideas with peers and it has influenced some aspects of my teaching practice.




STARTING POINTS
the project started with a response to the triptych symbol. I considered this to be a basic triangle. the question was to consider my visual response to that shape or to consider the idea of my response having 3 facets.
I have previously been interested in producing images of stripes that are random but are generated in CAD. The stripes would be horizontal but would alter in width and colour.
having had conversations with Dr Hilary Carlisle of Edinburgh College of Art, I knew that this would be difficult. Her PHD dealt with random patternmaking in a textiles context. One of the main issues with the random generation of a recurring image is that it can become incredibly large or small. Therefore you have to build in upper and lower limits in the programming .i.e. the shape can be no smaller than x and no larger than y but within that limit it can be any size. You then have the issue of creating random generation of colours.
The first response was to start drawing triangles, or to be more accurate, approximations of triangles as none of the lines were straight. the shapes were connected to form larger shapes that were fairly random
These shapes could not be random as I was obviously making judgements about : the size of paper, where to start drawing, what direction to develop the image and most importantly when to stop.
What I was interested in was making the process more, if not completely, random.
The drawings that were created in the sketchbook started to resemble wire mapped drawings of semi recognisable organic forms. When anyone looked at the image there first comment was that it looked like a thing!.
when I started to create the next drawing this response was in my head so I started to see the images as some sort of creature. This was not what I wanted to achieve. I think these thoughts were influencing the decisions I was making when adding the next triangular element to the composition. Therefore there was, as is to be expected , a response to external influences and to my own instinctive sense of trying to read an image into the marks I was creating.
At this stage there was no indication if the drawings were a means to an end. There was no product or design solution in mind. The result could be 2d or 3D . What I was interested in was considering a new drawing process for me, but at the back of my mind there was the thought of creating some leatherwork that used my drawings as the pattern for some form of embossing.
The next set of conversations I had were with Claude Gerald, a friend with experience of using lasers and of creating some basic computer programming. We discussed the drawings I was creating and the fact that that I wanted to create drawings that had a greater random element. Most of the development of this project has been insular, that is to say I have deliberately not looked for reference to this approach to drawing. I felt I needed the time to consider the idea before looking at how others may have explored the concept. However, recently I have been drawn to the sports pages of national newspapers and have found that there is an interesting use of random process in the production of drawings. The Guardian has been producing graphics that show the level of passing, direction of passing etc in particular World Cup matches.
At the same time I started to discuss my work with Kerry Walton, lecturer at LUSAD,
We were both interested in the use of the Triptych symbol as a starting point for our drawings . We both have similar interests but take quite different approaches to our drawing. The discussions were helpful as much as a form of encouragement as well as a mechanism for reflection and critical appraisal.
The discussions with Claude led me to shift my ideas slightly. Instead of using CAD at the end to produce work that was developed from my drawings , I would now consider using cad to create the drawings. Using Photoshop or any of the graphic packages would keep me working at the same level and would only be a digital version of what I was creating in the sketchbook. To make the drawing have a greater level of randomness there would have to be a some programming created.
I created some experimental drawings using Photoshop . These drawings are an extension of what I was doing in the sketchbook. Instead of one layer that had created the illusion of 3D I was now starting to work in multiple layers. Taking the image, copying and adding a new layer where I might shift, slightly, the angle of the drawing. On top of this I was drawing a new layer.


What I realised was that I definitely wanted to create drawings that have a large random element in their production. What Claude and I discussed was how we could do this from scratch. The starting point was to draw a series of connected triangles on a grid. The grid would have an x and Y axis placed on it so that measurements could be taken. When the shape was drawn the three points of each triangle were recorded ( point 1=x, Y . point 2 = x, Y etc) each triangle was given a number and each line in the triangle was given a number .therefore each triangle in the shape could be recorded as a sequence of numbers and this sequence could be translated to computer programming that would then be able to visualise the shape that was drawn.
So the first triangle(T1) in illustration 9 can be represented as :
T1 = L1(P1-P2) + L2(P1-P3) = L3(P2-P3)
And this can be read as
T1 = 3/3-3/7 +3/3-7/3 + 3/7-7/3
With the first digit representing the X axis and the second digit representing the Y axis.
This basic system is then translated into the corrects sequence and inputted into the CAD programme “ visual Basic”
CHICKEN OR EGG?
Why translate what is already there to just reproduce it on a screen?
The idea was to figure out how to represent the triangular shapes in a nonvisual way. From this point one could programme the computer to create random drawings by indicating maximums and minimums for the x and Y values. One could also start to create the images in 3D by adding a Z axis .
What I have realised is that I still want to create ‘the drawings myself. I want ownership of them. I don’t want the mechanical machine creating the image I want it to translate the image.
Now that I have figured out, in a very basic way how to represent the shapes I have drawn (using numbers) the next stage will be for me to select numbers that will create the drawings.
I see this as a relevant method , for me , of creating the drawings in a more random way. I cant help linking it with music. If you gave me a sheet of musical notation paper and some basic symbols I could mark them on the lines but I would have no idea what they would sound like if played on an instrument. However if I made the marks in a variety of ways and heard them translated I would possibly be able to start understanding sequences of notes and be able to figure out how my marks were being translated. The same could be said for the method I am considering for creating my drawings. So how do I avoid this?
One method would be to create the series of numbers and not translate them until I had created a group of the “number drawings” therefore I would have no visual reference to respond to. Another method nay be to create one drawing that is a continuous number sequence. The advantages of both of these methods are that there may be mistakes; some of the triangles may not match up, the lines may be repeated.
This will also allow me time to reflect on how I want to represent the drawings, if I am using them as a means to an end ,if I want to use this method to create drawings using different basic shapes (squares , rectangles etc) or if I could respond to places and situations with “number drawings”. i.e. landscapes as a series of numbers.
the next stage is to start work on one sequence of numbers , aiming to produce a drawing that has a large number of triangles. The decisions will be whether the numbers or the translation, in the form of a print , will be the drawing and whether the drawing is the final outcome of my project.


Nick Rodgers
Lecturer in textiles
LUSAD