Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae

Rebecca Heather Nokes

Date of Birth: 11/04/1992

Contact Numbers:  Home:- 01342-834530

                                  Mobile: - 07826546627

Email: beccie.n@live.co.uk

Education History

September 1995 – July 2003:- Lingfield Primary School (general all round subjects)

September 2003 – July 2005:- Stonar Girls school and Equestrian centre (general all round subjects for years seven and eight.)

September 2005 – July 2010:- Woldingham Girls School (Year nine entry, all subjects studied)

September 2010 – May 2011:- Chelsea College of Art and Design, Foundation Diploma in Art and Design, 1 year full time.

September 2011 – July 2014:- Manchester Metropolitan University, BA Degree ‘Textiles in Practice’  3 years full time

GCSE Grades:-   

o   History – B

o   Maths – A

o   English Literature – B

o   Science (part 1 Biology, Chemistry and Physics) – A

o   Art – A*

o   Drama – A

o   R.E – B

o   German – B

o   English Language – A

o   Additional science (part 2 Biology Chemistry and Physics) – B

                                                                                       

Qualifications:-  

o   Cycling Proficiency award

o   Duke of Edinburgh’s award (Bronze) from September 2006 – December 2007

o   UK Driving Licence

AS and A2 Results:-

o   Fine Art – A

o   Art Textiles - A

o   Business Studies - B

o   English Literature (AS) – C

Foundation Diploma in Art and Design : – Merit.

Previous Employment:-

- An assistant childminder at the ‘Edenbrook’ children’s nursery in Lingfield. 

- Volunteer work at ‘The Monica Cantwell Trust’, in Lingfield for just over 6 months. It was used as part of my Duke of Edinburgh’s service section.

-  Part time employee at ‘Oxted Interiors Limited’ – Saturday job. Started in September  2008-June 2011

- Current Part time employee with ‘AYS - At Your Service’

- Casual employee for ‘COWES week 2011’ Fosters Beer tent, Bar staff. 

- Current Part time Suervisor for 'FRURT' Frozen Yogurt, Manchester.

Interests:-

o   Gymnastics

o   Horse riding

o   Fine Art and Textiles

o   Athletics

o   Trampolining    

Personality:-

I’m an interactive person and not shy. I enjoy work and am a hard worker; I have good people skills and can communicate well. I can create good relationships with people and have a wide selection of skills. I have had a well rounded, good education and am computer literate. I love being around different people every day and have an aptitude for learning quickly.  I especially enjoy a packed schedule, I love being busy and enjoy the thrill of being hard work.

Blogging Task, Re-posted from Sampling blog

When initially being given the brief I did think it was rather broad, it allowed us to choose an area to explore freely. However looking back, if it was more specific I probably would have found it easier. Then again, this would not have been quite so much of a challenge.

I initially started with three opposites, ‘Delicacy: Crude’, ‘Tiny: Massive’, ‘Deliberate: Coincidence’. A mistake I made in the beginning was sourcing a lot of my visuals and inspiration from books, I chose images I like because of the juxtaposition they held when put together, however when Christmas came I still was hanging onto these images and I have found it hard to move on with my own work. Admittedly I should of thrown myself into my work at Christmas and not put it to one side, I sort of ‘fell out’ of the flow and this term I have found it hard to get back into it.

Within the project, so far I feel that I have managed to experiment with more of the university’s facilities. Within ‘Sleuths, Spies and Lies’ being new to Manchester and the university I wasn’t confident in the space or place I was living. This project however I have expanded my knowledge, I rented an SLR camera from the AV store, worked out printing onto tracing paper and acetate, discovered the Whitworth gallery and the Manchester Museum. I also have been better at gathering relevant materials. I have put to use the practices I have learnt in the embroidery workshop making relevant samples to my work. I do need to be more conscious and aware of time, I feel I have let myself down by not throwing myself into my project over Christmas, I would feel stronger within it if I had done so.

Selecting intermediate embroidery has allowed me to use the machine as a tool for drawing. In my project, it is incredibly important that I explore the detailing and opposites within the face, enlarging these and working with the machine has been crucial. I have also been able to explore further areas of embroidery such as, the princess pleater which has only strengthened my project.

I have come to a particular sticky area within my project, I have needed to hone in my ideas and edit my workings. Within my sketchbook, you can see my progression, but sometimes I feel my mind is moving much faster than my sketchbook, and I get lost. I have managed to move on from my original opposites and I have narrowed down my focus to just the opposites within the face.  I felt that my colour palette was not working; I needed to eliminate the reds and oranges and just stick to neutrals, as my work was much stronger. I also need to collect my sampling, really focus on the best qualities, and push forward with those. Elimination and direction is key now.

Gathering all my samples I can tell the qualities that are relevant and that I have been looking for within my project. I have been much more selective with materials and meticulous with processes within the second project. If I were to start again I would have been more focused on what the project was actually about, I would have pinpointed a topic rather than chosen such a broad outlook. I thought it would create more options of sampling but it has only made it harder to focus.

I have really realised the need to throw myself into a project and not forget about it for a period, I made that mistake over Christmas, it has set me back but I will not make it again.

mix up of observational drawing, cut up asatate images and drawings of sampling. All in response to my subject.

exploring the contours and lines of the face through drawing.

observational study of enveloping fabrics in order to reflect the lines created within the face through age.

Experimentation with photoshop on primary image, opposite of fresh, younger skin below

 

experimentation with cropping the face to show intensity on certain areas. and focus.

Photos and Photocopying

Yesterday i used the morning to start making some textile pieces from my research. In the embroidery room i enjoyed using the pffaf machine and recreating some of the beautiful backs of the photos, it did take me a while but i preduced a really great sample. I will blog a photo as soon as i get to a scanner. I also blew up and played around with the my family photos, it brought out some really interesting colours and shapes. Messing around with the reality of the scale of the photos brought out some new ideas. I experimented with tracing and asatate as well. Great results.

Tutorial 24th April

Carrying on from the idea of creating a Fictional story of the mill owners of Hotspur back in the day. I managed to resource some pictures from throughout the Victorian era of my own family. 'The Cottrells', some of the photos are just exquisite, the colours, smell, scale. Some photos are stunning for the wrong reasons, one of them is blurry, but the edging around the image is beautiful, the blurrs show movement and the photo isnt as 'snapshotty' or posed as some of the others. During the tutorial we dicussed that the qualities of that photo link to gerard Richter's work, the way he uses the gelatine to pull the paint across and blur the image. We also discussed my need for scale, some of the backs of the photos are more interesting than the fronts, blowing these up i can look into working with the backs and devoring them rather than a more difficult and complex full image. I need to look outside the box, dont overlook some areas, i could use edges of photos as inspiration and negative space as well for the Devore. I'm going to order online fromWhaleys some cheaper silk velvet, rather than shop bought.

Manchester 19th Century Housing

After visiting the Visual Resources centre i knew that it was a must that i go back and rummage through the slides myself to see what i came across. By doing this i ended up riffling through the section 'Manchester 19th century - Housing'. Some of the housing slides were beautiful, i picked out a few and John scanned them in and sent them to me so i could document them in my sketchbook. Just seeing the photos from the time, the crumbling exterior of the houses made it all real again, people actually had lives within these homes all htose years ago.

It made me think about creating an almost 'fictional' project, i want to create a story of either a worker of Hotspur, or the mill owners. Almost 'fake' follow/create a life for people, based on real investigation. So i have booked to go down to London next week in order to visit this Victorian house 'Southside House'. My friend documented it in one of her a levels. Its a house in Wimbledon that has simply been left, and looked after from the Victorian Era. Its grand and ornate, i think (without predicitng which way i will  be heading) it may become the house in which my 'Mill owners' will own and live in. I hopefully will get inspired from decor, interiors, colours and furniture, and therefore be able to move forward away from my research and into a more textile based way of working. the technique of Devore i think may be on the cards.

The Old Workers

From all my research the most interesting thing for me was the old directories of Manchester. Yesterday I went back to the library and photocopied pages out of the directory to get names of cotton industry workers, and investigate other professions. Names, the idea of working with actual identities excites me. I also popped up to the 'Special Collections' in which i found a book titled '19/55' its a 'Slade school of Art' post graduate Sculpture collective, they created a print portfolio of the 2009 graduates work, including altogether 34 artists work. Within this book was one piece that in particular grabbed my attention, it was a finger print design, but it was actually made up of words, overlapping and interlocking. I loved the simplicity of this image and working with the finger print as a form of identity.

At the moment I am experimenting with the idea of mixing the finger print, with the names and identities of workers. Potentially creating a story.

Town Hall Architecture and Atmosphere

At a bit of a loose end....in desperate need of some inspiration. I went to Manchester town hall. Its Victorian Gothic archictecture is beautiful. the atmosphere inside was overwhelming, vast rooms and ornate interior decor made me feel slightly insignificant. Designed by architect Alfred Waterhouse Its a grade 1 listed building and was one of the most expensive buildings ever contracted in England. It was completed in 1877. Rumour has it, the foundations were built on top of cotton bails, during the booming cotton industry in Victorian Manchester. This doesnt directly link to my project but being stuck i guess researching around the area im looking at has helped me get back on track. Drawing always helps reboost my inspiration.

Museum of Science and Industry. - Furthering Research

I didnt realise that the Museum of Science and Industry held all of the old machinery used in the cotton making process. It was enlightening to go down and introduce myself with how vast the machinery was that would of been held and used daily in hotspur. The scale of the machines was crazy! I managed to source a book from the local collections area of the library called 'Mirth in the Mill' - the gradely world of Sam Fitton. It explains in depth each area of the mill for example 'the millworkers day' 'the spinning room' 'child labour' etc. It has given me an all round knowledge of what it would have been like to be working or in that environment in the 18th century. The Museum of Science and Industry however also had an underground manchester part, using my disposeable cameras to document i have a very eerie picture of what would have been the underground bricked tunnels of manchester. Creepy.

Victorian Directories.

I was made aware after visiting the Visual Resources centre that the library held past documents of Manchesters history. I found old Directories that document all of the merchants and manufacturers in 1808 and 1809. The book was so crunchy and smelt of must and age, it was great! Just investigating and reading about the inhabitants of Manchester in that period made it all very real. Its exciting to imagine life going on years ago,and when its documented in a book in front of your eyes its sinks in. This project is real. I also managed to find some old ordance survey maps and i have pin pointed Hotspur House in my sketchbook. Then 'Medlock Mill'. Im intrigued mainly about the names documented in the Directory, i want to see if i can find any REAL workers of 'medlock mill' and perhaps start drawing on their individual lives. Further my investigation with actual names. Identify actual people.

'Hotspur' - The History of the Workers'

Entering into Hotspur for the first time was exciting and fresh. I felt there was a certain atmosphere within the building, so much history was being held within the cracks in the bricks. I needed to concentrate on the history of the building when looking at the 'old and new' title.

For me the first 3 weeks were crucial for research about Hotspur itself. An 18th century cotton mill, all i could do was visualise the workers and their lives. I could imagine all of them working, the massive machinery and the noise. I had an idea to look at the workers and their lives, the lifestyles, the housing, architecture, their families, fabrics of the time. Potentially look into a personal story of one of the workers.

Drawing and using a disposeable camera helped me document my findings. Some of my disposeable images are beautiful the way they have turned out. Really honeing in on areas of hotspur and revealing the 'gubbins'. It looks abandoned and derelict. Beautiful markings on the walls and the colours developing is extraordinary.



Looking up through a skylight. Hotspur House.