And So it Begins..

The Origin of Species//Women's SS2010

I am currently working on my thesis collection to be completed in May 2010. The source for my inspiration is ever evolving but currently I have discovered a go-to-guide for all things that excite me-Ernst Haeckle's, Art Forms in Nature. (image from google images)

This book is filled with pages on end featuring work that marries science with art. Haeckle was the German scientist who

 "maintained that art as well as science could unearth the underlying truths of nature". He traveled far and wide with a microscope, sketchpad, and watercolors discovering and illustrating his findings. To read more about his biography and view his lithograph plates, I found this source which I think repres

ents him well. 

From the images found in the book as well as a few other limited images found on the internet, I put together a Concept board to get my thoughts and ideas flowing. This board is photoshopped from about 15-20 different images-mostly scans from Art Forms in Nature.

In my body of work, I hope to take Haeckel's studies as a guide to creating sculptural form through the creation of textiles and the manipulation of it thereafter. Combining techniques of machine knitting, hand knitting (which I just learned today

!), felting, scrunching, pulling, distressing, heating, dyeing and also through the use of other nonconventional materials and processes will flourish surfaces made to react with the body.

The beginnings...

These are images from my "home studio" aka a corner nook of my bedroom in my attic apartment. But here's a peek at my main squeeze via VIDEO===> Lien X Tong // Studio Video Tour.