As an artist I find the graphic narrative communicates my energies, thoughts, emotions, and experiences. My own personal struggles with intrusive thoughts, anxiety, and depression have crafted my work and style leading me to find focus and expression through creation. They have brought me to the decision to work with black ink and white paper. Increasingly, I am finding that by narrowing myself to work within the frame of these two colors I can widen my ability to portray strong emotion and shifting psychological states. Through this form I am able to depict, dramatize, and even process what I am going through; additionally, I am able to share with and inspire others to find meaning and perhaps 'metabolize' their own struggles. My aim is to complete a graphic novel that expresses my own inner workings and experiences. I have included representative pages that depict my experience of intrusive thoughts.

I am submitting my work thus far to an "interactive colloquium" that wants to re-evaluate the role of comics. This conference, "Comics in Medicine & Teaching: Rethinking Comics as a Therapeutic and Educational Tool" is a perfect fit for my graphic narrative because their focus is in work that "demonstrates people's own lived experiences with mental and physical illness." Attending this conference will help me further my research in comics as a therapeutic vehicle as well as help me to better understand and apply my practice as I continue to explore ways to narrate and give shape to inner conflict.

The Beauty of Poison

Name of Authors: Shiyao Peng

Department: Fashion School

Problem:

To create a Fall/Winter and Holiday 2016 women’s clothing collection that incorporates personal aesthetics and market trends. Visual research was conducted from different perspectives relating to the theme of “beauty of poison.”

Methods:

• Design style identification: Evening wear in the Ready-to-Wear category
• Design inspiration research: Imagery of creatures which have attractive characteristics, but the fragile and dark ‘souls’ inside of them are poisonous.
• Market research and trend analysis: Used WGSN to research the forecasting season, colors, fabric and texture and knit wear designs to find out my design direction.
• Fabric and color story: Soft, light weight silk chiffon, silk mesh and silk jersey were selected to contrast the stiff, heavy weight knits and leather. Rich contrasting colors of dark blue were implemented with the flare of coral orange.
• Swatch sampling and creation:

Digital textile prints- Designed abstract prints which were inspired by the texture and dark soul.

Hand-knitting- Created extreme boulder-like volume knit samples with bobble shape and cable details.

• 3D Research: Draped garments on the dress form.
• Design Development: Problem solving worked out in fashion illustration with which clearly showing garments’ silhouette, fabrication and color.
• Flats: Illustrated different view of the garments, to visually explain the design construction, details.

Results: Mood board, fabric and color story, prints designs, fashion flats and fashion illustrations.

Conclusion: The collection displayed effectively integrated the theme of the ‘beauty of poison’ through the integration of the design elements and materials used.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate and test the viability of the sustainable movement in fashion. Specifically utilizing the unique skill set of designing, drawing, and sewing zero – waste apparel, that is garments made sustainable by manipulating patterns to have no fabric waste. The study assessed The Fashion School Store’s current sales, and developed a collection of sustainable garments based on those findings. The research included was appraising The Fashion School Store, researching different apparel manufacturing and sustainable fashion materials, and finally, designing and creating a unique collection of saleable apparel for The Fashion School Store. This project explores the full process of design, from entrepreneurial concept to the eventual creation of a product. This study adds to our knowledge and understanding of the marketability and salability of sustainable fashion apparel.

I wanted to explore a classical text from a typographer's perspective. I was curious to examine how modern technological conventions could be taken advantage of to illustrate the emotion and power of the story. This fusion brings the classical text into the modern age for an audience that is unprepared for this unique relationship. I typeset The Iliad by Homer and examined the visual vernacular that would push the story I was trying to illustrate, through text.

My research is focused on digital printing and how we can relate this to body movements and emphasizing depths. Fashion is an art form that has come to life and functions with us daily. I wanted to expand on the idea of movement in my prints to enhance regular body movement.

My prints are inspired by the Memphis Design, was a group of young furniture and product designers that led-Milano postmodern style movement in the 1980s. There prints were bright and vibrant while creating structural pieces of furniture. The Group would highlight angular furniture pieces by adding a movement print that enhanced the design. I focused on this idea for the body.

First in my process of creating my print designs, I paint my inspiration to get more of a flow and then upload them to illustrator to make them digital. I have formulated abstract prints that focus on angular movements using Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator techniques. My print designs all play with the idea of optical illusion especially where it is placed on the body. The print designs help the viewer focus more on that area or mute them out. I wanted to showcase that where I placed the print plus the fabric choice enhances the movement of the body simulating movement.

I believe that digital printing can be used to enhance parts of the body we would love to showcase but can also mute the problem areas. My prints center on body movement and they magnify body movement when worn.