Iconic Shoes

The Guardian asked us to create a shoe themed art piece with unlimited materials and techniques. My art piece is four 3D cardboard based medium sized trainers. 

I first had to think about structure, which was puzzling at the beginning but I slowly saw it coming together with a slight abstract affect to it. I had to cut the shapes careful to kept in size and when cutting cardboard it isn't easy so that did take a little more time then thought but was manageable. After making the structure of the first trainer it was easier to do the other three, what I used to put pieces together was needle and thread. Thats right I stitched cardboard together which sounds like a silly idea but it did get the job done and kept them solid so that part was a major success in production. I then researched which animal prints I thought would suit a trainer and I found four that I liked, Leopard, Tiger, Peacock and Snake/Dragon.

My idea for the trainer cover was jean material that I thought would be great not only in style and texture but in youth culture wise as the standard combo for trainers is jeans. To print the animals pattens onto the jean material I did experiments with lino printing and mono printing (free style drawing on ink). Two long hours of printing and I had my animal patterns, some where very successful in both like the tiger, others successful with only one print method like the snake and peacock for lino and the leopard failed on both print methods so I will hand paint the pattern on the jean fabric instead. I also painted on the heel, tongue and collar the pattern or a surreal version of the animals print. I searched for an artist for ideas and came across Mike Leavitt's work and was inspired by his cardboard shoe series that I decided to use his work as a model for my own. I found it very inspirational and the realistic details he achieves perfectly are aspirational.   

On the computer I printed out images of their animal heads in a sketch form to be logos on the sides of the shoe. I also stictch a slight shape on the fabric pieces to look like the stitching on an actual shoe, as well as using the left over hem to create a midsole for my shoes to give it an authentic outlook. I want to go all the way and use actual shoe laces but the size of the art pieces and the size of my shoes didn't match well so string it was for the laces but they still look what I had imagined so I can let that pass in production wise. Finally using double sided tape I stuck on my fabric sides and finished my four trainers, the results were successful, they look like shoes and have the qualities of a shoe.

The colours came out well, I'm glad I stuck to a natural colour scheme and kept pushing forward. I'm pleased with my art work, I sought to challenge myself and think out side my comfort zone and I believe I have achieved well in creating these pieces.

I feel my work meets the needs of the brief because the subject matter is an iconic trainer- converse which forms part of a lot of sub-cultures. In terms of presentation, I would need to photograph the work so it could be in electronic format for the editors to use. If my work was selected for the exhibition I would have the pieces suspended so that they could spin slightly and people can see both sides on the pieces.

• Health & Safety 
• Use careful caution when handling the scalpel or the scissors!!!! 
• Keep cardboard & cutting tools away from face area!!!
• Keep workspace clean & tidy.
• Be careful when handling the needle!
• Be patient.
• Keep paints away from face area!