The Innovation Hubs

On December 11, 2019 I hosted an introductory Photoshop Pattern Design workshop. The program was previously  highlighted in this blog post which surveys a range of contemporary and modern artists whose work straddles pattern or textile design and art. Following the December session, I wanted to share some of the participants work. 

A friend who works at Maria A. Shchuka Branch attended the program and decided to host it at her location on Wednesday February 12 from 2-4 pm. Her program Pattern Design with Photoshop will focus on pattern design for web and other screen based applications, such as creating a unique screensaver for your phone. You can register for the workshpo in person or by calling the branch at 416-394-1000.

Here is some participant work from our December session, mixed in with some related books. All of the workshop participants gave consent to share their images in this post.

Naomi made a few different patterns out of an original watercolor sketch she had made. 

Another participant, Camille, started off with one of Anna Atkins cyanotypes for her design. Atkins who was friends with the inventor of the cyanotype, Sir John Herschel, who created the method in 1842. Atkins then began making her own in 1843. You can read more about Anna Atkins at the Toronto Reference Library.

Or, view Anna Atkin's portfolio showing some of her botanical photographs.

One of Camille's patterns based on Anna Atkin's cyanotypes.

Karen made a series of designs starting out with an image of one of Kandinsky's paintings. The cropped and repeated version retained the playfulness of Kandinsky's original work. 

Karen's pattern design.

Safia's pattern design.

Lisa created several designs during the class, which remind me of Art Nouveau style.  

Version 1 of Lisa's design.

Version 2 of Lisa's design.

Another pattern from Lisa in a different style.

Lana's red and black Christmas-themed pattern.

If you are interested in reading about how the internet has challenged copyright's ability to protect artists, read  Lawrence Lessig's book Remix. Lessig is a lawyer and academic who founded the creative commons licenses which gives people and organizations a free, simple and standardized way to grant copyright permissions for creative and academic work.

If you are interested in New Media theory, and the way that software has changed our culture check out Lev Manovich's book Software Takes Command: The Extended Language of New Media.

Thank you to everyone who participated in the December workshop, we hope some of you can make it out to the next Photoshop Pattern Design class!

Visit one of Toronto Public Library's Digital Innovation Hubs to use Adobe software like Photoshop. You can also try out PIXLR which is a free, web-based alternative to Photoshop. Tutorials for PIXLR and Photoshop are available online for free through Lynda.com which you can access using your library card.