Algorithms - Artist's Work: Michelle Stephens

Stephens, Michelle and Cunliffe, Jordan (2022) Algorithms - Artist's Work: Michelle Stephens. In: Record, Map and Capture in Textile Art: data visualization in cloth and stitch. Batsford Books, London, pp. 187-191. ISBN 9781849948319

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Abstract

Michelle Stephens is a textile artist and lecturer from Moira, Northern Ireland, UK who has a wide range of qualifications including a BA First-Class Honours degree, a Master’s degree and a practice-based PhD. Currently, Michelle is also a member of the internationally recognized 62 Group of textile artists. For her project Coded Cloth, Michelle collaborated with The Silk Museum and Paradise Mill, Macclesfield, Cheshire, to utilize archival pattern books from their collection. They provide source material for her to creatively explore and interpret pattern designs for digital-led Jacquard weaving through generative design and programming methods. Michelle takes these original archive patterns and reanimates them using computer algorithms. The algorithms introduce a glitch that alters the original design while keeping it identifiable, then the newly configured design is recreated in weave to bring the process full circle. This project fuses the traditional techniques of Jacquard weaving with the contemporary skill of computer programming.