2014 portfolio 1
product designer
fiber artist
visionary
the truth is in the color
artist bio Nona is a painter, graphic designer, and fiber artist. Born and raised in Athens, GeorÂgia surrounded by artistic thinkers, she views art as a necessary pursuit—creations celebrating people and the individual. This idea, led her to attend Savannah College of Art and Design. Beginning with an interest in graphic design, she realized that she wanted to focus on something more tactile. She applied her graphic skills to something that she truly loves: pattern and the sensitivity for construction of fabrics. She believes her work in fiber arts allows a greater sense of intimacy because it is possible to manipulate color, shapes and texture of fabric. Nona completed her BFA in Fibers at SCAD, concentrating in surface design and product design. It is her hope to channel her creative efforts into a career that allows her to design unique, eclectic, and individualistic collections.
my philosophy Art for the consumer. Design as empowerment. Greater intimacy, quality and care. Creations as celebrations.
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Thematic Series of 3 Moirai Intimates a little something to flaunt
The Ladies French women are known to own a confidence and beauty. When traveling through Nîmes and Paris, the loungewear and undergarments particularly fascinated me. I became aware that intimate wear has maintained a notable high quality through the centuries. French women take pride in covering their lady bits in light, fine cloth with subtle embellishments. In the process of constructing these undergarments, I delved into the intriguing myths and dynamic women of ancient Rome and their wardrobe in my design research. Unlike men, who are typically depicted as nude, the women of Roman and Mediterranean art are most often illustrated with luxurious fabrics and clothing. The fabric clings to their bodies in a sensual way, yet maintains a modest appearance. This aesthetic is what I wanted to replicate. There is a Roman myth of the fates or “Moirai.” I became even more excited about this story
because the first fate, who spins the thread of life, and I share the same name, Nona. The two fates that follow are Decima, who measures all life, and Morta, who snips the thread of life. Thus, the handmade fabric is dyed of light green, pale rouge, and French gray to match the symbolic roles of each fate. With this line, I capture the sleek sexiness of traditional French intimates and the allure of the Roman fates. These garments are hand dyed, manipulated, and embroidered with cotton, silk and linen to emulate the process of Western European garment making. The collection was designed for women of different skin tones and body types in recognition of the universality of feminine beauty. The silk lace, embroidered by Mackenzie Primack, echoes the pomegranate, which is the ultimate symbol of femininity in mythology. This symbol provides another layer to the overall theme of this collection – that feminine confidence is sexy.
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INSPIRATION Parcae: Nona, Decima, Morta
comparing undergarment trends from 1800’s and modern
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PROCESS The light weight, double cotton gauze is dyed with reactive dyes and paired with embroidered unbleached silk organza.
matching and dyeing
patterning and fitting
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NONA
spins the thread of life
Bradley Watson Photography embellishments made by Mackenzie Primack model: Celia Rehm
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Decima
measures the thread of life
Bradley Watson Photography embellishments made by Mackenzie Primack model: McKenzie Smith
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Morta
snips the thread of life
Bradley Watson Photography embellishments made by Mackenzie Primack model: Manon Audibert
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Collection of 5 Prints of Provence observer, gatherer
Flora & Finder The collection, “Prints of Provence�, is inspired by flowers that I personally picked and pressed while studying abroad in France, during the rainy spring season. I drew inspiration from the photos I took on my journey. I manipulated the flowers and foliage to convey a softer and dreamier look. I then, brought my line work on top to add fluid movement creating a more abstract interpretation of a floral design. These prints were made with the home and casual dresser in mind.
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parfume
bricolage bri•co•lage:
[bree-koh-läZh] 1.(in art or literature) construction or creation from a diverse range of available things. 2. something constructed or created from a diverse range of available things.
genre•genus accessory, apparel
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Marais
Bedroom and intimates
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lagoon
mist
rose bath
drift
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Marais
Bedroom and intimates
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Roussillon
Women’s Apparel
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bleu
sol
ochre
menthe
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Roussillon
Women’s Apparel
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Lady of Lyon women’s apparel
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passion
robin
spearmint
wilted
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Lady of Lyon Women’s Apparel
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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En Route for the baby
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stain
dew
sienna spill
lagoon
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En Route baby’s room
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Carrière
the rock wall climber
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trail
brook
moss
stone
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Carrière the rock-wall climber
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Midnight Château Women’s Apparel
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on the rocks
on the funk
on the swing
on the soul
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Midnight Château Women’s Apparel
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Individual Piece 1 Single Nester sleep to dream
the bird’s and the z’s Through out my college career, I have resided in the dormitories. It becomes difficult to work and find peace in the small, shared spaces. I decided to make my own idea of home and comfort, a canopy, to find refuge. This is a canopy was inspired by bird nests. Birds have meticulously built homes that are confined yet provide protection comfortably. Appropriately, I used a tradition bird’s eye twill for the pattern construction. There are hand printed wooden beads embedded through out the design to simply suggest ‘nesting’. The halfcanopy is designed for a twin-sized bed with the dorm resident in mind. It is applicable to any wall surface without damage. Once rolled, it is easily stored for travel.
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INSPIRATION
PROCESS
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Single Nester dream nest
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Individual Piece 2 Soft Luggage
no fumbling, no tumbling
a ‘hand’ bag I believe that people of our young our generation win the US do not know how to ask for help, or how to approach helping others. I have created a functional 3D vessel that not only depicts my frustration, but visually provokes encouraging thoughts and actions for everyone to lend out that helping hand. Thus the making of a “hand bag”. The bag is made up of hands that I wet and dry felted. The hands are made up of a wide range of color values and temperatures that are felted together to show different personalities and peoples
approaches to helping one another. The hands that are lighter grasp one another in an untypical fashion to show the kindness that people need. The bag is an actual hand that grasps your forearm comfortably. If unfastened, the hand opens up; one literally places objects in the palm of the handbag. The market at which my creation is targeted for is the fashion and accessory industry. This industry I feel has the most voice because it is versatile, portable and aggressive in a nonviolent approach for spreading messages.
Fuzzy Pearl Luggage is essential to every traveling persons. There are many ways to pack efficiently; however, when it comes to packing jewelry, it is very difficult to keep them organized and untangled. Often times the containers for jewelry are large, hard, and bulky. So with this problem I began thinking of a jewelry container that is found in nature – an oyster. Then, I took the theme of an oyster and transformed a traditional jewelry box into a soft vessel. I wet and dry felted pieces and layered them to emulate the irregular shell of an oyster. Inside, there is a tray that has ridges and knots, emulating barnacles. The ridges are perfect nooks for rings and earrings. This jewelry bag can be stored and squished in a suit case without adding bulk and keeping your pretty things in place.
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A ‘Hand’ Bag Grasps
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Fuzzy Pearl
your world is in the oyster
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Individual Piece 3 Feminely Portrait who is who is me
The Ladies The population is ever growing within families. As the number grows in mine, the curiosity of comparing features and finding similarities in characteristics is a hot topic at gatherings. These conversations provoke the thought of how our strong differences make us so similar. I’ve had the blessing of knowing what my ancestors look like because my mother is a genealogist. She has collected stories, documents, photos, and relics. I’ve
inherited her love of family history. So in honor of my mother, who has given me her forename, I have constructed a celebratory, installation piece. I find that the women of my family are strong and powerful individuals, so I wanted to show a combined portrait compositing and restoring photos of the matriarchal women of my family. This is to demonstrate the nature of genetics and the evolution of facial features.
The portraits are digitally printed onto silk charmeuse, a gauzy like material, so that the negative and white space is translucent enough to layer on top of one another. This allows the faces to blend together to form the average female face of my family. Our faces printed on this thin fabric represents the layers of skin that makes our bodies tough—thick skinned.
feminely:
[fem-ihn-lee] 1. a blended family portrait, representing the matriarchal women in my family. 2. an installation piece. 3. a play on words: combination of feminine and family.
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INSPIRATION
The “Identikit” is when a picture of a person, especially one sought by the police, is reconstructed from typical facial features according to witnesses’ descriptions. This is also known as a facial composite; which is a graphical representation of an eyewitness’s memory of a face, as recorded by a composite artist.
PROCESS
Layers of Human Skin Epidermis Dermis Hypodermus Stratum Corneum Stratum Lucidium Stratum Granulosum
Family Nona Julianne Thornton Nona Knecht Thornton Sandra Wallace Dittmore Barbara Wallace Marguerite Groves Little Martha Little Taylor
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Research
Nona Julianne Thornton
Nona Knecht Thornton
16 October 1991 Age: 17 Photo Taken: 2007
*mother 12 March 1959 Age: 17 Photo Taken: 1976
This is the head-shot the week before I started school at Savannah College of Art and Design.
One of Nona Knecht’s engagement photos with Mike Thornton.
Sandra Dittmore Knecht *Grandmother 25 April 1935 Age: 25
Sandra Knecht at her sister, Marlene’s wedding.
Barbara Wallace Dittmore *great-grandmother 16 May 1911 Age: 19 Photo Taken: 1929
Original photo of her high-school graduation, in Driggs, Idaho.
Research
Margaritte Little Wallace
Martha Taylor Little
*g-g-grandmother 2 April 1874 Age: 19 Photo Taken: 1893
*g-g-g-grandmother 5 August 1843 Age: 35 Photo Taken: 1878 **earliest photo found, because of the availability of cameras at this time.
Howard and Margaritte Wallace’s wedding photo was taken by Charles R. Savage. A very famous photographer favored by Brigham young(Howard’s good friend).
Her husband was a pony express rider while she was a post mistress in Idaho. Also, she is the niece of Brigham Young.
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Feminely
blended family portrait
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