Lesson video

Hello, everyone.

How are you today? My name's Mrs. Alton, and I'll be our art teacher for today's lesson.

Today's lesson is all about light and dark in textiles, and that's from the unit Foundation Workshops.

I'm really excited to teach this lesson to you today.

So if you're feeling ready, let's get started.

So I hope that by the end of today's lesson, you can review the range of ways artists and designers have been inspired by light and dark in textiles.

Let's take a look at some of the keywords for today's lesson, silhouette, contrast, and light.

Silhouette is a dark shape or outline of something against a lighter background, showing only the outline with no internal detail.

Contrast is the difference between elements, like light and dark or rough and smooth, that makes part of a textile design stand out.

And light is often used in art to create contrast, highlight textures, and set moods.

So keep an eye out for these keywords throughout the learning cycles.

Light and dark in textiles.

Our lesson outline is, learning cycle one, Artist Spotlight: Light and Dark, learning cycle two, Visual Deconstruction: Light and Dark, and learning cycle three is Personal Connection in Textiles: Light and Dark.

So let's take a look at learning cycle one, Artists Spotlight: Light and Dark.

Take a look at this picture.

How has light and dark been used in this work to create contrast, mood, and meaning? Pause the video here while you share your ideas with someone else.

Thanks for sharing.

Light and dark are powerful themes in textiles.

They are used to create visual impact and storytelling across cultures and styles.

In textiles and fashion design, light and dark can be used to create contrast and define shapes, form bold silhouettes, communicate symbolic or cultural meaning, or highlight light-reflective materials.

Take a look at this image here, it shows a paper experimentation for a garment.

Fashion designers often use paper mockups called toiles or muslins to experiment with shape and form before sewing.

How does this designer use contrast of light and dark to test the garment's shape and form? Pause the video here while you discuss your answers.

Thank you for sharing.

You may have said things like, "The paper is coiled or rolled to create shadows, shape, and form." Examining how light and dark interacts helps artists and designers make informed decisions about how to enhance the shape and form of their designs.

Simplifying to a limited palette can help designers focus on the core elements of their work.

Quick check for understanding.

How might a textile artist or designer use light and dark to show shape and form? Is it A, use layering to make their work easier to sew, B, use light and shadow to show the structure, C, use less fabric to reduce the cost of materials, or D, use traditional colour rules to design the work? Have a think.

Well done if you said, "B, use light and shadow to show the structure." Textile artists and designers using light and dark to create contrast and define shapes include, Abdoulaye Konate, Symphonie au Kente, 2020, uses dark ribbons and bright kente cloth to build bold, layered shapes that reflect identity.

Michael Crompton, Day and Night tapestries, uses a light and dark colours to show the sun and moon creating contrast through weaving and embroidery.

Yohji Yamamoto creates black fabric and shadows to create sculptural clothing with strong silhouettes and dramatic contrast.

In fashion and textile, silhouettes are important because they define the overall shape and impact of a garment or textile artwork.

Silhouettes create visual contrast and can express mood, identity, or emotion.

Take a look at this image.

What does this silhouette make you think about? Maybe you think about the mood, the character, or story, the function of the garment.

Pause the video here while you discuss your answers.

Well done for sharing.

I'm sure you've come up with some really interesting ideas.

Let's take a quick pause for a check for understanding.

Textile artists and designers only use silhouettes to show detailed features and realistic textures.

Is that true or false? Well done if you recognise that's a false statement.

Can you think why? Silhouettes are used to define form and shape, not just realistic details.

They can show emotions, ideas, and abstract concepts by using contrast and the relationship between light and shadow.

Textile artists and designers that use silhouettes in their work include, Osman Yousefzada, Being Somewhere Else, 2018, explores identity and migration using wrapped fabric shapes and strong silhouettes.

Sonia Gomes uses secondhand fabric, wood, and wire to create abstract forms that celebrate Afro-Brazilian traditions through bold silhouettes.

Gary James McQueen, Guiding Light, 2025, designs futuristic digital garments with dramatic high-contrast silhouettes.

Take a look at this fabric here.

What do you think the light and dark patterns in this ikat fabric might symbolise? Do they remind you of any shapes, ideas, or meanings? Pause the video here while you discuss your ideas.

Thank you for sharing.

Laura says that, "The light and dark motifs look abstract.

They remind me of bird wings and natural forms." And Jun says, "The contrast of light and dark makes it feel balanced, like opposites working together." I wonder what ideas you come up with.

The meaning of light and dark can vary across cultures.

In Lakota culture, black symbolises honour, respect, and adulthood, and is linked to natural forces.

White represents life and intellect.

In Hinduism, light represents knowledge, truth, and the divine, while darkness can symbolise ignorance.

Kifwebe masks, Songye and Luba peoples, use red, white, and black to express balance and harmony.

Do you know any other interpretations? Pause the video here while you have a think and share your ideas.

Artists and designers using light and dark for symbolic or cultural meaning include, Rita Keegan uses fabric and faded photographs to explore memory, race, and identity.

Shadows and light suggest remembering and forgetting.

Anya Paintsil creates bold textile portraits using dark hair and thread, contrast and texture show pride, power, and Black heritage.

William Tempest explores identity and power using dramatic contrast in light and dark.

His autumn/winter collection, "The Virgin's Lover," draws on his historical costume to explore themes of power.

Textile artists and designers often use light-reflective materials to highlight surface texture and create visual contrast.

Take a look at this fabric.

How do reflective materials change the way this fabric looks? Pause a video here while you share your ideas, or you can talk to me.

Well done for your answers.

Technology has changed how textiles interact with the world around them.

Modern fabrics can now include light sensors, heat-sensitive fibres, reactive surfaces that shift with movement or touch.

Can you think of where we see this in fashion, sportswear, or design? So pause the video here while you think about your own experiences with these types of textiles and fashion items. Artists making use of light in their work include Caroline Broadhead, who uses special fabrics that let light pass through to create soft ghost-like shadows.

Her work makes us think about presence and absence.

So what is there and what isn't? Helena Hietanen uses glowing threads and shiny fabrics that reflect light.

Her art changes when the light hits it, turning fabric into sculptures that seem to shine or glow.

Claire Spector is legally blind.

She uses textured textiles that show light through touch instead of sight.

Her work helps us imagine how people experience art in different ways.

So let's move on to your first task.

Select two or three textile artists or specific designers or artworks, and compare them.

Consider these questions, in what ways are the artworks visually similar or different? So that might relate to the theme, the technique, symbols that they use, the colour, tone, shape, style, composition, or materials.

Think about, are there any connections between them? So when you see the images and artworks laid next to each other, what are those kind of strong visual elements that you might be able to link and comment on? Pause the video here while you complete this task.

Well done for all your hard work on that activity.

I hope that you found some really interesting connections with those artists that you've looked at.

Let's take a look at what you may have said.

Alex says, "Helena Hietanen uses shiny threads and glowing fabrics that reflect light and change as you move around them.

Claire Spector is blind, so she shows light through texture, you feel the light with your hands." So that's definite contrast in the way that they approach the theme.

And Aisha comments that, "Helena Hietanen work feels high-tech and visual, like it's made to sparkle and shift.

Claire Spector's textiles are about how people with different abilities experience light, which makes people think differently." So they're coming up with some really personal ideas around the artists that they've looked at.

You might have presented your information a bit like this with a Venn diagram.

So Helena Hietanen uses metallic threads and glowing materials.

Her textiles reflect and change with light.

She combines technology and fabric in a sculptural way.

Claire Spector creates work through touch.

She uses texture instead of colour to suggest light.

And her textiles focus on inclusive sensory experience.

And in the middle are things that are in common with their work.

So one element is they both explore how light interacts with textiles visually or through touch.

Let's take a look at learning cycle two, Visual Deconstruction: Light and Dark.

Take a look at this image.

What is the first thing you notice about this artwork? Pause the video here where you discuss your ideas.

Thank you for sharing.

It's interesting to note that we'll all see something different first when we look at an image.

So you may have commented maybe on the folds of the fabric, or the fact that the fabric's standing up on its own, or maybe it's the highlight areas or pattern.

All of these are really good observations.

Artists use various techniques to communicate in their work, the elements of art, which include line, tone, colour, pattern, shape/form, and texture, composition, shape, and perspective, materials and techniques, imagery and subject.

We can deconstruct these techniques to understand the work more deeply.

A quick check for understanding.

Artists only use colour and subject matter to communicate meaning in their work.

Is that true or false? Well done if you recognise that's a false statement.

Can you think why? While colour and subject are important, artists also use many other techniques, like line, shape, texture, composition, and materials, to share ideas.

By breaking down these elements, we can understand the artwork's meaning more clearly and deeply.

How are the elements of art used in this artwork? Take another look, and let's go through it together.

The contrast between the light and dark almost diagonally halves the work.

The colours in the work are warm and muted, and we can see some of them really pulled out and highlighted in those colour samples.

Patterns can be found on the rug.

The circle motif, which is a real focal point, as it draws your eye into that area.

The shapes and forms show an ambiguous silhouette, so we don't really know what's going on with it.

Is it somebody inside, or is it hung in a certain way? The draped fabric creates a soft shape that stands out against the dark background.

And the fabric looks like an expensive, smooth, or soft texture.

Look at the different textures in these textile samples.

How does a contrast of light and dark help you to notice the different qualities of materials? Take a minute to think how you might label the different qualities and surfaces of these materials.

You may have said that, "On the left side, there are hard edges, and on the right, there are soft." We could maybe point out that the solid edges are also layered and cut fabrics.

And on the right side, there's fluffy, light, and soft wrapped fibres.

A check for understanding, fill in the gap, light and dark in textiles can help us notice, A, how favourite colours are used, B, how layering creates the bond, C, how smooth or rough the fabric looks, or D, how often it's been worn.

Pause the video here while you decide.

Well done if you picked out that it helps us notice how smooth or rough the fabric looks.

How have the contrast of light and dark materials been used in this work? Pause the video here while you have a think.

Andeep says that, "Light and dark materials create a bold pattern across silhouette.

The hard edges divide the design, and the layered buttons add different surface textures." Now, for our second activity, select one artwork and describe it.

You might describe what you can see in the artwork, and that might relate to the elements of art.

So we're thinking about line, tone, colour, pattern, shape, form, and texture, composition, space, and perspective, materials and techniques, imagery and subject.

So think back to the ones we've just looked at together.

How has the artist used those techniques to communicate with the audience? You might record this as an idea shower around an image of an artwork or as a paragraph, or create an audio or film recording.

Pause a video here while you complete this activity.

Well done for all your investigations.

Let's take a look at what you may have said.

So in this textile example, the imagery is abstracted, but natural form like shapes and pattern can still be seen.

Lighter areas in the top and middle of the image create a complementary colour contrast.

So we can see blue against that warm orangy tone.

The textures of the paint create detail and focus, and it uses light and dark contrasting edges.

Layering and transparency plays with light and shadow in this design.

And there's also use of a limited colour palette.

In the second example, we can see that the complementary colour of the pattern contrast.

The composition is drawing our attention into the centre using triangular geometric shapes and repeated pattern.

The composition is divided into four equal sections, and the soft background tones have been used sparingly.

Light tones create highlight and stand out, and dark tones are blocked out.

Let's take a look at our third learning cycle, Personal Connection in Textiles: Light and Dark.

How can looking at an artist's work help us develop our own work? Izzy says, "Art with similar themes can develop my ideas more than similar techniques or imagery." Jacob comments, "I'll look at techniques and compositions, and try to apply them to my theme." And Sofia comments that, "Work that has similar imagery can inspire, even if the idea is different." Fill in the gap for this check for understanding.

We can look at other artists' work to gain inspiration through techniques and themes, helping to develop and enrich their own creative ideas.

What do you think the missing word might be? Pause the video here while you have a think.

Well done if you recognise that the missing word was imagery.

So we can look at other artists' work to gain inspiration through techniques, imagery, and themes, helping to develop and enrich our own creative ideas.

There are many ways we can form a personal connection with textile art or design, through the techniques used or the themes expressed.

By interpreting the meaning of the work or its links to the theme, we can really relate it to our own experiences.

We can also make personal collections to our own practise by exploring and deconstructing the techniques and themes used in the artwork.

So like you've done in the first learning cycles of this lesson.

Let's take another look at this image.

How do you think light and dark is used in this work to communicate a deeper meaning? So we've looked at the formal elements and how they might be used, but what about this communication or meaning? Pause the video here while you have a think.

Do you think everyone would come up with the same meaning? Let's see what the students in this lesson think.

Lucas says, "This work inspires my theme of reveal and conceal, as I want to focus on the sculptural silhouettes formed by the fabric." Sam says, "I want to look at identity and will use ideas from fabrics that have the history in our house, like the blanket my great-grandmother crocheted." And Izzy says that, "My theme is religions and faiths.

I'll use the idea of using light and dark to contrast cultural patterns and motifs." So we can see here that these students have all poured something different from looking at the same image.

Can you think of any other theme interpretations that you might draw from such an image? Pause the video here while you have a think.

True or false? We all interpret and understand artwork in the same way.

How art inspires us is uniform.

What do you think? Well done if you recognise that's a false statement.

Can you think why? You may have said that, "Everyone brings their own experience, feelings, and ideas when looking at art.

So we all interpret it differently.

And what makes art powerful is it can mean something unique to each person." So our last activity, select one artwork and use the questions below to consider your personal connection.

What themes, symbols, or ideas does the art explore? Are there any symbols, imagery, or connections between them that help create a narrative or show meaning? Which techniques, processes, or creative decisions in this artwork inspire you? And how might you use them in your own work? You might record this as an idea shower around the image or of an artwork, write it as a paragraph, create an audio or film recording.

Pause the video here while you complete this activity.

Well done for all your hard work.

Let's take a look at what you may have said.

So we're going back to this image and thinking about those deeper connections.

So the theme is Light and Dark Surface, and the colours feel like they're glowing or reflecting light, like sunlight hitting fabric, or the changing colours of heat-sensitive materials.

The patterns seem to appear and fade across the surface, creating a sense of movement or shifting light.

And for the student's work, they'll explore creating surface patterns contrast using layered printing, focusing on areas of colour that feel lit up against the darker fabric.

They also might experiment with color-changing paints or reflective materials.

Let's take a look at our second example, and the theme for this work could be Play and Pattern.

And this textile piece is inspired by the light and dark contrast seen in traditional board games, like backgammon or playing cards.

The repeating triangle shapes and the use of black and white counters create a bold graphic effect that feels playful, but structured.

So for the student's work, they want to explore game-inspired patterns by using strong shapes and contrasting light and dark colours, and they're going to experiment with painting and stitching, repeating motif to reflect that sense of movement.

Let's take a look at the summary for today's lesson.

Textile art issues light and dark to create mood, contrast, and atmosphere by working with fabric, texture, and tone.

They often use bold silhouettes, layering, and transparency to play with light and shadow in their designs.

Across different cultures and styles, light and dark and textiles can have symbolic meanings, such as visibility, power, or mystery.

Artists use contrast to divine shape, add depth, and guide the viewer's focus, even without using detailed patterns or realistic features.

Thank you for learning with me today, and I hope to see you soon.