Week Seven - Weekly Evaluation

Look back on the last two projects and review any connections between ideas used in this project and those you have begun to develop here.

In terms of the creative process there was a strong link between the actual creation and development of ideas, because in both we used mind mapping techniques to turn out ideas. Although for some this is an effective way to create links between ideas as some find, for me even though I am a ver visual person I struggle with mind maps as I always feel that if I have not filled all of the space on the page with ideas then it is an unsuccessful mind map. I also think that I struggle knowing which ideas to pick out from this absolute sea of ideas I have on the page, and because I like to try as much as possible to keep my work neat, I don't like making mind maps messy so don't draw visual aids like arrows and circles to help me make connections. I think going forwards it would be good to try and loosen up around my work, not just for mind mapping but in general, as at the moment although I really do like a lot of the work I am producing, noting feels like it is particularly my style, and I feel like I have taken steps backwards from my A level studies, where I had a very established style and way of working. This could also be down to the time constraint of the project as although 2 weeks sounds like a long time, for me it is not enough time to allow my ideas to generate develop and then decide which idea to take forward. I am the kind of person who really likes to flourish under a topic title and explore every aspect possible to properly get my head around al the individual parts f each idea to be able to say I have researched all of them. However, when we started the art creative process we were going into each day blind and had to generate ideas for our work on each day in the morning, without being able to go away and think about it with the option to maybe do some research at home. This was not the case in media however, as we had a very helpful project launch which outlined exactly what we would be doing on each day of the project, which allowed me to make necessary preparations for the work in each day.

What have been the main opportunities and challenges in developing ideas and approaches this week?

The main challenges came more towards the start of the week, when we had to choose an item by chance from a bag and sculpt it on a large scale. Our group received a bug inside a clear plastic square and so we decided to make it out of wire and coloured tissue paper and coloured translucent material similar to clingfilm. The issue wasn't really in making the model itself as my team worked collaboratively to produce the sculpture, it was that i struggles to see the point in the exercise as to me it felt very childish and unfamiliar. I understand that the point of it was to encourage us to think by chance, however after photographing our creations outside using a randomly selected word, we were told to print off the best photos we took and that we would be using them to collage. However moving forwards into the collaging process of the day, I only used my images because I thought we had to, however we were told it wasn't compulsory when we began collaging, so in my opinion this completely takes away any relevance from the sculpting task rendering it a completely useless task that I could have easily produced the work I did without doing. I would have much preferred to have got straight into the collaging as this was a lot more beneficial to me, learning how to work by using chance to create some really effective collage work.

Have you changed where you see yourself currently in terms of art/design/media? If so, why?

Yes, at the moment I'm still really torn between the three, but I think it would have been a lot more beneficial overall to have done a day each of each possible pathway within art design and media, perhaps doing creative process in a day style project, as I'm still not 100% sure what lies within each art/design/media pathway.

Which skills developed in previous weeks have been useful this week?

Learning how to work laterally in the media project was very beneficial this week in the art project, as the whole 2 week project is centred around the theme of chance and therefore lateral thinking and methods really help me to produce work that is driven by chance. I think what is interesting is that this week I chose to work in my sketchbook, much to the dismay of the tutors telling me to work outside of it. The reason I chose this is because I think I've been a bit lost just working on big sheets of paper, because as an artist I like to be able to centre and place all of my work into one place where i can present it how I want. I did something similar in the design project, where I worked in an A3 portfolio and created a well presented body of work. Therefore to stretch myself, I decided to work digitally as much as possible in the media rotation, uploading the majority of my work onto this blog which would act as my sketchbook, as all of my work was just kicking around in my folder. At the end of the 2 weeks, I started to miss the physical aspect of being able to display my work in a sketchbook or on paper. This was therefore really beneficial for me as I realised that I like working in analogue methods rather than digital, and in art decided to work back in my sketchbook, where I work best. The only thing I am not liking about working in a sketchbook at the moment, is that it differs from A level in that I'm not producing a beautiful sketchbook all well written up and presented, its much more of a working sketchbook with little doodles and unfinished pages, which I am yet to decide if I like or not. It differs from my thinking in the design project, as each page was well presented and finished to a standard that made me think it was presentable as part of my final outcome (supporting work).

Have new artist references been useful in helping you think about new approaches to the brief?

I have really enjoyed having different artists I have never heard of being presented to me at the start of and during each project, as a lot of them presented new ideas and thought processes to me. I think what always inspires me about discovering new artists is the use of colour, use of shape and perhaps what they use to make them stick out from all other artwork. For example, I recently researched into On Kawara as his use of minimalism and text being the focal point of his art really inspired me to look into a more graphics based style of working my self led art project. I think I definitely could have used artist research to benefit me more this week, as due to time constraint I feel a sort of panic to be able to produce a sufficient body of work. I did do some artist research which I used to influence my artistic choices such as use of colour and pattern, but they were artists which I had found through the process of chance in my work, so weren't ones i would have chosen by choice as their artwork didn't inspire me.

How have the practical and material elements of the work gone? Have you kept notes?

I have taken notes this week in my notebook, however over all three of the projects I have tried not to be too hungup on the practical aspect of the process as I think that although evaluations are an effective method to review what went well and what methods to use again next time, sometimes the evaluations can take more time than the actual work itself, and therefore become a tedious chore that doesn't really help me to progress forwards. I think that continuous note taking is far more beneficial to me than the weekly evaluations, as it is a way of documenting my instant thoughts without having to worry to much about answering specific set questions and it making sense to someone else to read, as I am the only one who will need to make sense of my notes.

What could you do better next week?

I think next week it is important to focus on building up a body of work as has been stressed to us throughout this process and not necesarily work on a final outcome as such. I also really want to work on my presentation, as I think that if I present all my work from the week well in my sketchbook it is a lot more inspiring to me to want to work from it and can take aspects from my work forwards, but if it is all just loose on pieces of paper then it is a lot less inspiring for me.

Sketchbook pages from collaging and batique/monoprinting workshops on day one of the art project

Sketchbook pages from the Book Day of the Art Project