The most important part of anything in life is the process and development of the journey from start to end and planning is always one of the most valuable assets. This in particular applies within a work project. During this educator unit not only my personal development but also our development as a group has been very important and has had to apply to everything. We have used skills that we probably haven’t even realised we are using; communication skills, listening skills, organising skills, leadership work, group work, time management and deadlines and dealing with money. The process we have taken to get to this point is vital, and working as a group has been very important with allocating jobs so that all the work is completed for the workshops we have to present. Collaborating and working in a group has been difficult at times; working together hasn’t always gone as smoothly as we had each hoped; pulling together in the same direction has always been needed and a key example of this is the amount of times we got together as a group or tried to get together so we would get the workshop planned and sorted. This didn't happen and some sort of problem always seemed to arise. It wasn’t until the last week before the DACA workshop when our dry run failed we all got together and each worked as hard as we could to turn the negativity around. We worked hard together so that we would be able to still go ahead with the day. If I was to have the chance of being a part of something like this again then I would suggest having smaller groups so that the communication was clearer so that it was easier to get things done quicker. We have spent a lot of time on developing new approaches as part of this unit in many ways. One of the most important ways is how we have tackled situations when problems have occurred; choosing the right kind of work space to have our meetings has been important - we were always heading to the library to a more social space to try and get things done but not a lot was ever happening. When we moved to the Art School and were in a room on our own with no window distractions etc.. a lot more work was done. Working under pressure was a better thing for me and my group because as time was running out we came together to collaborate more so that everything actually got done.
Reflect upon the impact of collaboration on your methods - what aspects interest you? Why? How do you intend to further develop these? Identify further research necessary to fulfil this.
I found it very interesting how depending on what background you were from it made a massive impact on what kind of workshop you wanted to deliver. Having a textile background I felt passionate after going into the school and recognising that there wasn’t a lot of textiles being taught, that I wanted to make a change. My initial thought for the workshop was to deliver a textile extravaganza, something with a lot of texture, but recognising that the same pattern was occurring, the peers in my group who were studying fine art wanted to something more media based. Interactive art is something with a bit of everything. An example of this, the student who was studying this degree was certain she wanted to use powder paint, as she had used it a lot previously and knew it was something that was fun and could go down very well with the Year 7 pupils. Add some graphics and technology and you
have a modern formula. The first ideas were a video showing an in depth delivery of the day alongside a range of vibrant photographs. As a group we decided to further develop these ideas by combining them all together for our final workshop and first of all we had to plan the day step by step and we did so by allocating everyone a job to do. The day will go ahead as follows. There will be starter activities, along with games to get the children involved. There will be mark making tasks on a wide range of paper using a variety of different sorts of media to get the fine art specialism across. Following on there will be a section on art direction and graphic work using a choice of different materials and media; a large power paint fight inspired by nationality and world culture; and to then finish off the day, there will be a huge collage put together using all the things that had been made during the day, with material and embellishments. In order to get feedback from the children, we will all be wearing the same white t-shirt for them to write all over us and tell us exactly what they thought, a different and fun way of getting feedback to finalise the day. We’ll then pull that together into one big feedback document. To do this we must complete a risk assessment, a clear time table of the day, a thorough lesson plan including a version of ideas we could undertake in case anything at all goes wrong and a budget plan of a list of everything we need to buy for the day to calculate all expenses and a power point so we can deliver our workshop professionally.
Were there unexpected developments? What surprises arose?
Not only me personally but I know as a whole group we all thought we would be able to sail through this unit without a knock to our sails. A quote to back me up on this is; ‘A smooth sea never made a skilful sailor.’ Without hard work being put into the preparation for this project, there is a strong chance that the project would fail. We have proved to ourselves that the time we spent together was not nearly enough.
I initially thought this unit was going to be a rather easy one compared to the other projects going on within unit X, we as a group couldn’t have been any more wrong. I don’t feel I mentally prepared myself for how hard this is and how much work needed to be done as well as one of the most challenging tasks of working in a group. I thought that working in a group would be easy, I still havn’t got to grips with how people’s opinions vary so much. This was a definite surprise that I personally felt arose. I was not prepared for how difficult this could be and the impacts that it would have on everyone.
What are the creative responses that you have done and intend to develop in your project and practice? Consider why this is - what are the key aspects of interest? How does it relate to the broader area of your practice? Does it develop your understanding and appreciation of context for your work? How?
The most creative response we had as a group towards our workshop was going to be a mark-making task using different tools. The tools that we would be using would be recycled materials, our own human limbs and objects that would get the children really thinking. By using tools that they haven’t used before it would allow us to have a tight budget and get everyone’s imagination into full use. The creative the tools could be anything. This was something we knew the children in Year 7 would really appreciate as they currently only use old battered brushes that have been used for a number of previous years.
This first small and simple task would excite them and encourage them to do some really experimental pieces of work. The children will be given a number of different sized sheets of paper to produce their work on. This is something that I also know they don’t have the chance to do currently, and is something I hope that they will use wisely.
Music more often than not is an influential part of peoples lives, the right sort of music brings in lots of feel-good vibes and the encouragement to want to get up and be involved with whatever is going on, music draws you in and gives you high bursts of energy.
This is exactly what we want to achieve for our workshop, bringing in music to our mark making task will get the energy high, the atmosphere buzzing and make it all a lot more fun. The key aspects of interest for my creative response are development work, not only personally but as a group and the evolvement with the school. I find it interesting how the school really only follows the same regime year after year, they stick to the same tools and the same media, as I’ve mentioned before, with textiles being something they don’t focus very much, and I still don’t fully understand why.
I don’t feel that the children are developing their skills, they are not using their full potential to be creative individuals as they are all doing the same thing and following the same trend. For our workshop, as my own personal involvement and approach to what we have decided to do, I would like to see them do as many different tasks as possible and ones they can really express each of their personalities. This has related to my practice in many different ways, when I first found myself in my year at foundation I really learnt how to make marks, I learnt that were was no right or wrong in art and design simply to be as creative as possible. Nothing needs to have a meaning and nothing necessarily needs to have a purpose, mark making speaks for its self as well as having a mind of its own. Both first and second year have been a part of my development too, they have given me the chance to experiment with modern equipment that I otherwise would never have had the opportunity to use. As a very basic starting point this is exactly what I want to give to the children me and my group will be doing this as a very basic starting point.
Identify and discuss any additional research now needed to support and underpin your learning, your appreciation of your practice and development of your ideas.
To clearly identify our additional research and to unpick what is most important for our learning, a plan of what exactly needs to be done is the first part of research development to be completed. This includes allocating jobs to each individual so that everyone has a specific job role to carry out. To split up every section of the day some background research will need to be carried out so the right kind of information is being out across. One of the most important is artist research and culture research are they both play a huge role in the workshop for the day. The artist research will include artists/ designers that use tools and recycled materials within their own practice to create work. These artists will include Jackson Pollock and Ian Davenport. Research into artists, that use mark making tools, will underpin and unpick the key learning aspects as it’s a clear link of inspiration, they have something to look at and something to follow. The work of both artists as well as our own knowledge will guide the children into the right direction of top experimentation work. Both planning and research work is something I very much appreciate in my own practice as they both help me tremendously, and this will hopefully have the same effect on the children.
Identify a plan of action that is now required in order for you to complete the e.g. time management, exploring new technology, furthering your contextual research and knowledge?
Our final requirement that we need to complete before our workshop next week are as follows; meeting up as a whole group has been a huge problem within this unit and over the next week this is key, without everyone’s involvement it will be almost impossible to make any final decisions and if we do it, we won’t have our full groups involvement. This will be something we will have to work with when it comes down to it. We need to give jobs out to each other allowing us to complete everything necessary. Time management must be spot on, making sure that we have enough activities to fill the day, as well as making sure we don’t have too much. I will explore new technology. I will further my contextual research and knowledge by bringing activities in to link the learning aims and objectives to the work that they complete. The artist research will be a big part of this too.
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