Reflective Journal

BA1b Reflective Journal

Week 9 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 19th November
Reflections:
This week was independent study. As I went home I wasn’t able to get much work done as I didn’t have access to the majority of my materials. I also wanted to give myself a bit of a reset and take some time off after assessment.

Intentions:
Next week I want to do some more work in my own practice. I want to get back to experimenting with process art and abstraction so I think I am going to some painting and research.

Week 10 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 26th November
Reflections:
This week I did a few paintings, experimenting with colour and texture. I used a range of techniques including using a palette knife and pouring partially mixed paint with gesso to create interesting marks and shapes. I used thick acrylics so that I could really vary the texture and mix colours without them getting muddy and I think i made some successful work.

Intentions:
I want to continue experimenting like this more but I think I need to do some more research into different methods and techniques used by actions and process artists as I feel like I keep repeating the same methods. I want to vary the way in which I work as I think this will be more interesting than constantly repeating myself

Week 11 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 3rd December
Reflections:
This week I had the screen print day of the print workshop. I enjoyed getting to experiment more with screen print and using different colours. I really played around with layering and orientation in these prints and I think that I created some successful prints.

Intentions:
I definitely want to come back to screen prim in my practice and play around more with colour and shape as it is a great way to do so relatively quickly. However, I’m not sure how well screenprint would fit into my practice right now but I think that maybe if I try and incorporate drawing more that could be a starting point for screenprint.

Week 12 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 10th December
Reflections:
This week i had woodcut which I didn’t enjoy as much as screenprint. I was really unsure what to do so just chose a photo of a staircase I had on my one as I thought it had interesting shapes. I really struggled with the actual cutting and had to come back to print. I do think I produced some interesting prints and I enjoyed playing around with printing on top of my screenprints from last week.

Intentions:
Although I made some interesting work i don’t think I’ll do much woodcut in the future. This workshop did make me realise how interesting layering can be and I think I want it experiment with this further, perhaps through using linocut as an alternative to woodcut.

VACATION
Week 13 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 7th January
Reflections:
Upon Sarah’s suggestion I experimented with giving myself instructions to follow similar to the work of Sol Lewitt which I think was really interesting. As I have been focusing on process in my personal practice I have enjoyed playing around with a new process.

Intentions:
I want to experiment more with the idea of instructional art. I think it would be interesting to ask other people to both write instructions and carry out mine. I want to see how people interpret my instructions and see what they come up with without having seen Sol Lewitt’s work. Most of my instructions were informed by Lewitt so I want to see what people would come up without knowing his work.

Week 14 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 14th January
Reflections:
This week I had the first day of the sculpture workshop which I really enjoyed. I have done this method before so I was able to get straight into it and really play around with incorporating similar patterns and shapes that I have been working on in my sketchbook. It was really interesting to see how transferring them to 3D elevated the patterns and made them more interesting.

Intentions:
I’m going to explore this further next week in the workshop. I also want to ask more people to write instructions for me as one person has done this already and I want to others to do it as well to see if everyone interprets them differently.

Week 15 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 21st January
Reflections:
This week was the second day of the sculpture workshop. I spent this week expanding on my favourite piece from last week, taking similar shapes and playing around more with levels and depth which I think was really interesting. I think bringing in deeper levels in contrast with surface level shapes makes the shapes stand out more. I also really enjoyed playing around with other material this week, ie making a mould out of wood.

Intentions:
I want to make a plaster cast from the wood mould I made. I also think it could be interesting to experiment with painting some of the casts I’ve already made. I also want to draw some of my pieces, adding another step to the entire process.

Week 16 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 28th January
Reflections:
I played around some more with using a palette knife this week however, I feel like I’m in a bit of a rut with my personal practice; I keep repeating myself without developing anything beyond my initial idea. There’s been a few things I’ve done, such as the exploration into instructional art, that I’ve really enjoyed but I haven’t been able to develop anything beyond the initial stage of conception.

Intentions:
I missed my tutorial this week because I wasn’t well but I’m meeting with Sarah next week and I’m gonna talk through this with her and see what she has to say. I’m also hing that talking through how I’m feeling will help me to move past this rut and find some inspiration.

Week 17 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 4th February
Reflections:
I’m still feeling kind of stuck however, my tutorial was really helpful. After talking with Sarah I think I need to go back to some of my ideas and experiment more with scale and materials. I also think that the sources I have been using so far aren’t providing me with inspiration any more – I feel like I’ve exhausted the sources I have.

Intentions:
I want to play around more with the idea of instructions and get some other people both write some and carry out mine. I’m going to do some more research to try and get some ideas and maybe go on some walks to see if I can find inspiration from other sources. I also want to play around with layering more as I experimented a bit this week and I think re may be something in it.

Week 18 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 11th February
Reflections:
This week I worked on the brief from the painting 2 workshop which I really enjoyed but also struggled with. I found the method of using stencils effective but I feel like the piece is lacking something. I think maybe because it has no meaning behind it it feels almost clinical.

Intentions:
I want to spend some time thinking about the meaning behind my work. So far I have been focusing solely on process rather than looking for any deeper concept or meaning behind my work and I think this might be why I’m feeling stuck so I want to do some research and try and figure out a concept beyond process to see if this helps.

Week 19 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 18th February
Reflections:
I was home this week so I asked my mum and sister to respond to my instructions and also write some of their own. Again it was really interesting to see how they both responded differently to each set and drew something that was both different from each other’s and my drawings.

Intentions:
I think I want to bring Sculpture into my work more. Some of the drawings my mum and sister did have a real sense of 3 dimensions and I think it would be really interesting to play around with the idea of drawing in 3d in the sculpture workshop next week. I’ve also been doing drawings inspired by a game on my phone that I think could make some interesting maze-like sculptures.

Week 20 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 25th February
Reflections:
Week 1 of sculpture – I really enjoyed this week. I was in metalwork and I used one of my sisters drawing to make ‘3D drawings’ which I think came out really well and definitely have a sense of being a sculptural drawing. I also played around with contrast by using a sheet of aluminium to create a structure to hang them from which is equally effective.

Intentions:
I definitely want to use more of my drawings as a source for the rest of the workshop. I think that this could be a really interesting direction for my practice and something that I continue with behind the workshop as it forces me to get out of my sketchbook. I also like the idea this adds to the process – drawing, sculpture, photos of sculpture, drawings from photos, paintings and so on; playing around with distortion almost.
Week 21 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 4th March
Reflections:
Week 2 – fabric. I was really unsure about this week didn’t have many ideas for what I wanted to do so I flipped through my sketchbook and thought it would be interesting to play around either framing ideas I’d been experimenting with and make some fabric frames and canvases to take home and work on. Despite improvising actual really like how these came out. I think if I were to do this again I would build wooden supports to keep the fabric rigid as they can’t really be hung however I do think they’re effective as they are.

Intentions:
I’m going to take my fabric frames back into the studio and paint onto them. I’m not sure what I’ll do but I do like the idea of playing around with geometric shapes as the frames are polygons. I think it would be interesting to experiment with contrasting shapes and see what effect that has.

Week 22 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 11th March
Reflections:
Week 3 – wood. I didn’t actually end up making anything out of wood this week. I planned on making maquettes and then making wooden versions in the afternoon however, I ended up really liking the maquette I made out of polystyrene in the morning so I decided to keep it and not make a wood version. I’d also really wanted to make one of my maze drawings into a plaster sculpture so made a starts on building a frame to cast however, it wasn’t working the way I wanted so I left it.

Intentions:
I think I want to try and make my maze drawing out of plaster board or cardboard rather than trying to cast it as I do really want to create a 3d version of the drawings. Overall, I think I want to try and include more sculpture or 3d elements into my practice as I really enjoyed these 3 weeks.

Week 23 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 18th March
Reflections:
This week I played around with different ways of documenting making which I think is a key element of my practice. I experimented with using different angles to film myself making some watercolour paintings as well as photographing each stage.
I also did the site specific install this week which I think came out well. I think if I’d had more space I could really pushed myself. I also struggled as I’d sprained my ankle and couldn’t get up the ladder so I had to delegate the work which meant I couldn’t experiment with placement etc as much as I would have liked.

Intentions:
Next week I want to carry out the instructions I got people to write for me over independent study week as I still haven’t done that and I think it will be really interesting . I’m also going to make more effort to document the making process as I think the film and photos I took this week are really interesting.

Week 24 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 25th March
Reflections:
This week I experimented more with my instructional work. I took all the actions, materials etc I’d got from other people and mixed them to create new instructions which I then carried out. I think these are really effective, especially the one I did as a series (purple, green, blue acrylic) and I think I want to use this piece in the exhibition. I’ve really enjoyed using other people’s instructions as it allowed me to play around more with control vs chance and I think emphasise process over outcome as I have played very little into the content of each work.

Intentions:
I want to carry out the instructions I didn’t manage to do this week as well as get some more instructions maybe from different people this time. I also think it would be interesting to get others to carry out the instructions I have already as so far when I’ve done this they’ve all been interpreted differently. I think it would be interesting to see if others produce something similar to me as I myself had no clear image of what any other these would look like before doing them.

 

Group exhibition 

Exhibition statement and risk assessment: 

Please write a proposal for what you intend to install in the exhibition in April (maximum 200 words). For this, you must provide a brief description of the work including themes and materials/processes involved. We also want you to undertake a simple risk assessment. Please indicate any risks that you think the work may present and offer ways of eradicating or reducing this risk.

Please submit this statement and risk assessment along with all other work for assessment. Please also contact your tutor if you have any queries about installing your work.

Exhibition proposal:

I want to exhibit a serial piece of work exploring the idea of instructional and process art that I have been experimenting with in my practice. I have been playing around with composing sets of instructions made from individual actions written by different people and the work I want to exhibit is the realisation of one of these instructions. The work is a series of 4 A2 paintings, portraying each step of the instructions which I want to display alongside the paintings. I have used acrylic and watercolour to produce this abstract work on cartridge paper which I want to hang straight on the wall likely using blue tack or small pins. A large focus of my instructional art has surrounded the idea that despite having a list of instructions the work will come out differently every time which I think is clear in the work I intend on exhibiting. Displaying the instructions alongside the paintings will allow the audience both to literally see the process written down and bring up the question of whether the paintings or the instructions are the real art.

Potential risks (e.g. slip hazard):

The only potential risk I can see in my work is in the unlikely event that it falls of the wall it could create a potential tripping hazard.

Controls to mitigate risk (e.g. avoid using liquids in such a way as they are likely to spill):

I will ensure that each painting is securely fastened to the wall

 

Week 25 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 1st April
Reflections:
Exhibition install – I really enjoyed curating our part of the exhibition this week. It was definitely a challenge, especially as we ended up having one of the smaller spaces but quite a lot of sculpture pieces that needed to be on the floor. We moved stuff around a lot but in the end I think our section flows really well.
I also played around with a new pouring method using gesso and inks to create marble effects which I think are really interesting.

Intentions:
I want to experiment more with acrylic pouring as I think it’s a really interesting technique. There’s lots of videos on YouTube so I’m going to watch some over Easter and try out different methods when I get back.
Over Easter I’m going to work on my research and essay as I can’t bring my materials home with me.

VACATION

Week 26 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 29th April
Reflections:
This week was the exhibition presentation – I missed the group presentation but I think my individual presentation went well. The tutors had some suggestions about my choice of hand writing my label rather than typing like everyone else. I did this because I wanted to make a point of having the label with the instructions stand out however, the tutors suggested maybe using letter stickers or something to be neater.

Intentions:
I’m going to spend next week getting everything for assessment. There are a couple of things I want to try – I’ve been really interested in fluid painting so I want to experiment with that next week before deadline.

Week 27 Reflective Journal summary
Monday 6th May
Reflections:
I mostly spent this week getting on with everything I needed to do for assessment.
I also experimented with fluid painting this week which I found really exciting – I think the paintings are energetic and show the process of making them in an interesting way. I filmed the process and some of the angles aren’t great but I still think they work well.

Intentions:
At some point I want to play around more with fluid painting – using different colours and techniques. I used plaster casts as a base for some of the paintings and I think it would be interesting to do more sculptural work.

Unit BA1b Self-evaluation
To be completed by Friday 10th May and whole document uploaded to the VLE

Please think carefully about how well you achieved the Learning Outcomes for this unit and write a short critical reflection for each in the box below. Please keep to a maximum of 50 words for each learning outcome.

Learning Outcomes for this unit:

LO5: Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental techniques, materials and processes associated with your subject.

LO6: Make judgements and present arguments through engagement with fundamental historical, cultural and ethical concepts and theories associated with your subject.

LO7: Demonstrate a range of approaches to creative and experimental problem solving.

LO8: Communicate the development of your ideas clearly using text, image or object.

LO9: Demonstrate fundamental subject- specific and transferable skills relevant to your practice and future career.

LO10: Evidence independent planning and time-management in the development of your work

LO5 – I think I have achieved this outcome through the work I have done in the workshops and independently. I think I have demonstrated an understanding of the fundamentals used in each workshop I attended and have furthered these ideas in my personal practice.

LO6 – I have made more of an effort this unit to extend my research beyond contemporary practice and have developed my engagement with historical and cultural theories as a result which is evident in my essay. However, I could have made more of an effort to explore ethical concepts.

LO7 – I think I have demonstrated a range of approaches throughout this unit as is shown by the work I have produced however, I do think I could have made more of an effort to do this during the workshops. I could have been more active in booking time in to solve problems I came across during skills 3 in particular.

LO8 – I think I have successfully communicated the development of my practice through my reflective journal and my blog where I have written about my work with a critical eye. I have also used my blog to chronical my work though photography and video, documenting the work I have produced.

LO9 – I think I have achieved subject specific skills through the practice I have developed from workshops and my personal work. Seminars and artist lectures I have attended and the exhibition proposals I have written, which are in my industry folder, also demonstrate my knowledge of skills that are transferable to my practice and future career.

LO10 – I think I have evidenced independent planning through the work I have done outside of workshops and classes. I think I have shown time-management through my attendance at university and all the independent work I have done.  I could have made more effort to plan time in the workshops independently.