Key Blogpost 3

What new discoveries have you found within the unit - reflect upon your own practice and experiences within unfamiliar or ambiguous scenarios?
 I found that through this project, that I can work well as a team to contribute to something. I found that I was able to self motivate myself and was willing to help to others. This was something new to me as my own practice is self driven.
 In terms of the work that was unfamiliar was the ink and water. I noticed when the children were placing the ink into the water, it created these interesting patterns and this is something that I want to explore in my work. Although I did not enjoy the placement, what I did enjoy is that it has given inspiration.
 In the workshop, we spoke about the semiotics of colour and although I look at it in my own work. Learning about this is something I want to explore further and develop my understanding of my own practice.

What did you learn and discover? How has this informed your practice and wider understanding?
 Before this project, I had never done interaction art which involves you teaching other people to create the work. This is something that I enjoyed, however there were points that I struggled with. When I create work, I have an image in my head and would like the work to do this, but during the development and the workshop, I kept myself from doing this and as a result, the work created turned out better than I imagine. In the future, I want to start creating more interactive art where the viewers participate in the making giving it freedom in the work. There is less control on my part but this could create work that is visually interesting but has a new dynamic.
 I would also like to do more collaborative work. It is something that although was stressful at times was something I enjoyed. I found that you were able to develop your ideas as you are constantly working with bouncing ideas of each other. I found that it also self motivates you as you wish not to let the other person down.

Reflect upon your engagement with each aspect of the unit - from primary research to workshop activities, tutorial groups, collaborative work and contextual understanding. Did you commit to each appropriately and contribute well? What aspects do you consider that you developed? What could you improve upon and how much you now achieve this?
 I do feel that I contributed well to the group, I went to every meeting, researched different elements of the workshop, helped write up the various different elements of the workshop and presented in the workshop. I understood that as we were working as part of team and I didn't want to let anyone down so tried to complete my work on time. Obviously there were times that this was not possible and I should in the future have made my time management better.
 Throughout the development, they were times that as a team we weren't focused enough and therefore we lacked in development however, when the pressure was added, we did manage to pull through.
 In terms of what I could have improved on is applying pressure on myself during the buildup of the workshop. By doing this, I would have completed my work a lot faster than I did and as a result, there would have been less stress in the last couple of days. Although the workshop was a success and we were able to turn it around, it was unnecessary.

Reflect upon your choices, from material, to process and research. Were they conducted at the right time and to the appropriate depth and level of interrogation needed to fully inform your ideas and development?
 I was the person who was doing the artist research and the music for the first planned workshop and I realised that that I was part of a team. For this reason I made sure that I had the work done for the week before the dry run of the workshop. However, we did not use that workshop. In terms of research, if we had as a group, made a proper lesson plan, people would have not waisted their time doing unnecessary work. It is apparent that we were not prepared at the right time and this can not be down to one individual person but as a whole group.
 As we decided to do the colour fight from the beginning, we had planned the materials at the right time. There was a few of us who had previously worked from powder paint and due to this reason, we had this aspect prepared. The rest of the activities and the materials we planned to use was not prepared at the right time, for example, we were still buying boiler suits the day before we conducted the workshop. This created unnecessary stress on us as there was a fear that we would not have everything ready.
 Due to the workshop not being ready, it was apparent they were not conducted at the right time as a collective whole. Whilst some had completed their work, others had not and this was partly caused by the whole group not putting pressure on ourselves. If I was to do this again, I would try and make the group complete their tasks by a given time so it wouldn't leave the select few of us who had done the work added pressure.

What learning did you achieve? What could you improve on? Identify an aspect that you could develop further in line with your practice?
 In terms of the learning I achieved in this unit is collaboration and communication skills. During the meetings, I felt as a group everyone contributed equally to not only the planning aspect but also the delivery of the workshop. There was no one that I felt did the most work, but rather we all put equal amounts of work.
 There are still skills that I could improve on, for example, researching the right things, instead of waisting my time as well as others who would then look at my work. I also believe I can still improve of my confidence of delivery. Whilst it has greatly improved, during the parts of my delivery, I felt my nerves get the hold of me and I was not clear in my delivery.
 In terms of the group improvements, we could possibly improve communication skills. Although they were good, when stressed at reconstructing the workshop, we would at times not listen to each other and then speak but rather we would talk over each other.

Based upon your choices made within the unit, identify and select the key motivations within this unit. Evaluate how these relate and have informed your practice and future ambitions.
 In terms of the future, I do not wish to go in teaching. I did not enjoy the placement at the school and looking at teaching at the moment as spoken about in previous posts it seems as if it is no longer about the children developing as individuals but rather as a collective whole. The arts education has taken big cuts and as a result, there is a lack of education freedom and this is something that I would not want to enter. However, for all the stress of the workshop this is something I am interested in doing. I believe that through workshops you are able to show the children different ways of thinking and this could inspire them in the future. The workshop brought enjoyment to the children and this was shown in the feedback shirts in which one child asked for us to come back next week. I realise that this is a difficult profession to join but over the summer I plan to work with people on the Unit X course in creating a portfolio to present to schools in the next academic year.