Wednesday 31 October 2012

Third plenary session

This was another fascinating session.  We were given some of last year's degree essays and asked to mark them.  We had to identify 3 good points, 3 areas for improvement and then grade and justify the it.

Key points for essay writing were:

- Use the introduction to manage the expectations of the reader.
- Use the title to set the expectation of the reader
- Proof read - constantly - for spelling, grammar, articulacy
- Constantly question "says who", "more", "spellcheck"
- Set your structure clearly (if you are waffling, the structure is not right)
- Give a good bibliography (use the Skills Guide to get this right)
- Stick to your point
- Develop your point thoroughly
- Define your technical terms.

Review of 2012 Applied Arts degree results

On Monday, our Programme Leader, Antje, gave a fascinating plenary session about the reasons why last year's students achieved the results they did, in their final year project.  This explained what individuals had done either well or badly, to achieve the outcome that was their final mark. 

Positive key points were:

- Print onto a wide range of media (fabric, metal, glass, wallpaper) to show a wide ranging  notion of print. 
- Conduct in-depth research and do a lot of development work.
- Vary the scale of what you work on, and only work up finished pieces where the increase or reduction complements the outcome
- If you are working for a site specific installation, ensure the work fits, is appropriate to and complements the site.
- Make sure your concept supports the worked outcome
- Consider quirky and powerful imagery, performance art, and entrepreneurship.
- Have considerable support materials to show how you developed your work.
- Integrate your techniques into your materials.
- Make sure the detailing is immaculate
- When using new technology and hand craft, ensure high skills displayed throughout.
- Experiment with your technique and work your ideas thoroughly through variations on a theme
- Ensure your concept is robust
- Consider how best to display your work as part of your design development
- Experiment widely with print techniques.
- Make sure your message/concept is clear.


Things to avoid

- Don't say in your project specification that you are going to produce 5 posters, then only develop 3.
- Don't use sloppy technique and process to make your outcome.
- Don't mount and display your work using sloppy process.
- Don't use the first materials that come to hand.  Consider how your fabrics (etc) support the story you are telling
- Don't leave your best work in your portfolio
- Do not assume that winning a prize (eg Chancellor's Award) means your work fits your specification or meets the requirements of the final project brief.

I have highlighted 4 key points from the end of the lecture

* More variety in outcomes and scale
* 25% of marks are for support materials
* Continue to develop good ideas
* Differentiate your outcomes.

Statistically Government targets state they expect degree results to show 58% of candidates achieve a 2:1 or 1st.  53% of last year's students achieved this level, so Antje will be justifying how she and the verifiers came to this conclusion.  However, I suspect we had more than our allocated expectation of Firsts (because there was some truly excellent work on display), and probably more fails than would normally be expected.  But having listened to the reasoning, I could see how the results came out the way they did.  (I suspect I would be a hard marker!)

Friday 26 October 2012

A busy day at the V&A

Actually I have had a busy week.  I had a tutorial for my art work and we identified I need to do lots more drawing of pomegranates, focussing on use of colour and composition.  I think I will continue working large but may end up making my own sketchbooks.  We noted that I really dislike hard drawn lines round objects, so I often cut round them, and I particularly dislike white backgrounds.  I have also worked out  something fundamental about my use of sketchbooks and my use of pattern.  For some time  I have been cutting into the page so that I can see something from the page behind so there is some patterning in the ground, rather than flat colour.  The cutaway pages create a visual that includes pattern (related or unrelated) as a background to the primary pattern.

In my essay tute I had good feedback on my paraphrasing practice, and received some  good tips on how to introduce a writer's work.  For the second time, Steven recommended that we use the V&A print study room and the National Art library.

So today, I took myself off to the V&A.  Two hours travelling each way, but because I used to do this every day as a commuter, only doing it occasionally makes it a doddle.  I found the Print Study Room, signed in, and found how to request textile specific prints and drawings from the archive.  I looked at some original William Morris and Byrne Jones drawings amongst others.  You are advised to keep documents  flat and fully supported on the tables, without overhanging.  No gloves required, but clean hands are essential.

Then I went to the National Art Library (upstairs at the V&A), made the arrangements for a library card to entitle me to use the reference library.  you either pre-order on line 3 days in advance, or submit a paper slip on arrival, the request goes to the archive on the hour and will be back at the desk c20 mins later.

The librarian showed me how to access journals on line, and I managed to access an article I had failed to access through UH Studynet.   Although it is a lot of travelling, I am inclined to make this a regular weekly trip, because I work more intensely for the 5 hours I am there, and am more successful in accessing pertinent material quickly.  This makes study a more productive and less frustrating experience.

Saturday 20 October 2012

Second plenary session

A couple of days ago I participated in thesecond plenary session for the Applied Artists who are writing their degree essay this year.  We are given very good support to be able to write a decent essay, and are taken through various exercises to practice certain skills. 

This week's exercise was about how to write with authority.  Succinctly, we do this via critical analysis (I've never been strong on analysis, so I sat up, listened carefully, and paid attention).

- Read widely
- Actively critique others' ideas.
- Question whether it is good material
- Identify strengths and weaknesses of argument
- Use evidence to back up, as authority
- Read articles, understand the jargon, change to layman's terms in your mind, then in your own words, rewrite in academically appropriate language.
- Seek teh nuances in the text
- Acknowledge the work of other researchers by using phrases like " Chanelle argues that ..."

It's not easy, but we really are shown exactly what we have to do.  And some of the students pay attention, and others ... sadly do not.

Friday 19 October 2012

Getting my essay started - time to remain calm

It is normal for me to undergo quite a lot of anxiety prior to getting started on a new piece of work.  I  have now attended two plenary sessions for my essay, and after being quite anxious about whether my subject was worthy and whether I could cope with the academic requirements, have relaxed a bit. 

I try to be a good student, by attending all plenary sessions, listening to tutors and students and taking adequate notes.  (I don't trust my memory, so notes are essential).  I have been appalled by some of the behaviour of some attendes at the plenary sessions - if you don't pay attention (especially when you are not the brightest star in the sky) you can only expect to fail later.  However, having taken copious notes, I am quite surprised at how helpful (if obvious) the essay writing instructions are:

- Create a system for collecting material (set up an indexed file).  I will need 20-30 sources, 5-6 major sources.
- A high level of research will make my work trustworthy.
- Google and Google Scholar
- A higher level of access is available via UHVPN.  Access this via username@student via the University of Hertfordshire VPN.  Then access Google Scholar. 
- Use National Art & Design Library at the V&A
- Use databases via Voyager/Scholar - these are robust and peer reviewed.
- Use authoritative sources - ie says who?
- Do not use hobbyist sources - I am not a middle age, middle class hobbyist.  I am a textile print artist!
-Robust sources reference ideas across several disciplines
- Once you have found a good writer, google the person's nam
- Seek discrepancies between information sources. This enables development of informed opinion
- Use most recent source.
- Present the evidence and take a stand (this should not be a problem for me!).
- Identify the new and the contentious
- Identify who has disagreed with your key points
- Seek academic writers who have noted the same patterns and search further.
- Query whether commentators have had the same message.  Identify similarities and differences
- I am not writing for the ordinary person - I am writing for the educated textile
person.  (But I want my work to be inclusive and accessible, not exclusive and inaccessible - so choose words carefully).
- Make fewer quality points - quality not quantity
- Recognise the pertinence of your points
- Lemon squeezer - make a good exploration of your points
Talk about creative decisions and criteria - What are you trying to do; who else is doing interesting stuff; why is it interesting?
- Dovetail theory and practice to maximise your time.
- Duplicate dissertation notes into practical sketchbook.
- Identify what you want to say.  Edit to only the most important.
- What is relevant to me as a creative practitioner?
- After Research (then and only then!) include own opinions.
- In research, you will kiss a lot of frogs before you find the prince! (I am starting to find this out!)

Essay aesthetics come at the end.  This is a creative process.

Time to get to work.

Tuesday 16 October 2012

A weekend at Missenden Abbey

I spent an enjoyable weekend at Missenden Abbey.  As usual I stayed with Aunt Joan, who is a sprightly 90 year old, visually impaired person.  She provided accommodation, and I provided family conversation, and we had a lovely time together. 

This weekend I was doing two day classes, on Art Nouveau and Art Deco.  I had always thought of Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau and Art Deco as three separate design styles but discovered that they melded into one another without specific start and finish times.  In particular, I had thought of Charles Rennie Mackintosh as a completely separate style from Scotland, but actually he melded all three styles together, and was included in the Art Nouveau day, much to my surprise.  His work had a strong Arts & Crafts ethic - quality of design, truth to materials, honesty in construction - with Art Nouveau curves from plant forms, and the angular grid forms of Art Deco.

It was good to listen to a lecturer, Jenny Spiers, who was in command of her subject, and enthusiastic about the differences in historical art styles.  She does a further series of lectures, which are more about the history of art linked to political and social scenarios.  I'm particularly keen to attend her Art and the Dictators lectures, which hopefully Missenden Abbey will put on next year.

Sunday 7 October 2012

Understanding how my textile practice is "contemporary"

I am a textile printer, and I took this as my specialism largely because I had a back problem that flared up in my first year studies. Print was one of the few activities that did not aggravate it, and was an unfamiliar field to me, so I felt I had a lot to learn in an accessible and enjoyable field.   At that stage in 2010, the 2D workshop focussed on manual screen printing, because we did not have a digital printer.  I very much enjoy screen printing.  However, I am acutely aware that the 21st century is the age of digital.  So I need to understand, and get to grips with, the role of digital technology in my practice if I want it to fit with my degree "Contemporary Applied Art".

I can see benefits and disbenefits to technology in my practice, some of which are quite specific to me.  The forms of digital technology that spring to mind are camera, photocopier, computer hardware, computer software, computerised textile printer.  Digital technology is part of modern life and I am competent (in varying degrees) to use all the above media.  However I am a textile artist, not a computer operator.   So this means I need to be competent to the level required, but don't need knowledge/curiosity beyond this.  I have basic skills with Photoshop which I find a slow and frustrating system.  However, reading of other artists, shows this is a common experience, while acknowledging Photoshop is the most used and best package to learn.  Also, the static arm position while making extensive use of the mouse, traps a nerve in my neck, so makes me reluctant to make extensive use of computers.  Too much time sitting also aggravates my back pain.  If I decided to use digital print (which I think I must, as it is so pertinent to contemporaneous-ness in textile print), I need to be selective about how much I use it.  I anticipate doing most of the design work manually (to maximise haptic emotions) and using PS to convey design work to the printer.  This may change, as my skills develop.

I suppose my feelings about the computer are that I control the computer.  It does not control me.  I am the master, it is the slave.  It does what I comand (so I need the skills) but I am not limited to what it does.  I have infinitely more skills that it!  I need to identify what Photoshop (and others?) do well for my artwork and where it enables effects that cannot be achieved by manual screen printing.  At the moment, I think that flat printing effects that utilise overlaid colour are best done by screen print (think William Morris designs) but if you want watercolour multicolour wash effects, then digital print is the appropriate technique.

I find the digital camera to be a boon.  I was careful about using film cameras because I was worried about wasting film, and unhappy about the toxic chemicals used in processing.  However, digital cameras have relieved me of worrying about waste, because I take lots of photos, delete those that are naff, store most pictures on a disc, and then only print those that I want to use as sketchbook material.  This also has the benefit that I feel quite at liberty to cut them up, as I can always reprint a whole image.

I have used the digital textile printer at University on two occasions.  The first time the digiprinter was set up to print transfer ink on paper.  This worked well.  The main problem I can see here is that our heat presses have a face plate about 50cm square.  This is fine if you are working to a cushion size but is not suitable if I want to create meterage for curtaining.  I did some test prints, and concluded that the heat press needs to be set to 200 degrees and timed for 30 secs.  I don't see me working  with digital transfer ink because of the size limitations of the press, and the non-biodegradability of the man-made fibres required for transfer ink to work.

The second time I used the digital printer, I used printing ink on cotton.  This was lovely.  Again I used small sample designs, steamed the fabric to set the ink, washed and pressed it. However because I wanted a flat colour background, when Lisa set the printer computer to do a half drop repeat, extraneous lines appeared on the edge of the repeat because my photoshop skills were not good enough during the preparation stage.  I can see photoshop skills will be essential to my practice.  I need to work out how to combine the haptic joy of manual design with a technical competence at the computing side!

I suppose what I am trying to articulate is, what, for me is the role of creative digital practice in handcraft?  The way I feel now, is that digital tools support creative practice, but they are not a replacement for it.  Digital tools record initial inspiration, and transfer developed ideas from sketchbook to printing media.  Digital tools can also assist with manipulation of material (photoshop etc) and communication with others (email and internet) but this is a function and not the purpose or end product for me.  Also for me, the handling, the materiality and the skills of craftsmen/women are a vital part of the process of making.  The object that I create facilitates my expression of emotions and enables me to draw creative conclusions, and somehow viewers perceive this.  When I was working on a series of work about my husband's camping cups, my tutor observed that the cups were affectionately drawn.  I was surprised that she had drawn this conclusion, but her words exactly expressed how I felt about my husband, Jim, his travels and achievements.

Joy, peace and contentment - my emotional zeitgeist

I'm thinking about how to structure the practical research for my degree project.  The reason why I have the statement "Joy, Peace and Contentment" in my blog title is that these are the most common emotions I experience when I am doing practical artwork.  This is the emotional feel I want to come across in my work.  I have managed to express other emotions in my art work, such as sadness, grief and humour, over the last few years.   The changes I have achieved in my life now mean I am mostly in the joy, peace and contentment sphere. Joy, peace and contentment are my emotional zeitgeist. I also do anxiety and frustration, but this is usually when I am trying to work up a new project or am working to deadlines, so this is self-inflicted and by choice, so I can't complain, but agree with my husband's comment "you are always like this at the beginning/end of a project, and we both know it comes with the territory and you WILL cope".

I think my degree essay and project will be strongly linked.  I like the haptic sensations of artwork and I want to link my work with my recent experiences in Australia.  I did half a sketchbook on a pomegranate that grew outside the house where we lived.  Now Jim and I are back in the UK, I want to develop this pomegranate theme with the historical styles of textile print throughout the 20th century in Britain.  So I have read a book on Pattern Design in the UK and want to work up a series of repeating textile designs in a variety of design styles using the pomegranate.  Can you imagine repeat pomegranate designs, in Arts & Crafts, art nouveau, art deco, Weiner Werkstatte, modernism, contemporary, psychedelia, op and pop art, country cottage, power? I can.  Also, the word pomegranate means apple, multi-seeded.  I think the multiple interpretations of a repeated print pomegranate, sits well with the meaning of the name.

My reading to date (largely Dr Cathy Treadaway) has raised the concept of "disciplined noticing", which I think would be useful to the development of my practice.  In the process of manually working up repeat patterns in different art styles, I want to document how it makes me feel, and whether the haptic interaction with the art materials enhances my ideas generation and evolution of design.  Does this subsequently lead to my work having personal symbolism and value (like my previous work about family issues)?  Or will the positive emotions of joy, peace and contentment give a different "emotional charge".  Will the emotional reception of the viewer be affected, or not?  Does this matter?  Or is my emotional sensation while making, just of relevance to me?

Saturday 6 October 2012

Thoughts from the Swimming Pool

I swim a couple of times a week, and sometimes my most productive thinking comes when I am flogging up and down the pool.  I am acutely aware that I need to start the thinking about my degree essay, but this thinking session was more about my textile print project and my identity.  Hopefully it will get me started towards the essay thougth process.

I am trying to understand my personal artistic zeitgeist.  I know I like the hand drawn (reaction against the modern computerised, technology driven age), and I like pattern.  I like the practical application of pattern making, so I want to make printed fabrics that get used in the domestic interior.  I like drawing small objects - often domestic things around me - and this moves from crockery, cutlery and kitchen items, to fruit and veg.  I see myself as an intelligent woman, and a textile artist.   I also know what I do not want to be - or to be seen as by others - a middle aged, middle class craft hobbyist.  This fills me with dread.  I am quite ok that other people may be quite happy to fill this arena, but I cringe that others looking at me might think I make little things to be put on the wall.  I want to master pattern making so that I can make fabrics that are good enough to be used in the domestic interior, but specifically without the impression that the finished object (cushion, upholstered furniture, curtains, etc) has been made by a hobbyist.  So, a really professional outcome where the product looks considered and fitted to its environment.

I am interested in domestic interiors and what factors drove the development of style and technique.  I am curious about the drivers rather than interior design per se.  I have a place on a 10 week series of lectures at the V&A "Home Sweet Home" which covers development of the home environment from Victorian times up to the present day.  Unfortunately this does not start until January 2013, which is after my degree essay is due.  I think this class might cover a lot of the pertinent material for my sphere of interest, but I can't change any of the timescales.

However I do have one massive asset as a student - time.  I have retired from full time work, and am studying part time.  So I have 2 years in which to develop my pattern making, and technical print skills - which is twice what the full timers get.  Also I do not need to fund my studies with part-time employment, and my husband is very supportive.  He is also retired, but views my textile degree as having the same importance as paid employment.  So when I go to uni, he assumes the role of house-husband and maintains our home so that my contribution is limited to cooking and shopping.  This means the rest of our time is spent enjoying each other's company

I am fascinated by how pattern has developed, and have realised that some print fashions have been due to the effects given by specific techniques.  I will probably focus on screen printing and digital printing.  (At least at this stage, this is what I think I will focus on - it may change!)  Screen printing has been popular for 50 years and can be used to achieve the effects of Arts and Crafts designs, which were block and roller printed.  I won't be doing block and roller printing because I can't carve blocks, and we don't have the commercial roller printing machines, but screen printing will give the relevant effect.  Digital printing is very much of today's age.  The University of Herts has just obtained a digital printer, that will digitally print onto whole rolls of cloth.  I know I need to master this as it is the primary 21st century technique, although I have concerns about my limited photoshop skills and how too much work with the computer mouse traps a nerve in my neck. 

My design style is very busy.  I had not realised this until my Drawing tutor gave me feedback that my work was very busy, probably because I had had a busy life. Which I have had, to date.  I had not realised just how much what we are, comes out and is expressed in our work.  I have completed 30 years of paid employment.  28 years full time, latterly irregular rotating shift work, then changing to part time unsocial hours work, combined with parental care responsilities and part time study.  What amazes me, is that I had not linked the busy life, with a busy artistic style!

Since my Dad died two years ago (he had Alzheimer's disease) my life has simplified, and I wonder whether my art and design work will simplify likewise.  When I was in Australia last year, I did a lot of artwork that expressed my feelings about caring for my Dad, with his difficult behaviour.   I like an intellectual content and challenging messages in my own and other people's work, but I feel as if I have expressed my challenges.   When I look at my sketchbooks, I can see that I have expressed a lot of emotion through my artwork.  I have done projects on parents who have given children up for adoption, first world war, inherited objects, and care responsibilities.  The colours and techniques used have been unconsciously chosen to represent the emotions felt.  But now I feel I am moving to a more intellectual level of design, where I want to understand why historical styles used their colours, techniques etc.  This will broaden my understanding of external factors, before I apply the knowledge to personal and internal factors.

As you can see, I think a lot when swimming!

Thursday 4 October 2012

Back to school

Last week I went back to school.  A four month summer break is too long, especially when you have returned from a Study Abroad, and no-one gives you the summer project, despite making your return apparent to the tutors during the summer holidays. 

I am a part time mature student, so the "final year" that full time students attend, will extend to two years for me.  I studied full time during my study abroad year at Curtin University, Perth, and found it enjoyable but incredibly demanding.  As I want to enjoy the journey of study, and do not need to crack on and get my degree completed in order to go to work and pay off debts like the young students, I returned to part-time study, attending 2 days per week. 

My modules this year are Degree Planning, and Degree Essay. Degree Planning takes place over the whole year, and is about identifying my practice and working up a concept and conducting the design exploration.  The degree essay is to be  completed by 14 December and is an exploration of an area of my interest.  It will be somewhere around the history of textile design and what drives the zeitgeist (spirit of the age) as demonstrated in furnishing fabrics.