Materials and Processes
WEEK 0
Journal
WEEK 1
Aims: before starting the Masters course I wanted to start my journal to think about what I'm interested in, what I want to explore in my MA, techniques I could use, reflect on past projects to see if I want to continue any of the themes or materials used, and why the MA was important to me. I also used this time to do some research into the topic of mental illness, a topic I decided I was keen to expand on in my creative practice.
Achievements: I managed to narrow down my research topic to a continued exploration of mental illness and its effects on perception and reality. I also created lists of key influences that have been present within my practice up until this point.
what next: get started! start experimenting with different materials as this is something I was struggling with - not knowing whether to continue down the same sculptural path that I explored in my final year of my undergrad or wether to experiment with something entirely new.
Journal
Sketchbook
Week Summary
Aims: get started with the course, begin research, narrow down what it is I am wanting to investigate, start playing around with materials and research influential artists.
Achievements: to gain inspiration I attended the BA (hons) Fine Art 'making week' presentations. This is the first week back of term which they dedicate to creating art to get straight back in. Watching everyone demonstrate their work and how much they could produce within 4 days was very inspiring. I documented many of the pieces that particularly inspired me and noted down ideas . I was still fighting with wether I wanted to continue with my sculptural work or start fresh so I printed out some images from my degree show to analyse parts I liked from it and other parts or things I could do differently.
What next:
I still need to develop my theme into a question to narrow down my research. Mental illness is a huge topic. Start making! the only way to know what I want to do is to just start experimenting with different things and analysing them afterwards. Continue with artist research for inspiration.
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WEEK 2
Journal
Sketchbook
Week Summary
Aims: get experimenting - I wanted to have something actually made/ experimented with/ fill sketchbook pages. create a 75 word brief that includes a questions, the task, experiments to do, aims and objectives.
Achievements: I researched key artists which inspired me to create artwork of distorted environments. I played around with digital distortion as well as physical through oil pastels. I mind taped my initial research question and narrowed it down, allowing me to create a 75 word brief which then gave me a clear sense of direction, even as this question can change along the way. I had a starting pointI also wanted to get back into 3D work so I headed to the workshop and collected scrap material and picked up a couple lights from AV. From this I then used a small project room to play around with the colours, reflections, shadows and movement these objects created .
What next: Take on what I've learnt from the light experiments and experiment more. look at more artists who use movement, sound, light etc. create a 150-200 word artist statement for Tuesdays lecture.
WEEK 3
Journal
Sketchbook
Week Summary
Aims: I want to take week two's experimentation further, focusing on parts I liked and have potential to be expanded upon. more artist research and reading into topics I am interested in. Play around with more materials. Create an artist statement first draft approximately 150-250 words.
Achievements: I managed to create two artist statement drafts, analysing them as I went along. I also bought up with uploading all my progress onto this blog . I spent time in the workshop, using the plasma cutter to draw into scrap metal and then played around with creating shadows from this. I began to use a projector to see what it's like to project images onto these pieces of metal. I also started a presentation which explains my brief and all the key elements to it.
What next: Continue with experimentation. Where could the use of a projector lead me? Look at more artists and do more reading into my theme and materials. Finish creating my powerpoint presentation for Tuesdays lecture.
Week 4
Journal
Critical Context
WEEK 1
Week Summary
Aims: get started with the course, understand the brief, learning outcomes, grading criteria etc.
Achieved: Made myself aware of all the details of the module. Starting looking at assignment one - the 2 texts. a quick comparison to see which one I would be more interested in.
What Next: Think about what theories interest me, key writers, thinkers, aspects, ideas. narrow down which text I want to look at for assignment one and begin to read and analyse the full text.
WEEK 2
Week Summary
Aims: Pick a text for assignment one and start looking and analysing it. look more into theories, which ones apply to my creative practice. Look at examples of past work to see what I can gain from them and develop an understanding of the task
Achievements: look at multiple theories and decided that existentialism correlates most. I then did some research into existentialism, its core theories, writers, concepts, beliefs.
What next: do more research into existentialism. keep looking at the text for assignment one and pull it apart.
Week 3
Week summary
Aims: I want to finish reading and analysing the text for assignment one. Review the help sheet for literature reviews. Look at past examples of submissions.
Achievements: I created an annotated bibliography. I also started to gather reading material. I didn't manage to get as much done as I would've liked this week.
What next: Continue analysis of the text, think about Daisy's lecture and how to critically evaluate. Build a reading List, Compile all on one document. Look at past examples .
Week 4
Professional Practice
WEEK 1
Aims: get started with the course, understand the brief, learning outcomes, grading criteria etc.
Achieved: Made myself aware of all the details of the module. Created a skills audit, started thinking about what I want to achieve, where do I see myself in five years time.
What Next: think about networks, what exists in cumbria, what networks am I interested in, how can I get in contact. Look at past examples of business plans and investigate what they contain.
WEEK 2
Week Summary
Aims: Analyse past examples, look at important networks.
Achieved: I looked at what a business plan contains, looking at past examples, their feedback and how they make the business plan apply to their aims and career aspirations. I created a clear plan of things I need to research for creating a business plan. I began to think about social media and its positives/negatives.
What Next: Document my social media usage - what is helpful, what demographics access it etc. look at examples of accounts who promote their business well. Get in touch with networks - who can you utilise, what experience can you get, think about creating a cv.
WEEK 3
Week Summary
Aims: research further into each aspect of the business plan. Start figuring out what is important to look at. For Tuesdays lecture analyse the pros and cons of AI. Look more at my use of social media and networking.
Achievements: I worked on my website, got it up to speed with my masters degree. I also managed to analyse my social media use, how I use it, how successful it is, how I can improve, influential accounts.
What next: Take a look at my website as a whole, does it make sense, is it easy to navigate? Start to create a plan of action in terms of networking and improving social media use. Build up research and statistics. Continue analysing each aspect of the business plan.
Week 4
