Learning Outcome 1:
Formulate, describe and implement a challenging and self-directed programme of study, relating to your Study Statement.
(Assessment Criteria: Enquiry)
My Study Statement clearly sets out a challenging and self-directed programme of study.
https://katemccalmontwoods.wordpress.com/study-statement/
It is challenging in several respects:
- The preparation of my Study Statement has required me to reassess my initial approach, aims and objectives which I had originally described in If You See It, Just Buy It;
- It is multifaceted, involving consideration of numerous overlapping topic areas;
- It involves using different media, some of which I have no prior, or very limited, experience of working with;
- It involves a considerable degree of self-scrutiny and reflection, as well as tackling some issues which will involve difficult emotions and vulnerability; and
- It will require extensive and regular use of my blog to record my practice-based research into ‘me’, and into my working processes.
It is self-directed because it is a personal quest to understand myself as a person, and as an artist. I have specified how I will approach my practice-based research in terms of working on pieces, time that I will dedicate to my practice, engagement in reflective processes, and, being self-accountable, all of which are clearly set out in the Study Statement. In making such provision, I have considered existing aspects of my working practice as identified in Reflection and A Way Of Working.
The provisions of my Study Statement are already being implemented:
- I have attended several workshops:
- I have attended numerous exhibitions, read texts, watched films and documentaries, and undertaken research to discover how I can develop my practice:
I’m Sorry, Michael, It’s Not You, It’s Me…
Michael Craig-Martin & National Portrait Gallery
Klimt, Schiele and ors, The Belvedere & The Leopold, Vienna
The Weeping Woman ; Poets And Lovers, And A Side Of Bacon
Van Gogh, National Gallery
Part One: Think Like An Artist
Part Two: Think Like An Artist
Klimt & ors, The Secession & The Leopold, Vienna
Dora Carrington, The Pallant House Gallery
Maggi Hambling, The Pallant House Gallery
- I have reflected on issues discussed in our weekly sessions, and have either researched them further, or considered their impact on my own practice:
Considering the idea of vulnerability.
The concept of failure and how to process it.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Trying something which may result in failure.
Considering whether art has to be aesthetically pleasing, and the ability of ugly art to promote artistic growth.
Resentment as a block to creativity.
My choice of inspirational text for the group session, inspiring me to write myself as the major character in my life.
The impact of AI on artists, the art making process and considering the legal implications.
Observations on the Government’s plans to allow unfettered data mining.
Reflections on the small group open question exercise.
Reflecting on ‘professional/ unprofessional’, and direction of research.
- I have started my weekly self-accountability exercise.
Learning Outcome 2:
Implement appropriate working methods for building an independent and effective self-organisation that enables the critical engagement with practice-based research.
(Assessment Criteria: Process)
- My Study Statement sets out clearly defined working methods for building an independent and effective self-organisation, specifically in the sections Methodology and Work Plan. It also enables critical engagement by providing for regular reflection in terms of making and further development of work, as well as a process of self-accountability. Please see posts listed in Learning Outcome 1 above as evidence of the implementation of these working methods.
- In addition, I have engaged in experimentation and exploration, often in new processes and media, and have reflected on many of the questions set out in the Media & Work Processes section of my Study Statement during those processes:
Trying Not To Overthink It ; “Ever Tried. Ever Failed…”
Exploring automatic drawing and its potential to change my approach to making.
Automatic drawing, and experiments with a gelatine plate using charcoal and paint.
And Now For Something Completely Different
Exploring Procreate for the first time.
Experimenting with creating layers in charcoal automatic drawing and using Procreate.
Learning a new process at a multiple block lino workshop using 2 colours.
Experimentation with ink.
Exploring ink, using more than one colour, applying salt and considering the validity of randomness in the making process.
Considering the effect of choice in my practice, painting in oil using a limited palette and publishing my first ‘undone’.
Exploring tonality.
Experimenting in mark-making using pen.
Exploring lines and considering how the pattern and spacing between lines can be used to depict form.
Three Conversations With My Mother
Considering the reasons for making and publishing the three monotypes.
Experiencing a moment of doubt as to the publication of the three monotypes.
Practising gestural drawing.
Reflection on what I have done and where I am going, as well as further reflection on the three monotypes as pieces of work.
Experimenting for the first time with kitchen lithography.
Exploring rendering figures in a quick and dynamic way.
Considering handwriting as mark-making, and doing lines on Procreate and experimenting with the video playback feature.
Experimenting with using oil pastel for initial drawing, and not blending brushstrokes.
Experimenting making an exposure unit, making negatives from photographs and printing cyanotypes on paper and fabric.
Development of prints and experimenting with masking and multiple exposures.
Further experimentation with pen drawings and representation of sound.
- During this unit I have collected ideas and inspiration to be further developed as part of my wider research. To this extent, I have been using my blog as a note-making tool. I have organised my blog in such a way that all of my posts appear in the sidebar, as do the categories, tag cloud and gallery of images. I can then scroll down the sidebar and instantly be reminded of what I have done, what has interested me and the ideas that I have had. I intend my blog to be my primary record. This means that I have to publish everything I do, even work which I would not usually wish to share (my ‘undones’), which promotes an openness and vulnerability; an approach which I believe is already starting to change my mindset ( See Learning Outcome 3 below).
- When I am not in the physical act of making, I am thinking about it, and so my creative momentum is constantly maintained. I regularly review my blog and obtain ideas and inspiration from my lived experience, our weekly sessions and my research, as well as experimenting with media and processes:
The idea of being connected by umbilical cords; the arteries connecting the Two Fridas
Thinking about microchimerism: Russian Dolls – each one inside the other.
Hearts And Lino ; The Power of Ugly Art
The idea of the heart being outside of the body, crawling around as a baby.
Lines describing form trying to emerge; as contours of life, and a satnav.
The idea of a homemaker being an architect; a mother being a satnav; the biro’d X on a postcard.
The concept of many selves; multiplicity of form.
Relevant works on subject and media.
The metaphor of a river; recording the course of a river.
A consolidation of ideas in a mind scribble.
Considering the re-processing of art and the re-processing of me.
- I have also developed ideas and experimental work as evidenced in the following posts:
Selecting subject matter; making decisions on composition and approach to painting, and reflecting.
It Doesn’t Mean We’re In A Relationship ; Dialogue I ; Dialogue II; Dialogue III – That Will Do ; Dialogue IV – I’m So Over It
Considering brief; etymological consideration; mind-map, deciding on approach; experimenting in Procreate; further development of idea; considerations as to execution and materials; finalising and submission; reflection.
Development of an idea discarded from consideration above, taking into account nature of space for interim show; sourcing material.
Further development of two images from previous experimental work.
Further development of prints and ideas from previous session.
Learning Outcome 3:
Communicate a critical understanding of your developing practice.
(Assessment Criteria: Knowledge, Communication)
My work is informed by my lived experience.
I appreciate the context of my work by actively improving my awareness and knowledge by attending exhibitions and undertaking many different forms of research. In doing so, I actively engage with, for example, an artist’s work, and consider it from a critical standpoint, identifying aspects which might be useful in developing my own practice, or way of thinking. This is evidenced in the posts which I have already listed under Learning Outcome 1 (please see the second bullet point relating to implementation of the Study Statement).
I also consider issues in the wider context of practising as an artist, as evidenced by the following posts:
Part One: Think Like An Artist
A text about what it means to be an artist, in particular, originality of ideas.
Part Two: Think Like An Artist
Considering the relationship between art and money, and the relevance of intention behind the making of art.
Implications in terms of intellectual property rights of AI generated images.
Impact of proposals to allow unfettered data mining.
The importance of concise language to encourage engagement between the viewing public and art.
The impact of personal art on others.
The attribution of value to work.
Thinking about what being a professional artist means to me.
I regularly read, react and comment on my fellow students’ blogs. I am interested in what interests them. The group is an important resource for developing my own practice: they are themselves practising artists who are developing and encountering questions about their own practices. I can learn a lot from their experiences and thoughts in helping to develop and contextualise my own practice.
I communicate my learning and making through regular posts on my blog; approximately 4 per week. I am not a technologically minded person, so setting the blog up was a major achievement for me, as well as learning how to edit and maintain it so that it is an effective tool; It’s All In The Tag. I have also set up a YouTube channel, and learnt how to upload videos and embed them into my posts.
Before this course I had little, if no, social media presence. However, I realised that in order to get the most out of the course I would need to embrace the public nature of the blog by being open and personal in my posts. To this end I forced myself to post regularly about my everyday life, as well as my thoughts on personal issues, until it reached a stage where I felt less uneasy about doing so, trying to ignore the fact that total strangers were interacting with some of my posts.
I try to communicate in a way which is engaging, authentic and easy to understand, and I believe that this approach is evident in all of my posts. The following are specific examples:
Reflecting on the death of a work colleague.
Reflecting On Resentment I ; Reflecting On Resentment II ; Three Conversations With My Mother ; A Wobble ; Reflection
Reflecting on my feelings about the death of my mother and my subsequent cold feet about having revealed them.
Getting old, health and death.
Admitting to being a wimp.
My feelings on belongings and legacy.
My thoughts on belonging.
This approach to my personal life has made it easier for me to publish images of my work which I would not have otherwise shown to anyone, and to reflect openly on them
Since being on this course, I have undergone a process of self-reflection which has identified significant issues which have been hampering the development of my practice, and which has given rise to the beginnings of a fundamental change in my mindset i.e. seeking perfection in the result and not opening myself up to the process of making; not knowing when to stop; thinking that I need to like what I make and make what I like; and questioning the validity of randomness in my art making.
This change has been brought about by the subjects we have considered in our weekly sessions, my discussions with Jonathan and most significantly by my blog. The following posts evidence the change I am undergoing:
Request For Specific Feedback:
I am concerned that the subject matter of my programme of study is too broad and, that by its very nature, is a process which will continue beyond the end of this course, something that I have already acknowledged in my Study Statement. I would like some feedback as to the consequences, if any, of there being no ‘conclusion’ as such, and whether I should consider narrowing my line of enquiry.
Kate McCalmont-Woods 