Personal Reflection

During the last year on this course I have made a number of advances in my professional and personal practices. These changes have completely transformed how I tackle briefs and assignments. It has also altered the way in which I view my work. I no longer view my work as a burden to be endured but as something to be enjoyed and explored exhaustively.

If we take it in chronological order, the first change in my work method was in the first brief we received, ‘everyday objects’.

It was at first a shock to me that there were so many different media open to me, I found it quite overwhelming at first as I had only ever had the opportunity to use basic painting and sculpting techniques in my work before hand. Although I still struggle sometimes with how behind I still am in some aspects of my practical work compared too many others on the course. I also found the work load and self reliance that was expected of me initially difficult to cope with and as a result I struggled to meet the demands of the course. However, after my first assessment meeting with Cheryl in December, I feel surprising more at ease with this method of working and feel like my professional and personal work ethic has flourished. I found the meeting very enlightening with regards to what was expected of me as a professional artist.

I brought what I learnt from the first brief to the second brief we had; 'Skin/Trace'. At first I started this brief with a very short lived idea that I soon found restrictive, and had to move my ideas on rapidly to make up for lost time. I soon realised that this was a very foolish mistake as I was unable to complete the required amount of work for this brief.

From this brief I learnt that time management and efficient, pragmatic work ethic is essential for a successful project.

Watching several of my fellow students complete their work for the book fair I witnessed the sheer amount of skill and dedication that is needed to create a truly beautiful piece of work, this was incredibly daunting to me at first as I thought that it would be impossible for me to create something of that quality, but after having worked almost exclusively in the metal work room this term I am much more confident in the level of work I can produce and am looking forward to exhibiting my work in any upcoming shows next year. Expanding on this point, I am also excited in participating more fully in the college and course next year as I feel I have somewhat missed out on many motivating activities this year.

In level 5 I hope to expand my skill in metal and glass work as there is something about both practices that resonates with me and I would like to explore them further in order to create work that is both visually and conceptually appealing.