Leeds College of Art BA (Hons) ILLUSTRATION OUIL401Context of Practice
Level
04
Credits
20
End of Module Self Evaluation NAME
Bronte Hall
1. What skills have you developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them? A big part of this module was self-initiated research and how that research allowed your other ideas (such as the sketchbook work) to come to fruition. I think I have improved my ability to make sense of a topic and generate work from it independently, having never done something as broad and exploratory as this before. I feel that I understand the process of a self-initiated project now and I know what to expect from it and how I could approach something similar in the future. I have definitely acquired skills in terms of the more contextual side of things, such as essay preparation and writing. I have put things such as reading through texts and extracting relevant information into practice, as well as other writing-based skills such as referencing, using citations and the idea of triangulating information. This will all be beneficial as essays will continue to be a part of the programme at the higher levels. 2. What approaches to/methods of research have you developed and how have they informed your practical outcomes? A form of research that I have developed is the idea of visual research / investigation. This was a new concept to me, and took me a while to get my head around but using my sketchbook to test ideas and make theories from the contextual side into visuals was an interesting way of focusing on a specific aspect of a topic (for me, it was pattern in postmodernism) and exploring that in pictures. This informed my practical outcomes because testing, making trials, and generally just using the sketchbook as a place to think became what my project consisted of. Looking at relevant artists and practitioners was also a form of research that benefitted me. It was a way of drawing together the theory and the practical, and was often inspiring when I had to create my own visual responses. I found that when I became stuck with the project, I could take a step back and look at relevant postmodern design and that could make me review my work and see where it was going. My approach with artist research has been broad throughout, looking at fine artists, photographers, designers, as well as architects and illustrators. I think this was helpful because it improved my understanding of Postmodernism as a whole, and meant my view of it was not restricted to just one art form. 3. What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these? One strength of my work has been my process-driven approach to my project. This ended up making it easier for me to get into generating images, taking the pressure away from creating a final piece and just enjoy the process of making. I think process also related to the methods in which I made my images, with collage being a common method. Collage is quite methodical and relies on a process (cut, arrange, glue,) that allows you to trial placements before finalising an image. I think that another strength of my work has been the reflective nature of my blogging. I noticed that with this project I constantly reviewed my work, asked questions, and evaluated my work through talking about it’s successes or failures, even my thoughts and intentions for the work. I think this was really useful not only in making it clear for those reading my blog, but for myself to make sense of my own work and progress and how I could move ideas along.
4. What weaknesses can you identify in your work and how will you address these in the future? I think one of the weaknesses of my work is the lack of focus or refinement within my practical work. I think that I got caught up in how vast postmodernism is, and how many different things it can apply to, so that I ended up drifting through a lot of different visual ideas and subjects myself. Because of this, the overall project may appear disparate and a bit all over the place. I will address these in the future by experimenting at an early stage, but bringing themes and ideas to a close further into a project. Another weakness I feel my work has, which may relate to its lack of focus, but I feel I got engaged in the topic much too late – I spent a lot of time figuring out how to actually make visual research, and how to go about things, when in reality if I had just made a start and not worried about the outcome, I may have had a greater body of work. 5. Identify five things that you feel will benefit you during next years Context of Practice module? 1. Maintaining the wide approach to research. It’s important that I continue to gather research (visual and theoretical) from a good range of places and subjects, this way I could accumulate really interesting and varied pieces of information from unexpected sources that could take a project in a completely new direction. 2. Being less tentative, not getting hung up on creating a final piece. This will benefit me because I will be able to produce work more readily, and it will probably be a lot more enjoyable for me if I don’t worry about the outcome so much. By diving into sketchbooking and the creative process right away, I may be able to generate interesting work from an early stage in a project. 3.. Continuing to blog reflectively. This is important in helping me to judge the successes and failures of my work, and is even more vital in a self-directed project where you may not have a great deal of peer or feedback time. 4. Engaging with the free and exploratory nature of COP, not being intimidated by it but instead using it as a way of making my own ideas a reality. In some ways you are using your own findings to construct a sort of brief of your own. This could be rewarding in some way as it is mostly self-led. 5. Keep going! If something doesn’t work or is a bit rubbish, keep going. Try a different idea or approach. Make something out of a failed piece of work instead of grinding to a halt.
6.How would you grade yourself on the following areas: (please indicate using an ‘x’) 5= excellent, 4 = very good, 3 = good, 2 = average, 1 = poor 1
2
3
4
5 X X
Attendance Punctuality Motivation X Commitment X Quantity of work produced X Quality of work produced X Contribution to the group X The evaluation of your work is an important part of the assessment criteria and represents a percentage of the overall grade. It is essential that you give yourself enough time to complete your written evaluation fully and with appropriate depth and level of self-reflection. If you have any questions relating to the self-evaluation process speak to a member of staff as soon as possible.
A copy of your end of module self evaluation should be posted to your studio practice blog. This should be the last post before the submission of work and will provide the starting point for the assessment process. Post a copy of your evaluation to your COP blog as evidence of your own on going evaluation. Notes