ART 418 | Critical Evaluation

To accurately reflect on the success of my work, I have compared my written proposal goals to the final outcome. A full recap of this proposal allowed me to spot aspects of work that I missed out on completing due to a change of direction. I am choosing to view this as a positive as change shows growth and confident use of inspiration.

Throughout this module, I have used a variety of methods to document my practice: written documentation of thoughts/ ideas and photos of visual/ practical elements.  Videos rarely used to show quick changes or experimental ideas, almost evidencing a thought through action and showing. 

Initially I stressed the point of documentation being appropriate for its content however, this shifted to settling for a time efficient alternative. The changes visible in my work/ upload times show an impact of decreasing physical ability on academic success. Methods that may be most effective to document/ create/ exhibit weren't always accessible. When writing this I’m seeing the irony between this situation and my topic of exploring ageing against creative narrative and output.

I have focused more on the act of ‘doing’ and ‘making’ rather than not, that should also hold value in this module. The value of creating has ‘lowered’ due to unavoidable factors. Shown especially within my pottery pieces, time and distance restrictions now make my initial plan impossible. They will not be glazed, but the disappointment of this leaves room to imagine the “what if’s?”. I’m almost hoping that the dull appearance promotes comments on how it ‘should’ have been finished instead of left blank. The act of ‘not-doing’ has actually prompted a change of plan. Assessable, simple, optional interaction. Key themes that I hope are represented within my final installation.

Social media, photography and captions became my preferred place to share notes. A reminder to revisit a thought in more detail and explore its potential. Sharing even minor progress made online was motivating. I can’t decide whether the pressure this created was healthy or not, but it was definitely effective to ensure completion of work. This pressure also ensured that I was considering the visual appeal and how to display the end result throughout the whole process - even though its initial intended display location was a simple online upload. 

Using different mediums throughout this module helped me develop a range of technical skills, learning rules and bending them was an important part of my process. Bending rules made the concept of creating more approachable,removing pressure and expectations.The more I made and interacted with different processes, the more accepting I was to different aesthetic outcomes. This free, open approach trial greatly benefitted my progression as an artist. I have simultaneously added and removed structure and stereotypes from my work, allowing me to further express instinctual creation.

Expressing growing personal connection to this topic is evidenced throughout cross stage crits and tutorial sessions. Having prepared points to discuss and share allowed me to strategically solve sticking points in my ideas and progression, as well as assessing how concepts translated to others. Each session where I collected feedback was reflected on in a blog post. During this time I mulled over next steps, often using automatic writing. I find that typing all ideas out first to be highly beneficial to assess all options, before reducing the content to viable options. . 

As time progressed with this module I had a clear direction to focus on the display of my pottery projects. A display to represent the feeling of pride and fond memories, as well as the progression of technical skills. I imagined this display to be tall, on a shelf like structure. Upon dealing with health/ mobility setbacks this became unachievable (due to time restrictions). I am still able to utalise aspects of my previous plan.. The layout/ order of the pieces displayed in particular. This is a layout I have contemplated, tired and tested in a studio setting (documented in sketches and photographs). 

I will alter the height and accessibility, as well as the maintenance of this installation. I will place them on a table, surrounded with an undecided amount of chairs. There will be a tablecloth, one that looks smooth and soft to touch. Maintaining focus on inviting the audience to interact, subtly. 

 The pottery will be lined up along the centre, so you could sit/ stand and look. Multiple viewpoints are created in this layout. Sitting around a table looking at old projects reminds me of spending time with my grandparents, crafting from old magazines and learning who made what, when and why. I’d like to think that this layout will provoke at least one person to say, “remember when you made something like that/ used clay/ made.. Etc”.