Unit X - Reflection

Topic 3 - Reflection:

Through this project I have learnt and discovered more about how much of an equal impact the making of art is when handcrafted or manufactured and didn't necessarily realise how involved the human has to be involved for the technology to work. I'd always been very naive in the sense of technology can't be smarter than the human because it needs a humans brain to programme everything in the first place for it to even work. Yet once it's in the hands of technology it has the power to do things a lot quicker than a human. This gave me a wider understanding of the theme and gave me a lot more ideas and ways I could work; I worked on the sewing machine then hand stitched, hand cut paper instead of using a laser cutter, used sublimation printing instead of screen printing. I feel the theme had a major impact on the way I chose to work.     

We went to the 'Science and Industry Museum' together and pulled a lot of ideas from that, I discovered a few videos and articles which I brought to the group, learnt new techniques like the Cornely sewing machines which resembled wires, Irish sewing machine, learning the facing technique and how to use the cording foot which was used in some of my final six pieces and were in some collaborative weaves. I feel I should have spoken more about my ideas in tutorial group meetings but in our planned group meetings I feel we all contributed equally and extremely well with each other which is something I have developed on and found it is a personal improvement of mine and is something I will continue to do whilst also trying to do this in tutorial groups.

As a group we all set out to collect 5 materials we could use whether that being for the texture or colour, we tested the fabrics out in our specialisms and considered if they were suitable, if not then we tried it in a different specialism to see the different outcomes it would produce. From idea developments I feel like I have taken more risks and tried more techniques nearer the end of the project due to the more investigating and research of artists that have influenced me. 

From meeting as a group a few times a week we would discuss the samples we have been experimenting with and getting new ideas of what we could do with them, then swap with each other and see how far a collaborative piece can go. Also if we were unhappy with a piece, we gave it to a peer and they would try and bring it back to life again. So pieces which were made earlier on in the project that hadn't completely reached its potential would be developed nearer the end, once we had learnt more techniques and come up with more ideas. I learnt from this that even if I'm not happy with a piece, I can leave it, make more, learn more then revisit that sample and improve it.

I contributed and engaged a lot more confidently than I first thought I would and feel this is one of my biggest personal achievements. I definitely need to take on board the risk taking and need to make sure I do this from the start of the project and not wait until I'm comfortable enough, because if I take the risk and it goes wrong I've learnt for the next time; the mistake might produce a better result than I was aiming for. An aspect I could develop further is to carry on learning more new techniques like testing out all the the different feet on the sewing machine because learning how to use the cording foot ended up impacting my practice in a big way so I would like to see what else the sewing machine is capable of.    

Key motivations within this unit were the theme because our research gave us many pathways that we could go in, which gave us all many options in the making process. Also the workshops as I wouldn't have known the cording technique if it wasn't for the workshop. These relate and have informed my practice and future ambitions because it has taught me to find a theme that I don't know much about and that can keep me interested enough to keep producing work, as I have used themes in the past which have resulted in me getting bored and led to making work I am not keen on. Learning new techniques throughout the project keeps me interested and tends to spark new ideas once learnt, so would like to keep this in mind for the future.