Back for year 2! At the start of the week I was excited to get back to lessons, creating and having a routine again. I’ve slowly gone down hill a bit with the work load and trying to work my part time job as well. I’m not sure if I have chosen the right modules for me this term. I’m struggling with photography which is stressing me out. But we shall see how it goes. I am definitely feeling the pressure of year 2.
Summer
Over the summer I spent a lot of time taking photos to make memories. I really like photography which is why I thought the module would be a good choice, but can’t quite decide if it is or not. I went to concerts, hung out with friends and explored some beautiful places.
Another Hobby I picked up was buying second hand items from shops and giving them a new purpose. I repainted some little figures and crafted new ideas out of old material. One project I loved doing was painting my boyfriends Ukulele. I painted some kittens on it.
I Enjoyed this so much that i now have three other guitars giving by friends who want something painted on them.
Project
Our theme this term is site specific sound art. I have no idea what this actually means or any ideas for projects. I’m hoping maybe I can include the projects I have been working on over summer in some format.
Seminar 1
In our first seminar, we started with writing exercises to create a spell or letter for ourselves on what we want to achieve with our projects. I find it hard to switch my brain off and just write so this exercise was difficult for me, I found myself just writing nonsense and drawing on the piece of paper instead. I know I want to continue with practicing with different medias and not commit to anything specific, and I need to stop stressing myself out about my work and stop overthinking.
The group then were split off into pairs and we had to do two, one minute drawings of the other without looking at the paper. I was partnered with Dylan and we drew each other while constantly making eye contact. It was uncomfortable at first but then I just stared at their headphones around their neck and felt relaxed. I found this fun but also nerve wracking. I like control of my work and wanted to constantly look down at the paper. I then wanted to draw Dylan again while looking at the paper to prove to myself that I’m not a bad artist, I just can’t draw somebody when I don’t focus on the outcome.
We then all wrote down our skills and projects we have done in the past. I included painting, photography, tattooing and training birds of prey. I would like to include my work with birds of prey into my art somehow, I think it would be a nice representation of who I am.
We then linked up our names with other peoples skills that we found interesting and would like to develop on. I chose Sofia’s multiple Language skill. I can speak a bit of welsh and was intrigued by the idea to incorporate the language into my art.
Hi Becky, Great to see you engagement with IP, the creative process and some of the activities and topics covered in class so far. You show good reflection on your work and interests over the summer, and give honest reflection on the activities in class, what worked well, what was more challenging. To develop, leave more time for reflection. What worked / what doesn’t in your experimentation, why? Why are you interested in including birds of prey and language in your project? What motivates you to explore these themes? To develop, leave time to do visual and text based research. You might want to reference the reading lists on Blackboard as a starting point – there are bibliographies in the lecture slides too. Where you do research into the work of others, be sure to cite your sources – https://aber.ac.uk/en/aberskills/referencing/#referencing—the-basics. Leave time to critically reflect on your work and the work of others. What are the strengths, the weaknesses, why? How does the work inform your own thinking? What is the wider context of your project? As you develop the direction of your idea, make time to engage with and document material experimentation. Be sure to post on your ON weekly, and leave time to show experimentation, research and reflection. I’m curious to see where your creative thinking for the project has got to, and what you’re planning in terms of creative experimentation. We’ll be working on project timelining and production plans in next week class, so do bring your idea to session. Remember, it’s important to come to tutorials and keep up good attendance with the module. Hope you’re starting to feel better and looking forward to hearing more about your project next week!