Sketchbooks V's Blogs - weekly meeting 3!

Since starting at University the idea of having a blog and a sketchbook has been a new and interesting challenge, yet more recently, if anything I've been confused about how the content of the two differ. At points I felt like I was overlapping the content, or wondering if certain content was more appropriate for one rather than the other. This lecture cleared this up for me and I learnt some key differences:

Sketchbooks - Subjective, fill with daily stuff, help to keep the projects momentum

Blogs - Objective, post once of twice a week, reflect key moments of practice.

As the blog is supposed to be more reflective, I am going to plan 2 or 3 posts a week rather than filling it with everything I do! I also think I need to loosen up a bit in my sketchbook: previously, I put any rough sketches, plans and ideas on scrap paper to throw away after use, but from now on I am going to try and put all of this information in my sketchbook, so it acts as a library of useful information rather than just a pretty book. I also intend to fill my sketchbook with anything that interests me or that I 'feel like doing' rather than just focusing on the project at hand. I think it's good to make myself aware of other things that influence me rather than restricting myself to the project, which could make me narrow-minded.

Strategy - weekly meeting 2!

The lecture today was based on our artistic strategy: how we approach projects, and work our way through them. It made me realise that I have a distinctive way of approaching projects which I hadn't realised before. What would happen if I mixed this up a bit??

One idea that interested me from the lecture was 'Obliqué strategy cards'. The cards present dilemmas which can challenge the mind to think of new ideas. This is great for me because my way of working is very logical, but these could make me create something that I wouldn't have thought of before, and make me think more laterally.

I therefore downloaded the app onto my phone. The first dilemma that was given to me was "Instead of building a wall, try making a brick", which I thought was a very interesting idea. I read this as "instead of concentrating on making a fabric sample, why not try making the fabric". Other people might look at it in other ways but I thought this would really challenge my thinking. Other cards that I thought I could be inspired my include, 'abandon normal instruments', 'Where is the edge? Where does the frame start?' and 'Retrace your steps'.

Overall, I think I'd like to leave my work to chance more often, whether it's choosing one of these cards or throwing a dice to make decisions.

"It's okay to get lost" - weekly meeting 1!

The subject of todays lecture was the process of getting from A to B with a project. It helped me to realise some aspects of my practice that I could improve on. I know in myself that I am sometimes scared to step outside the box incase my ideas 'doesn't make sense' or 'doesn't fit in', but I realise that I need to be divergent in my thinking to make sure that I open my mind to anything that I could possibly think of to help my project flow. Even if I end up with an idea that doesn't seem to be working, this may 'piggyback' onto another idea, so I cant ignore ideas just because I assume they wont work. Another thing I get scared of in a project is getting lost in my work, coming to a dead end, not knowing where to go next, but I soon learned that it's okay to get lost. I feel as though I need to become more confident with my ideas to ensure that I have a strong project, without skipping any possibilities because I'm too afraid to try them.

The designer of the week this week also really caught my attention. Artcom has created this beautiful sculpture called Kinetic Rain which is the worlds largest kinetic sculpture at Changhi airport Terminal 1. The video really gives a feel for the piece of art and I love how it makes rain such a beautiful thing. After reading more into the artwork, I learnt that the sequence for movement starts with all the drops moving together, as one body, then they split off, creating a uniform sequence, but not all acting together, and then they fall apart from each other, like rain, and this is my favourite part.

I also feel that examples like this will improve my practice. Usually when I'm in the middle of a project, I don't reference interesting examples of art in my work if I don't think it's relevant, but I feel that doing more of this might influence my work in different ways. For example, this piece might make me consider scale, 3D art, sculpture and moving pieces as part of my project, which I might not have thought about before.