MA Week 20 - reflection on term 2

I've learnt a lot this term. I've carried on with my investigations into heritage and identity. I set myself some objectives in mid-January - here's how I got on: 

Learn more about printmaking

I undertook a lot of action research here.  I experimented with lino cutting, solar plate printing and drypoint etching. The solar plate printing was a totally new technique for me and I got reasonable results . See my Week 15 post. I now have this as a technique in my "toolkit" for future use. The Lino printing didn't yield such good results but this may have been due to the inks I was using. By far my favourite was the drypoint etching. I produced a plate based on my "generative wandering" (see below) and the combination of subject matter and technique really gelled with me. I  like the quality and blackness of lines I can achieve. See my Week 20 post.

Learn more about Laser cutting

Again a good deal of action research. I've used the laser cutter throughout the module. I have concentrated on cutting images of my own face (in keeping with pursuing my investigations into identity) and have developed a much deeper understanding of how to prepare the image and what the laser can and can't do. This is another very versatile technique for my "toolkit". See for example my Taking Stock post. 

 

Generate as many ideas as possible

Use of the laser cutter and print facility, along with the insights gained in the generative wandering,  have generated myriad ideas. I have been able to develop some of them, but I've noted all of them in my creative journal. So they can form a repository for starting points for the next module. 

Do something a bit scary re personal development

I rose to the three-minute-presentation challenge of the University of Leeds's "Heritage Show + Tell" (see https://heritageshowtell.wordpress.com ). I talked about my approach to research by creative practice. See my Week 20 post with more details of how it went. 

Dr.  Tina Richardson, psychogeographer, has offered me the opportunity to write about my generative  wandering in a guest blog post on her website, http://particulations.blogspot.co.uk, so I will definitely be taking her up on that.

Research artists

I wrote a reflection on the exhibition catalogue for "Cloth & Memory" (see my Week 18 post) which encompassed five artists. I haven't undertaken any other formal artist research, but I have begun to follow more artists on Twitter (and some have begun to follow me, which is gratifying). Whilst this is not formal research, it's a really good way to get instant inspiration each day as other people tweet their work in progress or pictures of road markings or brutalist buildings or beautiful landscapes. Me on Twitter : @1962AB. 

Draw for 15 minutes a day at least 3 times a week

I had intended to draw with a pencil in a book but in fact I only did a little of that. I found myself drawing lines with the laser cutter and with etching tools. Overall it probably amounted to 45 minutes a week and more... Honestly!

Do the blog slog every Monday

Through setting this objective I learnt to write more concise blog posts. It didn't always happen on a Monday, but unless there was anything particular to say - like when I read Harrison's book (see my Week 16 post) - this worked much better. I found the blog worked as a kind of overall journal of what I was doing, and allowed me to document and reflect on progress, whereas the creative journal has allowed a much deeper reflection on individual visual outcomes.  

Time management

I have had my usual plans (3 versions) and had to do a lot of juggling about when I went down with flu in mid-February. These has helped me prioritise creative pieces to take forward and ideas that can be documented and "parked" for possible future use.  

 

Overall progress

I continued to work under my "heritage" and "identity" theoretical perspectives and this worked well. Throughout, I have kept a reflective perspective on the work I'm producing and - equally importantly - how I'm progressing and what I'm learning. I've documented mistakes and experiments and solutions, and also when I've chosen to pause an investigation because it is not yielding the results I'm looking for. The latter is important in making judgements about how to progress, both creatively and from the project management viewpoint.

Undoubtedly the breakthrough during this module was reading Harrison's fine book, "Hertiage : Critical Approaches", and undertaking the generative wandering to Armley, both of which happened in the same week. I had been trying to find some underpinning theory whilst remaining true to my beliefs that I was working on identity and heritage narratives arising from my own lived experience. Harrison's book vindicated my approach.  

The combination of the two gave me confidence in applying a theoretical perspective and a research method (the wandering) directly to my work and I went on to produce four acrylics-based pieces which responded directly to the colours and shapes I encountered. I also used laser cutting to help prepare the corrugated cardboard in two of the pieces as an experiment in depicting myself as an integral part of my work and as my identity in the heritage of Leeds. Within these pieces, I worked quite freely, in an unfettered and almost automatic way. This was quite a departure for me as I would usually do a good deal of testing even for a small piece. I enjoyed this freedom and need to allow that to continue.  

There is more to explore from the wandering, such as temporality, decay, boundaries and so on. I am hoping these themes will continue into the next module. At this point, I feel my theoretical perspectives and techniques are really starting to come together. My confidence in my practice - and in myself - is growing as I take these steps in my professional development. I am feeling much more comfortable with my theoretical perspectives of heritage and identity. I still enjoy the mixed media approach to practice and I imagine I will continue to pursue this in the next module. Overall I think it has been a successful term and it should stand me in good stead for the next module, which embeds a closer relationship between theory and practice.