Wednesday, 15 June 2016

MA Week 31 - an afternoon well spent


An afternoon well spent - 15th June 2016 

I took the afternoon off and went to the Tall Tales : Crooked Yarns research forum at College. I’ve discussed this in detail here. It really was a thought-provoking afternoon and a validation of the way I’m conducting my research. 

Prior to the forum, I met a former classmate who has sadly suspended her studies. It was great to catch up with her and our conversation yielded a couple of significant points that I want to document.

Sometimes it takes a conversation to make you realise the blindingly obvious. Both of us are mature students, and in my own case I don’t have a first degree in an Art subject. We acknowledged between us that returning to studying art later in life meant we are not in a position to compete with the young graduates in their early 20s. However, we do bring life experience and the experience of our own respective careers. Is there a way that this can be acknowledged within the educational field? How do we make this experience count? In my case, the latter is probably answered by putting to use my transferable skills – project management, presentation skills – and I acknowledged to myself that these skills, which I take for granted and barely notice, are helping me to progress with the course. 

Following on from that, we talked about motivations. We both love being artist/makers and both of us have had health issues. We articulated the joy of doing something creative simply because you can and you are still breathing! Harking back to one of the comments I made in my week 27 post - in and amongst all the methodologies and perspectives from which we try to hang our work, shouldn’t there be one which describes working for the sheer thrill of creativity?

 

 

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