MA Week 2 - Notes on notes....

One of the things I need to get my head round PDQ is how to make notes on lectures, notes on books and papers I’m reading, and how to keep a Research Methods Journal. 

I am a maker of copious written notes. I already have multiple notebooks on the go for this MA course, which makes me feel mighty happy as I love notebooks. I love the blank pages, the joy of the lovely paper, the ability to write in them in my small, black writing, the physical action of writing. It helps me think. There are lots of arrows and bullet points and exclamations. I think in words and my thoughts transfer seamlessly to the paper. It’s a technique honed via many a lecture and meeting over the past whatever number of years. 

Writing notes in the taught sessions is fine, and I can review them at leisure and make connections and conclusions. Mind maps and ruminations about the presentations I need to do are also good in the notebook. However, I have been struggling a little with notes from textbooks. With the need to be able to quote and to give page numbers, I wondered about going straight into a word processor. The recommended text by Blaxter et al (2010, p. 121) suggests doing this. I gave it a go but it took far more time than handwriting (above)! Using the computer seemed to make me go into overdrive with detailed quotes, rather than my usual annotated scribbles. I also found, perversely, that I remembered less of what I’d read – presumably because I hadn’t physically written it. So, I’ve now reverted to my hand-written notes and hand-written quotes. I’ve introduced a new tactic of writing a short summary, a few sentences, at the end of each piece of reading. This seems to be working well for now.

 

I’ve decided I have to give blogging a try for the Research Methods Journal…. so here we are. This seems to be the best way to deal with being able to keep up the journal whilst having to have it “handed in” at the same time. It also makes it easier to insert images, rather than having to print them and physically cut and paste.

 

There are pros and cons though. I seem to associate using the computer with work- business- rather than anything for pleasure. On the other hand I can edit my past entries if I so desire, rewrite history, in a way that would be obvious in a written notebook. This could be useful in a positive way if I want to add something new to a previous post on a particular topic.

Let’s see how it goes.

 

MA Week 2 - Research Methods are not quite as scary as I'd thought

Reflection on taught session, Friday 9th October 2015

Research Methods introduction

 

In the afternoon we had an introduction to Research Methods with Sam . I was relieved to find that I was undertaking some of the methods already, but didn’t know they had defined names.  Research concerns itself with discovering something in a systematic way, and crucially, disseminating the new knowledge. The steps can be defined as: identify problem, observation, enquiry, experimentation, reflection, solving, making the solution public. So obviously one way I could make the “solution” public would be by exhibiting my artwork. This ties in with my thoughts on “where I fit in”, as mentioned above. Arts-based research is considered to be a different approach to either traditional social science qualitative and quantitative methods, and can be divided  into: Research into arts practice –history, theory; Research through arts practice – studio projects plus supporting documentation; Research for arts practice – media experimentation etc. Rather than gathering data, the primary research activity can be something such as drawing or producing technical diagrams.

Having pondered on my notes from Sam’s session, I can see that I am doing a lot of research into practice at the moment. To a certain extent I find this limiting and frustrating, but the research through and for practice will definitely follow next year once these first two modules are delivered. I also concluded that my practice has elements of narrative enquiry – not least into myself. By using my own story and image, I avoid a lot of ethical issues (and this is why I do use my own image). I undertake lots of action research, or experimentation – which tied in with Annabeth’s idea of “playing” from the morning session. I usually produce drawings or images of one sort or another as my primary research. I have tended to work “bottom-up” or in an inductive manner, building up small pieces of visual information, but I am now using these pieces of work to find my “frameworks”, or “meta-narratives” (“top down” approach). So far I am thinking of my meta-narratives as: socialism/anti-Thatcherism, feminism, repeatable forms/patterns/processes…. but watch this space!

 

MA week 1 - Starting out

Reflection on first taught session, Friday 2^nd October 2015

Show & Tell followed by group discussion

 

  

Memory Cubes: an investigation into Therapy, 2013

The first part of the session was a “Show & Tell” and I was in a group with Pamela (painter), Sally (surface pattern designer) and Larissa (musician/performer). I took my “Memory Cubes” and I went first. The others in the group understood what I’d been trying to achieve (depicting what we keep inside and what we show to the world). However, I controlled the demonstration and in retrospect I wish I’d just given the others the cubes to explore! Why do I need to protect them? They have been finished to a quality so that they can be handled. I need to think about other people touching, as well as viewing, my work. Sally referred to the cubes as “bricks”. I hadn’t even thought of that link to my current investigation as housebricks are a different shape. Thanks for the link, Sally! I think it shows that certain themes come out again and again in different ways. I need to remember this and use it to help me identify new threads to my work.

Despite having very different practices, we found some common threads. One was “control”. My work dealt with controlling what you show to the world and what you keep inside – a form of control. Sally was using different printing techniques to demonstrate chaos and control. Pamela made very symmetrical and geometric paintings which were very controlled in their execution. Both Sally and Pamela has used repeat patterns in different ways. We also had some colour palettes in common. Pamela uses a lot of red, black and white, as I do. Larissa had also used black, white, red and pink paint to cover her body in her music video. Sally, on the other hand, had used blues, greens and earth tones.

Something we all used was layering. Pamela uses egg tempera and acrylic media and uses many layers. Sally had layered screen prints on a garment and also used photoshop layers in digital printing. Larissa’s sound was very layered and she uses her voice as another sound layer, rather than trying to enunciate her lyrics distinctly. And of course I love my layering for the complexity it brings to my work. I found identifying these common threads really helpful as I felt it helped validate my work as genuinely creative.

 

Each small group fed back their thoughts into a plenary with the whole group. This revealed some interesting points. One was around “who is the audience”. Quite a few students felt that their professional and personal practices (“free practice”) were different. There was also a feeling that we are trying to please some amorphous mass of people out there by doing pieces that “they” will want – but do “they”?

Curiosity was identified as important. Experimentation, playing and discovery were also identified as important but thought also needs to be given to resolving and “finishing”, not just playing.

Thinking about changes to your process or the medium you work in can change your practice and the message you are giving. However, change of any kind may be forced upon you, may be evolutionary (“natural development”) or may come through choice. Biographical work will naturally change with time because you as a person change. Ethical considerations are also important. Do you need to reveal all your work to everyone? (this question is, of course, of particular interest to me).

An important point that arose for me today was “what is my practice”? I struggled to answer succinctly when Sally asked me. But I have to accept I have now left Access level behind and I need a clear answer. I like the use of the word “biographical” because that is what my practice is –autobiographical, really, quite often. It is, at the moment at least, also collage-based, although not in the sense of using found images like Richard Hamilton or Kurt Schwitters – it uses images I create. So for now I will describe my practice as a biographical, collage-based practice. This brings into play the question of “who is the audience”? I keep thinking that I want to produce lovely watercolours or drawings or prints – but this is not what I pursue! I need to consider and resolve this as I move on with the course.