OUIL 501 Module Evaluation

Similar to the previous year, I found Context of Practice the hardest. From the beginning of this module I found it quite hard to decide what topic I wanted to focus on. I found that I am actually quite an undecided person as I kept changing my mind almost all the time when it came to Context of Practice. As working digitally is something that I have come to really love, I decided to go with the topic of Technology and how the development of it has changed Art. I thought that this would sustain my interest throughout the module, which I found it didn’t really.

Writing the essay I found quite enjoyable. Researching, reading into books and writing out a response was a task I found strangely gratifying. However, synthesising and linking theory into practice was a task I found a little more challenging. Maybe it was because of how broad of a topic my essay is, that made it harder for me to focus on an idea, or maybe it was because I started losing momentum, but overall I felt that it was a real challenge for me to decide on a specific idea. With all the things going on around me, I also found it really hard to concentrate on CoP and I feel that out of every one of the modules that I have undertaken so far since the beginning of my degree, my time management and organisation has been the poorest yet for this particular module and feel that could have given it a lot more effort.

I soon found out I was running out of time and decided to go with the simplest and probably most obvious idea, which may explain for the lack of development/ sketchbook work. I really did feel that I struggled so much throughout the practical side of the module and didn’t give myself a chance to really delve into the subject practically and explore other ideas that may have worked better. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t anxious about what I have done and produced for this. Firstly, I feel that maybe it isn’t as strong of a final product than what I could’ve produced if only I invested more time into the module. Secondly, it isn’t printed to the size that I wanted it to be, as I wasn’t aware that you couldn’t print double sided on an A1 in the digital print room and I didn’t have the time to rearrange them so that it would print like how I first intended. Thirdly, I just really feel that I have let myself down with the amount of work I have produced.

If I had the chance to revisit this module again, I would definitely pick a topic that really holds my interest, what I’m passionate and confident about. This way I think I would be way more invested in the work and I would enjoy it much more as well. This is something that I really need to focus on for Level 6, and hope that the mistakes I’ve in this module will be learnt and won’t be repeated. I can’t say that I’m proud of what I’ve achieved for CoP this year, only because I think I could’ve done better if only I stopped being so caught up in worrying and comparing myself to others and instead apply myself more into the module and be confident about it.

Final Practical Response

I can not say that I've done this to the best of my ability because I think I could've done better if only I didn't leave it so last minute and done more of CoP way before Easter break, before madness began and brain exhaustion took over! I wasn't able to tend to CoP as much as I wanted to as I felt that there were other things, opportunities that were given to me during Easter break, that I needed to make top priority, which sounds so bad and I should've been more aware of the consequences. But I would be lying if I said all went well and I was able to balance everything out on one plate. I feel that the last couple of weeks have really tested me and feel that I've broken myself during this module. Something had to suffer and unfortunately its this module.

The final outcome also had to be printed at smaller scale than I first intended as I didn't know that you couldn't print double sided on A1 in the print room, and couldn't change and rearrange the format of the file as I was running out of time. It's quite evident that I've not been as on top with time management and organisation in this module as I have been for my other modules, which is quite unlike me and I am quite disappointed in myself.

I am not so confident that I've synthesised the theory to practice successfully and I can only say that I hope to learn from my mistakes, improve myself and hope that Level 6 CoP would show that I too can achieve something that I'm proud of.

Studio Brief 1 - Final Essay

Crit Feedback

I was really worried about whether my outcome was too simple/not strong enough or made sense to people, but after the crit people seem to know what my essay was about just by looking at the work that I've produced, which is a huge relief.

Change of Idea

After giving a lot more thought into the previous idea, Ive decided that it doesn't really say anything/link to my essay. In the end I decided to go with the most obvious idea and create a book, that sort of explains/illustrates my essay. I decided to go with a concertina book as I thought it would be a nice way to show the evolution of how we go about making art due to the development in technology, in a timeline kind of way. and on the other side/inside of the book, I've decided to take some of the text from my essay and illustrate them:

I decided to use my previous drawings to illustrate that people are more connected to each other through digital means, making the dissemination of information and artwork much easier.