College One: A workshop coming together...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4jmEwW95Uk

Today's meeting was about getting all of us together and on the same page with where the workshop is going. A lot of decisions were made, in particular with how the time-management of the workshop will run through. We all agreed on a presentation at the beginning of the workshop day to demonstrate the aims of the workshop and what the students will be doing, we also all agreed on having short demo's, evidencing what will happen throughout the day. The presentation will also have background information on the processes we will be using as well as similar contextual artists and references.

We will have 15 students and depending on whether people do not turn up, there should be 11 workshop demonstrators/helpers. 

We decided to test out how the balloons would react being filled up with different mediums. The first video demonstrates the popping of a balloon filled with crushed strawberries and red ink because of the thickness and weight of the strawberries, it dropped creating little splatter. The second video shows a balloon filled with green ink, popping and splattering on a larger scale, I think this is because the inks weight put pressure on the balloon and when the knife entered the balloon, it forced an explosion. The third video shows a change in medium, we used turmeric powder and the balloon popping created an expansion of colour into the air.

From these testers we have decided to use powders and unsuspecting objects like fruit to paste into paint and funnel into the balloons, we will use a balloon pump to blow up the balloons and a blender to make the objects into paint. 

The balloons will be hung over a large canvas and hung up using string that will be attached to a grid-like mechanism that will look a little like the diagram below. A mechanism like this would allow us to hang a lot of balloons securely.

More will be decided tomorrow after speaking to Louise. I am hoping that things will become clearer after tomorrow. 

College One: Workshop Activities...

Throughout the workshops, I encountered a broad range of materials and approaches to how a workshop could run. I responded to each activity and an outcome was produced for all of them, however, I liked some workshops more than others.  I particularly enjoyed working over someone else's work! This task demonstrated the idea of adapting myself to suit and work around a particular problem. It made me focus on risk assessing my workshop ideas and always having other possibilities in case any errors occurs.

I preferred working with materials because of my Textiles background but I did enjoy exploring the elements of 3-d and the idea of forming a shape using limited resources. For example: making a Totem pole that had the theme of Manchester using only railcard tickets, card and shredded paper. I did not like working with sweets, they made my hands sticky and the smell was sickly, I do however, understand why children would get excited to work with them. I found 2 workshop tasks to be challenging and these were the Origami Crane bird and the dot to dot. Considering I had the instructions on how to make a Crane bird directly in front of me, I found this exercise more difficult than I anticipated, it took up a lot of time. Creating a dot to dot using only 50 dots was not any easier, having limitations on workshops is what challenges our creativity. I ended up having 50 dots but 51 numbers because one dot was used twice, I underestimated a simple like a dot to dot, I need to be able to recognise what a suitable workshop is for my class' age.

Working individually adds more pressure on one's self but working in pairs or groups allows the ideas to bounce of each other and evolve. I think working in groups creates a better outcome because it is a collaborative of ideas but I also think it can hinder quieter people in a group. Every student will have an idea, it is about drawing it out and building on their confidence's to express them.

These workshops have made me aware of a variety of elements that I will ensure and think about when preparing my workshops, for example: all the students will respond to each tasks differently, to encourage the students creativity and imagination, some students characters and personalities are more dominant than others, to be aware of other people's distractions, limited resources can be a good thing and that clearing up is just as important as the activities as it signifies the completion of one.  

College One: Research and First Impressions...

The Stockport Introductory Session on Monday 11th March, made me feel comfortable in my choosing of College One. I knew College One would take me out of my comfort zone and meeting everyone else that is doing College One was a good way to start. The Ice Breaker of getting into pairs and using the knowledge of their partners to put onto a cup was eventful and enjoyable, it helped everyone settle in.

All of the lectures done so far by Lynn Setterington and Kirsten Aubrey have prepared me in how to approach preparing and running a workshop. I found most of the practical workshops challenging, they all placed me out of my comfort zone: they changed the dynamics of the group numbers, they only allowed me limited resources and I had to constantly be stimulating mine as well as other people's minds of creativity. Throughout the workshops, working in pairs and teams was encouraged, I surprisingly found out that I liked working in groups but still shied away from expressing our results at feedback time. As most of these workshops were aimed at helping us plan and produce our own workshop, I feel like my strengths lean more towards being organised, I see myself organising the materials we would need, budget costs, workshop sheets, lesson plans, time management. I would consider this to be my role, from this I would consider seeing myself working as part of a group in creating a workshop. But from all of the variety throughout the workshops, I was able to adapt and this boosted my confidence, so maybe I am ready to work individually.

Choosing the Organisation that would be best for me was a difficult decision, I narrowed it down to a possible 3: Venture Arts (working creatively with people who have disabilities), Z-arts ("to inspire generations of young people from Manchester and beyond to use creativity to reach their potential") and finally Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (a high school). I chosen Darwen Aldridge Community Academy (DACA) because I felt like it was more beneficial for my future career and for applying onto a PGCE  course. Louise Klinck also made the opportunity sound amazing and I wanted to be a part of it.

College One: Problematic issues with the possible workshop idea...

As the students will attempt to make paint using unusual medium, I wanted to try out some typical medium as well as some unsuspected ones. My issue with using unusual medium is whether the materials will be able to be put into a balloon and how the balloon reacts with the medium once popped: will it explore, splatter or drop etc. I started off with the basic medium of paint and due to the amount put into the balloon, the paint dropped causing a blob of paint of a small amount of splatter.

I expanded on this experiment by using 4 different coloured paints and putting them into one balloon. I expected a bigger blob with minimal splatter because I used more paint, the balloon would drop heavier but the results were the complete opposite. It splattered creating lovely linear patterns. I knew using paint would work but will it work without wet medium or objects?

I wanted to try an experiment using objects so I chosen Elastic bands, because the elastic bands are not a wet medium, I decided to add runny glue that would fix them together and the on the paper. I was unsure of whether this would even work and I know the students would make paint but their paint may be clumpy, forcing the balloon to drop with no splatter and forcing the objects to remain together. This is what happened to the elastic bands.

I decided to try attempt a bigger experiment using a variety of different mediums instead of producing smaller samples. There were 7 different balloons, 2 containing paint, 2 containing pigment dyes, 1 containing thread, 1 containing cut up pieces of tissue paper and the final balloon containing marbling ink. I thought using wet medium first would hold down the loose objects and it did.

These materials make this piece look cheap but the students will be using more natural found objects which will improve the look of their final piece.

All of the materials that we buy for the workshop, will be reimbursed by Louise but we do not want a high budget. The main cost will go on the canvas the students will drop their balloons onto. I also think that we will need to buy funnels so the medium can be added into the balloons cleanly, creating less clean up time for the students and us, leaving more time for the practical side of the workshop. The paint that the students will create will have to have as little clumps as possible to ensure the medium will stay on the canvas. As this piece will be abstract it would fit perfectly with their theme of their current project and it will most likely be outside of the school or at the least the school building.

College One: Catch up on possible workshop idea...

As I have been doing volunteering at Z-arts, I had to miss this weeks opportunities to be at DACA, although I missed 2 work-shadowing days and one practical and informal meeting with Louise, I have kept up to date with valuable information through Denise and through the Facebook page that was created. After missing Friday's meeting, I rang Denise, who then informed me of a possible workshop idea that is going to be discussed further on Monday.

The possible workshop idea is a collaborative response to various students ideas. It involves the students making their own paint from unsuspecting sources such as rust, grass, sticks etc, the paint sources will then be filtered into balloons and hung above a large canvas. The students (I assume) will then pop their own balloons to creative an obscure collaborative piece. I am extremely excited by the prospect of doing this workshop, it will help the students comprehend the concept of teamwork, working with university students may help them focus and consider going on to university and it will fit into their coursework practice that they have already started. It also gives me (College One) the chance to explore the idea of a workshop and all it entails, including: costs, space, time-management and number of students we could handle, all which could be problematic.    

College One: Drawing whilst moving...

In Foundation, I was given a homework task that involved drawing what I see whilst walking. I remember this take so visibly as I found it embarrassing to do as well as pointless. I found it pointless as my drawings did not look anything like what I had seen but it was an experience that records a journey. I bring this task up now as one of the teachers from DACA was very keen on the volunteers (College One) taking the students out of the school and out of their comfort zones. This task would do this!

The issue that is holding me back from this being my workshop is how would it fit into their current projects of Obscure/Inbetween but maybe the drawings can be viewed as obscure themselves. They capture and record a story. a journey but because the drawings are not finished perfect pieces of art work, they become an obscure map of some sort. Would this make a valuable workshop for a handful of students from DACA, students that are willing to experiment?

College One: Challenging ways to draw...

This drawing exercise was about testing how someone who thinks they cannot draw reacts towards an impromptu drawing task that challenges time-management, quick thinking and creativity. The task involved 2 people, the person who has no art background (John) had to describe 3 different objects they could see around the room, the person with the art background (being me) then had to draw what they described and then the task would be repeated vice versa. I wanted to explore the differences between the drawings and how they were described, I also wanted to demonstrate that even without drawing backgrounds, something can be produced.

John started off my describing objects. The first object he had one minute to describe and even though the outcome looks awful, it is similar to what he was describing, this being a sweeping brush. The second object which I had two minutes to draw was mean't to be a microwave but because of the way John described it, all the button features are on the opposite side to where they should be. This proven that even without art knowledge, describing something for John was difficult, he used no descriptive terminology except basic descriptive words. The third object which I had five minutes to draw is a washing machine. Even though the drawing looks like a washing machine after five minutes I expected more detail, yet it is a plain linear structure. I found myself frustrated by how little descriptive words John was using, he never said which side to draw from, how big it should be and never used detail, there was not enough time.

Now it was my turn to be descriptive and it was a lot harder than I thought. It was hard for John as well because I was using words that he did not know how to draw, even simple shapes and lengths. I had to change what I was previously saying to something simpler and this took up a lot of time which did not leave John much time to draw a response in detail.

I do not think this exercise would work as a workshop, the outcomes cannot be appreciated in any way. The time-frames could be longer to make the outcomes better but I found this exercise stressful, but I also feel like it would be a waste of time as I gained nothing from doing this exercise.

My 3 day volunteering experience at Z-arts...

I decided to volunteer for this experience as I wanted to explore working with different age groups. I volunteered for 3 days, which allowed me to attend 5 different sessions with 3 different age groups. These session began with the children being asked to sit in a 'brain pod' to come up with a group story but because David anticipated a lot of ideas, he would then implement a voting system, so the child's idea that got the most votes would win. I would type up the story as the children was saying it so that they could see there story becoming a reality. Once the story had been given a cliffhanger they would then have to continue the story on their own. It would then be printed and put into their own books, that they then take home with them.

My first session was on Tuesday 23rd April. It was a complete shock in how much I enjoyed it, it was with Year 4 children and they were so enthusiastic and imaginative that this new experience was enjoyable. The teachers that came with this group of children sat back and allowed David, me and the other volunteers to take over the lesson, they did join in with the individual story writing later on in the session. There was 24 students and they all wanted to get involved, however, there was one disruptive student that was easily distracted and could easily distract others. I found it hard keeping this students focus and because I spent my time focusing this student, I lost my focus with the other children on my table. The student did eventually end up with a story but it was short. If a child in my workshop that I will do for DACA behaved in this manner, I would regain their focus by constantly questioning them and keeping them involved with the task at hand and if this was not possible and the child carried on being disruptive, I would ask the child to be removed from the table/class.

I found my second session to be disappointing. As my first session was so enjoyable, the second session fell short of my expectations. This group of children were a Year 6 class and I felt they lacked enthusiasm and imagination, there were 27 students and not all got involved. I would argue that the age difference between both sessions was evident, Year 6 were more focused on their hand-writing, presentation and spelling. The teachers from this session were a lot more involved and I think this hindered the classes imagination as they focused more on restricting and sticking to what the teachers had previously taught them. This time, all the volunteers decided to stick to one table instead of moving around, it felt more personal and I felt more helpful. With the class being half an hour late, meaning the time-constraints had to be changed, I was relieved  it went okay. No matter how many test runs there were, elements could still go wrong, I will need to prepare every obstacle that could go wrong for my workshop.

My Wednesday afternoon session was with a class of Year 5 children and I was intrigued to see how they bridged the gap I thought was missing between Year 4 and Year 6. Even though they had enthusiasm and imagination, the children were still more focused on presentation, hand-writing and spelling and grammar. This class wanted to draw their individual stories, I think this is because the illustrator (Daisy) did such a good job, she inspired them to do their own drawings. Once again I had a disruptive student sat on my table, he found it hard to put pen to paper but the ideas were there, I resolved this by constantly referring him to write down what he just told me but he kept telling me new ideas without turning them into a story. In the end, he ended up with a very short story in which Wayne Rooney was a prominent character. The complete table did talk through their ideas a lot which mean't that there stories were short but they did impress me by asking whether they could finish their stories at home in their own book!

Thursday's morning session was with another Year 4 class that had 24 students. Normally I would type up the story the children make up whilst being in the 'brain pod' but this time around, I got involved with the ideas process and voting for ideas. Through this process, I found the students to be restless, they fidgeted, wanted to go back to the tables, asking for a break or the toilet and some children began speaking over David. Some children treated the voting system as a competition and got annoyed when their ideas was not pick, I had to constantly remind them that they could use those ideas later on in their individual stories. I sat on a table with 4 children and the girl sat next to me had difficulty starting off, but with a little encouragement she got writing, she ended up producing a 3-paged dark horror. I found that the children talking about their ideas at the table mean't the children began to copy one another's stories. To get around this I suggested that they read out there own stories 5 minutes before David stopped the task at the end, this seemed to work.

The afternoon session was the shortest class I had with only 23 students. It was another Year 4 class and in the 'brain pod' they seemed restless as well, they also turned the voting system into a competition, some got angry and upset when there ideas was not chosen. I had to remind them it was a group and collaborative idea that will then be concluded individually. The full table struggled to focus on there own work, they were easily distracted and were constantly arguing over the rubber, in the end I had to confiscate the rubber and remind them to focus on the story and not the presentation of it. A child on my table got upset because another child was elbowing him, firstly I moved the child away from him but the child elbowing still continued to be a distraction so he was removed to another table. I found myself strict in this session, it was also my most challenging one but once the children finished off there stories, I felt a sense of achievement.

All of the children were impressed with their book and it gave them the incentive to create a good story. Overall, I enjoyed and appreciated this experience and would love to do it again.

College One: My first visit to DACA...

I took today's first visit to the Academy as a day to find out what is expected of me and to find out specific details on how this experience will unfold. Louise gave us some feedback on which group levels would appreciate our help more, she mentioned that the A/S level group whose project is based on the theme Space could use some attention. It is a photography class, I have no knowledgeable background in Photograph so I find myself daunted by this option. Louise also mentioned that the Year 9 GCSE students have been given there own projects, I take this as an opportunity to explore different ways that the students work and how they would apply concept, if they even do this, I know I did not.

What I found most useful about today's 'meet and greet' is the schedule that was put in place. I like structure and consider myself to be an organised person so making an organised timetable which Louise suggested would help me work better. I will be at DACA for three days out of the week. As how we use this experience has been left for us to decide, I have requested to use Tuesday and Wednesday as work-shadowing days, I would like the age ranges to vary and maybe even shadow a teacher as well as 'pop' into other subject areas. Friday will hopefully be used as a practical day in which I and maybe groups will demonstrate our workshops. This requested timetable would suit and fit the criteria I have set myself in achieving a all rounded work experience.

Louise also informed us that some year groups are falling behind on their reading ages, maybe involve a workshop with words/sentences/stories? Perhaps the task I did at the beginning of my university course. It was a quick task that involved a number or sentences in which I had to draw from. This task would challenge their reading skills as well as how they interpret instructions/descriptions. It will also show that one answer is not right or wrong, it is how they interpret it! This would also be a confidence boost in helping the students become more independent in thought, process and outcome, a student in today's meeting said she would like the develop her independence.

The days start from 8:15, finishing at 3:15, this would include the half an hour brief staff meeting in the morning. Claire also recommended that we stay behind after the school day has finished to write a report out, evaluating the day whilst it is still fresh and getting out superior to sign it. The classroom I was in today will be my main workshop area. I am to be addressed as Miss but it is up to me how I am addressed by the a-level students. The dress code is optional. I like the idea of interacting with the students on their practices and hopefully encouraging them to be proud of what they produce and not compare it to others. As seen in these images, the students are extremely talented.

If this work experience is successful, I will be considering carrying it on up until the Summer Holidays.

College One: Tomorrow's visit to DACA...

Tomorrow will be my first visit to the school, I am very enthusiastic and excited to start working with the students. As a group we will have to pitch our workshop ideas to Louise, who will then let us know whether they could be used or not, one workshop may only be chosen and the rest of the group will join that one. We can also let Louise know of anything else we would be interested in doing. We decided, we would like to get to know the students by letting them get to know a bit about us and our practices and how we have developed from GCSE. We would do this by creating Ice Breakers just to get the students enthusiastic. We would then do some short exercises to get the students comfortable and confident, such as filling squares with specific instructions so each student would interpret them in a different way, Chinese Whispers or short drawing activities etc. This would then lead to the workshop.

Questions to bear in mind and ask Louise or students if possible tomorrow:

• Could we take the students out?
• How will the students be able to document there work?
• Will I be able to work shadow a student and a pupil?
• How frequently can we visit the school in the next month?
• What materials can the school provide?
• Can we use the digital equipment from the school?
• What requirements she wants that we need to include?
• Would the students be interested in historical context?
• What are there expectations?
• Will they require lesson plan worksheets?
• Do we need to fill in attendance registers?

I am hoping that after tomorrow's visit, a bit more will become clear and the workshop that I or we will be doing will become clearer also. Without meeting the students and seeing their work for this project so far, I feel as though I am planning blind.

College One: Thursday 18th April 2013 - Tutorial...

Today's tutorial was about all of us who had chosen DACA coming together and explaining our thoughts and ideas on what workshops we would like to run or be involved with. Everyone who turned up to the tutorial had to explain their workshop idea, once we had been through the class, it had turned out that everyone's idea could connect up to create one big workshop that could be presented to the students over the delivery period of 2 weeks, maybe just afternoon sessions one day a week, as I know most including me are very interested in work-shadowing the teachers. I would also like to shadow a pupil as well.

As a group, we decided that we would like to ask the students what they would want to do before finalizing any workshop plans as we want them to gain out of this experience as much as we will.

Claire has told us about some questions and queries to keep in the back of my mind when considering a workshop. What would I want to have at the end of this workshop? A finished piece, sketchbook bursting with experimental drawings, sculpture etc. What is achievable in the time-frame given? At the moment, I am very aware that time is a factor and is slowly running out. I find a 2 week delivery period reasonable, therefore this gives me just over 2 weeks to sort out my workshop idea or help out with someone else's depending on how it will out. To bear in mind that the delivery will be quick so challenge them, be innovative and different. I would like to show the students the difference in expectations from GCSE's to University, however, I have already heard that the talent is amazing, I may learn something from them. Be confident in the classroom and stay in control but be professional.

I would like to evaluate every step of the way through this experience as it is an opportunity to take advantage of. I will document and evaluate through my blog.

In tutorial some other people in the group mentioned giving the students options of workshops in which they would choose from but I disagree. I understand that keeping the students involved is a high priority and giving them the choice of choosing a workshop would achieve this but I would like to challenge them. Being given the option, they may choose something there confident at or have done a million times before, taking away choice challenges them in my opinion.

After discussing working in groups, I think this may work positively in creating a workshop that suits all our expectations and interests but also the students as it will have more that one person working on it, which equals more ideas, more attention which could lead to a better workshop.

College One: Possible Workshop Ideas...

Re-thinking over what important lessons that have inspired me since Foundation turned out to be easier than I had thought. Even though I have mentioned some experiments about different drawing techniques and various ways of approaching drawing, there is still a lot more to consider.

One lesson that stood out to me at the beginning of my university course was when I was asked to do a 24-hour drawing, which I had to then deconstruct. I like this idea for my workshop. It challenged not only my drawing skills but my patience, confidence, time-management, media judgement and my approach towards such a different task. For this too work as a workshop for and the students I would change the allotted time given, shortening it down a lot, as there is not much time delivery. I would re-arrange the time for maybe 3-5 hours for the drawing. The drawings will be based on images/objects etc that they would have already be looking at for their work that lies under the themes given. Each small drawing will become a part of one big drawing, each small drawing will be done using different drawing techniques and different approaches to media. This is where all my testing will become needed. Some students may not like the outcome but some may, it is irrelevant as it will then be deconstructed. After spending 24-hours on mine, I was angry to be then told to destroy it, however, the final outcome after deconstructing it was much improved. This stage is where the students can become creative, roles are reversed, this is where students who like to work 3-dimensional can apply their skills.

24-hour drawing

Drawing after deconstruction

This is just one workshop idea that has really come together! It would also work as a group idea, other people who chose DACA could apply there knowledge to ways the students can apply there drawing skills. Someone in tutorial mentioned, making their own paint from unsuspecting materials such as leaves and rust. This idea as a group could work really well but I do know other people in my tutor group that have similar workshop ideas to this, so maybe we could work together?    

College One: Challenging the way students approach drawing-Large A1 drawings to music...

I decided to use bigger drawing paper and work a lot bigger than the previous ones. I decided to use bigger paper so that I could be more energetic, free and loose when drawing with music. I chosen the instrumental version to a popular song titled 'We found love' by Rihanna. As I was going to work bigger, I thought a bigger media would be appropriate and therefore decided to use chalk pastels. The composition is awful but I find this is not an issue when the music starts and I have to begin. I like the idea of working a1 but even now after years of doing it, I still get nervous doing it, it sits me outside of my comfort zone and I hope it would do the same for the students in the workshop that I may teach.

Still drawing to the same song as above, I decided to focus on one glass instead of a composition because there was too much to focus on. It did work better. I think a good drawing consists of perfect composition and perspective, without these to worry about and rely on, the drawing becomes completely about the object in front of me. I used different shades of light colours that blended well together, it added highlights and reflections which a glass would hold. Chalk pastels are a big media to work with, how would a piece this big work with a small media?

I would argue that the more exercises the students do, the more confident they will become when approaching another task. These tasks make a clear statement that it is not the results that are the most important part to gain out of these exercises but how they was achieved.

I know that some students even after joining in with these activities will still find working on a large piece of a1 paper to be daunting, there are ways around this. Fields and backgrounds could be applied, it would take more time but it would also help the students become more comfortable and confident from the beginning. This would be the only control they would have over this piece and exercise because once the music starts, it is about the speed and emotion that comes from the music, it is uncontrollable and energetic.

Above is just one obstacle I may face when producing a workshop and making sure it runs successfully, the point I make is that there are solutions. As long as I remain in control the workshop should be a success. My aims to get out of this workshop are:

• of course that the students enjoy it as well as I may
• they learn from it and use what they have learn't in the future
• and that I learn from this experience as much as they do. whether it goes well, or whether it is a disaster. Everything is a learning curve.

College One: Challenging the way students could work - through music...

As I want to challenge the way students approach drawing, I wanted to experiment with something I was shown in Foundation (previously mentioned in other posts), drawing with music. Drawing with music not only challenges the drawing through time-management but it also loosens up their drawing skills by how fast or slow the music is going. Depending on the speed of music the mark-makings differ, this adds depth, highlights and shading to the results but also emotion that comes from the music.

As I am just using found still-life objects from around my home, I decided to use different variations of glasses as they hold shape, reflection and light.

I started off by drawing to familiar music with lyrics but it did not work, because I knew the music I become to focused on singing the lyrics whilst I should of been focusing on applying the music to my drawing. Because of this I decided to still use familiar songs but find instrumental versions of them, it then became all about the beat, speed and rhythm of the song, all which could be applied whilst drawing.

The first song I did a sketch to was called Charlie Brown by Coldplay, it was 4:47 minutes long and I used Charcoal as my chosen media. I found the song to be too long, even though the finished result does not look great, the whole point of these quick exercises is that they are quick, this just seemed to last forever. I also found using Charcoal gave me little room for small detail as well as shading, it was a thick and dark media.

Because the media was too thick before, I decided to go for a thinner, more linear approach by using an ink pen in blue. This drawing was made alongside the same song as above but it looks far more energetic and realistic. I put this down to the media choice. The proportions and perspective needs improving but I think this media choice works for drawing with music, more energy and enthusiasm needs to be brought to produce better quality work, to do this the song choice needs to be reconsidered.

To produce more energetic drawings, I decided to choose a more energetic song. This drawing was done alongside Tinie Tempah and Calvin Harris' song titled 'Drinking from the Bottle' also the instrumental version. The outcome is more energetic but it is also unfinished, I decided to stick using the same media as it worked so well but changed the colour of it. Is 2 objects too much to focus on during these quick drawing experiments?

I choose to change the song again to gain variety, this time I draw to Flo Rida-Wild Ones Instrumental. I found to have finished what I thought seemed enough before the song had even ended, how would I fill a certain time slot? Go bigger (paper size)? Use bigger or thinner media? Continue working on the drawing even though it is being over worked? Add more objects? These are the questions the Secondary students will have to consider when taking part in these exercises, they have to challenge themselves in order for their work to improve.

College One: Child Protection Training and working with Vulnerable Adults...

• When working with children or vulnerable adults, I will have to work within the legislation whether I agree with it or not. 
• Safeguarding was put into action for the protection of children from maltreatment.
• Child abuse is when an adult harms a child under the age of 18. There are 4 types of child abuse, these are known as: sexual, physical, emotional and neglect.
• There is an MMU Child Protection Policy that is set in place that protects both me and the children that I will be working with.

Guidelines and Recommendations

• Maintaining a register of pupils I work with-mentoring. For example, if a fire alarm went off I would need to know where everyone is.
• Always work in an open environment and if possible have another person present.
• Avoid unnecessary physical contact and inappropriate familiarity with children. For example, will not be able to apply sun cream on a child's skin.
• Report potential concerns/allegations/reports of abuse made by children.
• Do not invite or allow children to socialise with me.

Responsibilities

• I have a responsibility too pass on any information that a child has told me that causes me concern for their welfare.
• Reassure the young person that they have done the right thing by telling me.
• I am not qualified to help but I can help by reporting it, I am there to listen.

Building trust and positive relationships.

• I would be a role model and would have to act professionally.
• I can be prosecuted if I do not pass on concerned information.
• I should tell either the project leader or any other teacher. 

Must NOT...

• Add the students I work with on facebook or any other social networking sites.
• Take pictures or videos of the children when working on events. If I want images for my blog, I would need to have signed image disclosure forms.
• Not to give out my personal information or contact information.
• Do not except any gifts or money or give any of these out.
• I am not responsible for giving out disciplines, I can say it is unacceptable, ask for them to be removed  form the workshop if there being too disruptive. I do not have to put up with any bad behaviour.      

College One: Monday 15th April Workshop Tasks...

Task One

For Task One, we was all put into pairs and in that pair, one of us had to begin to draw a line and the other one had to continue it. I continued the line, during this task we was not allowed to speak or communicate, each of us was adding to each other's marks made. This showed variation in how we both draw and how we interpreted each other's mark. The person I was paired with came from a digital background where as my work is Textiles, his marks held a graphic element to them, whereas my marks became pattern-based.

Task Two

For Task Two we had to change partners. One had 30 seconds to begin drawing, anything, then the other person would have to challenge that person's drawing by deconstructing it and drawing over it. We then changed roles, I became the destructive and I enjoyed playing this part. I thought it as my turn to get my revenge, I even chose a thicker more dominant media that faded out the other person's work. This task was used to demonstrate the idea that there is going to be more dominant people in group work and when challenged (attacked) what would we do? What would I do? Children that I will be working with may not want to participate in the workshops I produce for many reasons but it is how I control the situation that matters. Would I have back-up options, ask them to leave, ignore that student and focus on the ones that are interested or encourage them to get involved? There will always be people in the group that have different skills, I would like to encourage these somehow.

Task Three

This task was to create a dot to dot using only 50 dots. Seems simple enough... I was surprised by how difficult I found it and others did. I found it hard to number up the dots in a particular order so that the shape was clearly made. We had to swap over the dot to dots and mine did not look how it was expected to, the numbers must not have flowed correctly. This was a quick activity, I would find this task a useful one in quieting the students down or keeping them busy whilst preparing another workshop. I would do the dot to dots myself and have a selection of them so the child could pick. It is not a serious activity.

Task Four

In groups, we were given a generic theme of either a house or tree to that we had to focus our collage. Using limited resources provided my group began. My team seemed less than enthusiastic when coming up with ideas so the start was slow. We each had to represent ourselves somehow through this collage, I  represented myself through creating a tree with materials to convey my Textiles background. We had to work on an a1 piece of paper, it may seem big enough but there was not much room for each of us to be working on it at the same time. Even though we was mean't to be working together, everyone in the group got on with their own thing. Communication was lacked and the result looked fairly childish, it could be said that secondary aged children produced this.

All of these tasks challenged the ways of working in time-scales, limited resources and most importantly a working relationship.

College One: Challenging the way to work...

Even though I said I was going to begin my work by focusing on developing an experimental workshop involving the students drawing at the speed of music, my work took a different starting point. This starting point is broad which is best for this stage in the project.

My aim for which ever workshop I deliver is to challenge the way the students work. I know I chosen art for my education but this was because I enjoyed it, not because I thought I was good at it, I have never really liked any drawings I have done, in fact I never thought I was good at drawing until Foundation when they introduced different ways of drawing, ways that challenge the notion of a piece of art.

I began my drawing development by focusing it on time-managed still-life drawings. The objects I draw from was not anything special, they were just objects found around my bedroom. Having a certain amount of time to draw something in front of you, can be very nerve-racking. When I was in Foundation, I hated doing these experiments because I found it hard starting, the fear of the white page bothers quite a lot of students. To get around this, I began to put fields down just to ease a bit of pressure and preciousness of my work, this time round I stuck to a plain white background.

For this image below, there are 3 different time-managed drawings of the same object using 2 different media's. I consider charcoal and pastels to be a good media to use for the quick drawings because they have a thick edge and are easily messy. The 1st of the drawings was a quick 1 minute drawing done in charcoal, this amount of time is clearly not enough, the object cannot even be made out, all this drawing holds is the shape of the object. I think Year 12/13 students may find their results of this task, in a word crap and it may dishearten their approach to the next tasks. The central image was of a 5 minute task which was also done in charcoal. I found 5 minutes too long for this drawing, I think this was down to the media but also because I felt like I had to rush because there was not enough time in the first task. The last drawing was a 10 minute task that was drawn't in black pen, I decided to use a smaller linear media because the time given was longer. Considering the time was longer the middle images' shading and highlights is better.

These 2 images were both done in charcoal, the one on the left hand side took 1 minute of time whereas the one on the right took 5 minutes. I prefer the image that took 1 minute, it is a simple linear drawing that captures the structure of the composition, I think for the 5 minute drawing it was over worked and the shading and highlighting was rushed. Neither one of these proportions look right and the glass candle holder in the right image looks horribly drawn't. I would argue that with the 1 minute drawing there is no time to panic or worry about the outcome, it is strictly about drawing what you see in a minute, even though this drawing experiment is worthwhile to boost the students confidence and get them going, it would not suffice as a complete workshop, this would be the beginning of the workshop, as a starter.

I got a little more experimental with media for these 2 images, I decided to use pencil crayon and chose the random colour of blue for the first one. It was a 5 minute task and even though the candles prespective and proportions are still off the perfume bottle makes up for it. The bottle looks proportionally right and even the letters of the perfume bottle are straight. The drawing on the right was a half an hour drawing and the bottle in the previous image looks better than this one. This makes me ask the question whether time is a major factor when producing a good piece of art?

After drawing random objects from the bedroom, I wanted something more Art based to draw from and the only thing that I had that was Art based with some structure was a small movable mannequin, even though figures are not my favorite thing to draw, I think the results were pretty impressive. All of these drawings below were 1 minute drawings, using different media's for each. The aim of this experiment was to find out whether the type of media used hinders time management and from the results it is proven to do so. The largest figure was done in charcoal and the smallest figure was done using water colour. For any workshop that I am going to propose, I would like the students to be confident with the media they use but I would also like the students to be experimental with their work and push the materials they use. I would maybe give specific instructions to what media should be used for some of the experiments but also allow options on others, this would give me the opportunity to see what students favour and dislike.

This page of drawings was about testing the abilities of both hands and not just the one we would normally write or draw with. The first 2 drawings on the left hand side were drawn't using my right hand-this hand being the one I normally write and draw with. The 2 drawings on the right hand side were drawn't using my left hand and I was surprised by the results. Looking at them now, the images drawn't using my left hand are better than the others, these have structure, linear depth and shadow detailing, the right handed ones are simple linear structure that captures the figure shape but it does not look realistic or 3-dimensional. These are a mixture of 1 minute and 5 minute experiments and the 1 minute experiments are hardly finished. Uncompleted work never looks good.

These 2 drawings below also challenge the notion of drawing with both hands. Using a red ink pen, I draw the figures without taking the pen off the page at all, this creates random lines throughout the drawing. The one drawn't using my left hand turned out better this time also. Students who do not challenge the idea of drawing now will be extremely awakened when going into A-levels and especially Foundation, as I was. I got told to forgot everything I had already been taught. I did both A-levels and a Foundation course and both were incredibly different. I learn't from both but would encourage people to do a Foundation course as it mentally prepared me for university, it also gave me the time to experiment with everything. Experimenting like this would help students define their strenghts and weaknesses.

Doing these experiments has given me a wide range of other options and ideas that I could test and try out for my workshop proposal. These ideas include:

• drawing whilst walking
• recording a journey-movement
• drawing what someone else describes
• drawing what you can feel and make out
• drawing with your feet
• drawing with unrealistic materials-home-made materials
• drawing to different speeds of music
• drawing from memory

The scope for experimental drawings can go so far and I intend to explore all options.

College One:Narrative and objects...

Today's workshop was ran by Lynn. Lynn gave us a set of tasks which were time-managed. The first task was to describe one object using either or both visuals and words. She asked us to consider where it was from, how it was made, did it have a function and what is was made of? The object below was given to me.

I was given what looked to be a mouse, a yellow mouse, made out of plastic bags that were shiny. The plastic bags were ruffled and attached together using a piece of wire, the way the ruffles held reminded me of flowers. The mouse had four legs, 2 eyes, 1 button black nose, and a long tail, the tail and legs looked to be made out of yellow tape wrapped round. The mouse looks bigger than what a normal mouse size would be. It is textured but the materials would be suitable for the age group that I would be teaching in the Secondary School. I tried to combine the use of language and visuals with the shape of the object. This Task One was expected to take 15 minutes and once the time was up, I was hardly finished. If I was to do this exercise as part of my workshop, I would maybe consider adding more time.

Task Two was about describing a group of objects that was allocated to a group of people in the class, using either or both visual and words. I chose to look at the 2 items nearest to me as I could see them clearer.

The items I draw were what I thought to be a large spool with cherry pink thread attached to it and a tag (label), these items turned out to be a kite handle with the string attached and the label turned out to be a cow tag which is attached to a cow's ear. This exercise shows how deceiving objects can be. I used chalk pastels to draw this out so it become slightly messy. The wooden handle looked glossed with red writing on either side. As the kite handle was brought back from India, I could not read the writing on either side. The wood was smooth and glossy, where as the thread is textured and colourful, it is a linear pattern. The tag label was flexible, made from an unknown material, the numbers and letters are shown to categories the cows so if one died it could be recorded. Both objects have functions. This Task had a 15 minute deadline and I found this timeline more suitable than the previous task.

Our next task was a group one. From the objects we all had, we put them in a group composition and create  a shared narrative, it could of been visual, written or both. Beginning this task was fairly daunting because not all of us knew each other, we began by expressing our ideas and putting them together, I consider us to have been playful and imaginative at the beginning, The below image is of our first narrative story and it is definitely imaginative.

Once we began to become more serious about this task, we wanted to find a connection between all the items to put them in a certain order. Below's image is of the order it ended up in. We worked this order and came up with other individual stories but nothing stuck with any of us.

We decided to play the game called 'consequences', in this order above, we started off with me and began writing lined sentences to each object, we went around the table until each object was complete. We had to nominate one person from the group to read out the story. Even though the story worked, it was confusing, however, it worked because we came together as a group and decided what to do together. I like the story created it had a bit of each of us within it, we all played our part. It makes me ask the question on whether we like the object or task, does it effect the outcome? Even if the story is unsuccessful does it matter, is it the process that got us to the outcome more important?

 
This idea for a workshop would work for the Secondary School but I would change a couple of things. I would change the objects and ask the students to bring in something personal to them, this may improve their drawings and may even improve their story telling as how they came across it could be used. I would also change the amount of time given for this task as we as a group thought an hour was too long, I have to admit we did not take this task seriously. I would argue that structure is important within any workshop. The reason for doing a certain workshop can become more clearer after the outcome. I would say that we was not stuck on ideas, we all seemed enthusiastic. I would maybe also add a twist to these tasks by maybe asking the students to feel the object and draw what they feel, or draw what their partner is describing, these would bring the students out of their comfort zone and not worry about a blank white page.

 

College One: Postponed Tutorial/Phone call Tutorial...

Today was mean't to be my first tutorial back after the Easter break and it did not go to plan. I was determined to go to this tutorial because even after re-reading the brief, I was still confused over what I am mean't to be getting on with. Today's tutorial was postponed and this got me worried about where to actually start so Claire decided to give me a phone call tutorial which was extremely helpful. After speaking to Claire and everything becoming slightly clearer, I now have a starting point.

My starting point is going to be what inspired me the most throughout my art career and this was a lesson that I had previously mentioned in another blog post from Foundation. My Foundation year was the best year in education, it was experimental, information and most of all fun and interesting, completely different to how I perceived A-levels to be. The starting point will be focused on a workshop based on drawing in the speed of music. This may not be how the workshop will end up but I think it is a wide idea to begin with. I think my entire workshop, no matter how it turns out, will be based on the idea and theme of 'changing the way the students would normally work'. I may experiment with drawing techniques, mixed media, time and space. All of these concepts will take me a while to experiment with and find the right combination for the students that will attend the workshop, if it is good enough!

I want to push the students out of their comfort zones. I know many students get this opportunity in their A-level classes or foundation courses but I want the students I teach to be prepared for this already because I know it hit me hard. I enjoyed experimenting and learning a lot of new things, I never enjoyed being pushed and dragged out of my comfort zone but I was always pleasantly surprised with the results.

I am going to start by experimenting with drawing with music. I need to experiment with different speeds of music and see the outcomes and see the change in technique and depth. I also need to figure out the perfect sound trach for the students at DACA as they are younger than me and will have different taste in music, I want something that most students would be familiar with. I also need to experiment with what media's would work best and also the technique, time-management and size of the paper that would suit certain tasks. I will do all this by physically trying them all out. It sounds like a lot of experimenting but it also sounds like a lot of fun!

College One: Tasks on Monday 8th April 2013

Task One

For Task One, we was split up into groups and one person from that group was given the task of choosing an image. We then had to place the image anywhere on a larger piece of paper and draw out from it. We had to draw in response to the original picture by being aware of the style, media and marks and applying them. The image chosen was of Van Gogh's work titled 'Starry Night' is a landscape image that is pattern based and done in the media of either oil pastels or oil paint. As we thought it was produced from either one of these media's, we as a group decided to continue on the drawing using oil pastels, it adds texture. We all decided to start on the paper where we was sat and then half way through turn the page around, this gave us the work an even look as even though we are all from Textile backgrounds, our drawing styles such as oil strokes differ. The area myself and Helen worked on was very particular and small because we were working on the hills and cityscape, it changed when we began working larger on the dreamy night fall sky.

We were asked to come up with a story that would be fitting with the image, even though the sky looked dreamy at the same time it looked stormy and busy.

The media we used would be suitable for the age range I will be working with at the Secondary School. I found working in a group for this activity fun, nobody took it too seriously and I think we all enjoyed colouring. Even though, the cityscape and hills were fairly realistic, the dreamy sky was abstract and colourful. We even finished the a1 sheet and the finished piece looked really good.

Task Two

For the second activity, we were told to choose some materials to use. The materials were to be used to add onto the previous task result. This task definitely took my out of my comfort zone, as a Textile student, I do like to work 3-d but it just does not come around as often, when I got the opportunity to work 3-d, it did not happen for me. Even though, the materials came off the page, the result was still flat, I think this task made it evident that we were all from a Textiles background.

Because we did not stick most of the 3-d elements down, it could not be moved, this as an activity for Secondary students would have to include gluing the 3-d elements down just in case they either wanted to take the work home or display it on the wall. Using cocktail sticks, pipe cleaners, paper sticks and magic mould would be suitable for the Secondary students but it may be costly, it was said that the materials on offer today, came up to the total of around fifty pounds, so when ever planning an activity COST is a major factor that needs to be considered. If I was to do this task again I would like a wider range of materials to work with. I enjoyed working as part of a team, I think working this way builds up my confidence slightly. 

No matter what age range, it is important for each person to clean up after themselves, it emphasis' the end of the task or lesson.

Task Three

For Task Three, using the materials provided and either working individually or in pairs, we had to create a person or a set of people. It could of been a fictional character, a self portrait or even a robot. The person should have a story and a name. The most surprising part of this task was the materials we were given to use, it was sweets, specifically: marshmallows, jelly sweets, edible paper, sugar laces and sticks to hold the figures together. Once the sweets were produced and we were told we would be using these to work with, the atmosphere in the room changed positively. 

As the materials were edible, some people in my group ate through the activity where as I felt sick through the sweet smell, it was still a different way of getting people involved within an activity. We created edible people in pairs and then brought them together to come up with a story for them. As we was making people out of sweets, we decided to go with a story based on Charlie the Chocolate Factory but a Sweet Factory. Me and Helen created some visitors, Denise and Vanessa created the Owners and Steph and Kerry created the Umpa Lumpa's. I think using the sweets brought out the child side in us all, we began fantasizing and being imaginative. Working in pairs and then bringing it together as a whole worked well for my group but it may not work so well for others. 

Using sweets as a media was engaging but tricky to work with, the structures of the sweets were hard to manipulate and the sweets were sticky. The sweets were also really small to work with, larger sweets may have worked out better especially aside with the big cocktail sticks. Smaller children would most probably eat the people afterwards, I would hope that Secondary students would consider germs.

Task Four

The final task of the day was about 'Seeing, Imagining and Transforming'. For this task we all worked individually but as the task got difficult, people sat on my table began helping each other out which I was appreciative of as I began to struggle with creating an Origami crane bird. This task would be cost efficient but the task may be a little difficult for Secondary students to handle, as I know quite a few people in the class today struggled with it. Origami itself can be difficult to do, it can become stressful when following each instruction step by step and it not going the way it should.The time given was just enough and after struggling to create my own crane bird, I was happy with my result. Only 1 piece of paper was used but other replacements such as card would have been sufficient enough.