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.