College One: Evaluating our first workshop...

I found that within the workshop the children's enthusiasm is what made the workshop work and run smoothly, the co-operated and experimented with everything we gave them. It was nice to see students who was not in the class come and see what we was up to, I found we had a lot of visitors and some said they wanted to do it themselves. A-level students came and watched the ending (popping of the balloons) along with other students and teachers who photographed the results, this for me was encouraging to see and made me realise that maybe we did do a good job and out choice of workshop was successful.

However. there was aspects within the workshop that did not run so smoothly and could be developed and improved for the next workshop session. As we used white spirit so that the wet paints would dry quicker, we believe this to be the cause of so many balloons popping before they were meant to, we have now decided to exclude this element in our next workshop as the oil we used may be sufficient enough. I found that we had too much time planned in for filling the balloons and hanging them up as the children became fidgety and some began to lose interest in filling balloons, they became more fixed on wanting to pop them. I would factor less time for this part as the hanging device was too high for students to get involved so they lost concentration, maybe we could extend the feedback area. Another area that needs changing would be the balloon types we use and some popped before we wanted them too because the quality of the balloons was poor, the already coloured balloons worked best so I would get more of these for our next workshop.

As for myself and my roles during the day, I think I could of been more involved at the beginning with the presentation and at the end when the children were popping the balloons. Whilst the children were popping the balloons I just recorded video's whilst some of the others took more professional photographs, snap-shot videos and videos but because I have no camera experience I felt like I could not help. Overall, the workshop was successful and we all enjoyed it, Louise's feedback was encouraging for our next session.

College One: Our First Workshop...

As the workshop started at half nine and we arrived at DACA at quarter to nine, we had 45 minutes to get everything sorted, this included: moving some tables out of the way, sewing and ironing up 2 pieces of canvas to create one large piece, ironing out the canvas, preparing and setting up the objects/materials that the students will blend and re-looking over the PowerPoint presentation.

We then decided that for the presentation it would be best for a couple of people from the group to present it, instead of all of us as we thought it would come across as clumsy. We will rotate these chosen people for each presentation every Friday so that most of us will get the opportunity to experience presenting the PowerPoint. Rory and Liz presented the PowerPoint this time and they got all of the important information across. I would of like a little more background information on the influential artists we chosen but others agreed to stick to more images to keep the children's focus and it did seem to work. After explaining what we was going to do to the class, they seemed excited.

Whilst the children went for their first break, we set up stations where the children would go if they were either blending or crushing up objects. We set up four stations, 2 for each. We set up the blenders and laid out the equipment the children would need to crush the objects/materials such as: hammers, scissors, cutting mats and cups. After the children returned, they were split into 2 groups that went to each station, they swapped after a while so both groups had the same opportunity.

The children really enjoyed both activities, I worked at both stations and enjoyed blending the most as it gave me the opportunity to talk to the children about why they chosen a certain colour, some children gave me the answer of it's Justin Bieber's favourite colour, someone else said it was her brother's favourite colour, I was surprised by how much thought they gave in choosing there paint colours. Some materials did not blend very well, tissue paper being one of them, cut finely it was fine but largely mixed it would not blend.
For each station, demonstrations were given in using the equipment.

 Every student enjoyed the processes and all of us enjoyed joining in as well. I would argue that the students enjoyed changing the object/materials shape more than blending them up. More effort and energy went into it.

After the blending paint media's were put into cups, after lunch we began filling up the balloons. We did demonstrations on using the funnels and the amount of paint to pour in as well as using the balloon pumps. After pumping up 3 or 4 balloons, 2 popped so we lowered the amount of paint put in each as well as how much the balloon were pumped up. Because we used white spirit and oil the balloon tops were too slippy for the children to pump up so I decided to pump them up and tie them, this saved time and spillages.

Whilst one group filled the balloons, the other group made the hanging device that the balloons will be attached to, they used wire mesh, bamboo sticks, string and hangers, they did an incredible job as it held up throughout. We needed more containers to place the balloons in. Once the hanging device was finished, both groups came together in filling the balloons, so I decided to team up with Jake and Denise to fill up some other balloons that contained only dry materials such as: rice, flour and spices. We then all began to hang the balloons from the device using string. This was a team effort, some of us attached the string to the balloons then passed them onto someone else who would then attached the balloons to the device at different heights.

Once all the balloons were hung up, we did a clean up, whilst the children filled in feedback questions. The children were so excited to pop the balloons. They popped the balloons in groups of 2 so everyone could enjoy the end process, they enjoyed getting stuck in and it lasted longer than we expected.

College One: Artist Influences: Jason Taylor...

I heard about Jason Taylor's work when he came and did a lecture at my University. Jason Taylor re-uses materials because of the expense of new ones. He believes in increasing the value of the mundane, as simple objects can be turned into something meaningful. He also believes in the ready-made as the material as well as the inspiration. He transforms mundane objects into something else and sometimes they have a function.

Jason Taylor challenged himself to make one object a day using only found objects from around his home. He would then post his results on to his webpage and evaluate it.

http://everydayobject.wordpress.com/

College One: Artist Influences: Robyn Woolston...

Robyn Woolston in her work titled 'Strangers in a Strange Land', explores the theme of being burdened with inorganic waste. 'Strangers in a Strange Land' is the winner of the 2012 Liverpool Art Prize, it features 9 large bales of waste plastic that weighs a combined total of 3,600 kilogrammes, this highlights our relationship with the Earth and it's infinite resources.

Speaking of her work in the exhibition, Woolston said: “Waste materials are abundantly available because of the way in which we consume.Strangers in a Strange Land offers a way to reassess the value of these materials so as to understand just how much we value their inherent possibilities."

Recycling and responsibility is the overriding message in Woolston's work.

College One: Artist Influences: Katharina Grosse...

Katharina Grosse is known for her chose in using vibrant colour palettes, large scale canvases and installations that all merge aspects of paint, sculpture and architecture. Grosse often paints directly onto walls, floors and the exhibition sites, in doing this Grosse alters the scale of her work each time, Grosse's work would also reinvent the architectural building itself.

Grosse incorporates her multidimensional paintings with various unsuspecting materials and objects, such as: beds, clothing, balloons, shaped canvases and soil, plus more. She believed that joining up these elements of materials and objects would create a continuous flow of colour. Grosse's work is not representational, it allows an ambiguity state of mind that changes how it is viewed by each individual. Her work can be walked around creating a relationship with it's viewer, I also think it creates an instability of reality, her work seems imaginary and dream-like.

College One: Contextual Influences: Jon Smith

Jon Smith fills empty light bulbs up with various objects such as: sequins, paints, powders etc, he then makes them explode whilst capturing it through amazing images and sounds. Smith shoots the bulbs in the dark and uses 'sound activated flash trigger' to capture and freeze the moment. Smith is drawn to high-speed photography because it captures something that we could not normally see by eye. The exploding of the bulbs is what we are after when popping the balloons filled with recycled materials in the workshop. I find his work imaginative and his outcome photographs stunning.

College One: Contextual Influences: Jackson Pollock...

Jackson Pollock is an American artist that was a major figure in the Abstract Expressionist Movement. He uses the unusual process at that time of laying a large of canvas on the floor and applies the paint onto the canvas using his technique now known as the 'drip' technique. Art for and to Pollock was about the movement and the creativity of the piece, rather than the finished piece itself. Pollock invented a form of Abstract Art that he called 'Action Painting', he would throw tubs of paint onto the canvas and sometimes work into them using unusual materials such as: sticks and hardened brushes etc, the paint flown from his chosen painting tool to the canvas. Pollock admits to feeling at ease on the floor because he can be closer to his painting and is able to walk around it. Pollack's approach and technique towards painting creates unique layers of colour, surfaces and textures- all aspects I want to be gained when the group workshop is finished.