When I arrived at Chelsea this September, after a long summer , I was determined to test myself and broaden my skill and knowledge of the different areas in art.
I came onto the foundation course with an open mind and have found all the workshops enlightening. Thanks to the rotation system , seminars and contextual studies I have discovered a great amount about myself, the art world as well as discovering a new life philosophy: to be less rigid and instead more instinctive. The variety of different briefs and projects have allowed me to be playful and learn new skills which I could use in the following rotations. All the tutors have treated our work seriously , seeing the potential in our ideas but have never been afraid to give us honest and constructive feed back.
My experience of all the workshops being so positive makes my choice of area very difficult. I am still very reticent about making my decision therefore I will firstly discuss the rotations that taught me a lot about myself and secondly the workshops that I am hesitating the most between.
The most challenging rotation for me was 3D spatial; never had I been very good at making things nevertheless I was very determined to make the most of the two weeks and to test my abilities. I have always been interested in design so the workshop gave me an insight in what a career in product design or architecture might resemble. I enjoyed experimenting with a wide range of materials and exploring the pragmatic side of 3D spatial; for example having to think about what the real object and not the model could be made out of and the way it could be manufactured.
Secondly, the Fine Art workshop also surprised me. Drawing and painting have always been long, detailed and considered processes, however in Fine Art never had I been this spontaneous. However, one morning I had just sat down at a table ready to begin drawing the mad installation in the middle of the room when a tutor came up to me and shouted “ get up you’re not at school anymore” . Indeed we weren’t and maybe this is when I realised that Fine Art wasn’t for me; while others were able to impetuously splash paint on their A1 sheets , all I wanted to do was to take out my fine line pen. Nevertheless, Fine Art showed how being instinctive entails to very interesting work.
It seems that despite both these shake ups I couldn’t help but gravitate to my passion for illustration. The next two workshops seem to encapsulate my strongest interests and choosing between them is impossible at this stage.
During the Visual communication rotation I immediately felt a deeper excitement about the projects. The area seemed to cover so many of my favourite interests; illustration , animation, film and graphics. I liked collecting photographs , clippings from magazines and then personalising the “borrowed images” , creating a totally new image out of them.
I researched artists sketchbooks on the moleskin website and on heartagency.com such as Ceri Amphett, Marion Deuchars and really wanted to emulate their work. I admire designers who can convey a complicated idea thanks to a single beautifully executed image.
What I also liked were the structured briefings we received from our tutors. This characteristic can be found more generally in the Design world ,as I discovered during the discussions about the differences between art and design; in design the brief is crucial because as a designer you are looking to “ solve a problem” for the client .Design is pragmatic as well as creative and I appreciate this balance.
Next, Fashion and Textiles revealed to be very different to my initial preconceptions of the area: it wasn’t about making clothes or fabric, in reality I could pursue the things I had learnt to do in 3D spatial mixed with my love of illustration explored in Visual communication. Therefore for my final project I created patterns and illustrations that would become ,when we moved from 2D to 3D , pieces of jewellery and intricate objects. I loved working on this project and immediately after wanted to specialise in this area. Nevertheless, looking back I also felt like this after Visual communication…
My choice between both these areas will probably be very superficial as I like them both equally. I now seek the advice of my tutors and in the meantime I will attempt to ask myself what I expect from both the areas and continue to question my motives.
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