1st Year Evaluation

Year 1 - Art

Overlook

This first year of art has definitely helped me to come out of my shell. I’ve really enjoyed researching different genres of art and the artists as well. It also helped to try out different techniques as I was able to see whether I liked them enough to reuse them in the future. Also I could see the effect they gave and I’d be able to consider using them to convey meaning in my next art pieces.

Before first year even started we were asked to take photos that linked to ‘Journeys’ and also create a piece of art that showed our personal journeys. I enjoyed taking pictures as it mainly required thought and not skill, and we had quite a bit of freedom. However, I didn’t like my final painting as I rushed it. I feel that the meaning behind it was too simple and predictable. I wish it had a deeper (or even unknown) meaning. When I completed it though, I was reasonably happy with. I realise now that I am capable of a lot more as I have explored further into the world of art compared to back then.

In the first lesson back, we were told to draw objects. We used different methods such as drawing with our eyes closed, with two pencils, and without lifting the pen of the paper. I liked drawing the objects to begin with but at the time I wasn’t too fond of trying to draw in the other ways. I usually like to be as accurate as I can when drawing and so this put me out of my comfort zone, although now I look at them, I can see they’re a lot more effective as they are than if they were drawn normally.

In the next lesson we tried drawing random objects that were scattered on the centre table. We were told to focus on smaller sections and draw them. I didn’t quite like this exercise as I like to see that whatever I’m drawing is apparent on the page, however with this technique, there were only detectable lines and tones. Detail was harder to add too as it was so close up. I had to take into consideration how the detail would look if I zoomed in. On the other hand, when we redrew these onto A3 instead of A5, I found it a lot easier as it was clearer to work with. I wasn’t struggling to draw in the tiny intricacies. The only negatives were that it all took a lot longer and any mistakes were easily noticeable. In another lesson we watched a documentary about contemporary art. I quite liked some parts as some of the artists that were mentioned had created some very interesting pieces of art. However there were also some that maybe weren’t worth mentioning as I don’t remember much, if anything, about them, although this may have been because they simply didn’t fit in with the type of art wanted to do. The ones I did like did inspire me to think out of the box though.

About a third through the year, we went to the Tate Modern Gallery and The Photographers’ Gallery (both in London) and then the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Whilst we were looking at the artwork, we were told to take pictures and redraw some of the art into our small sketchbooks. I didn’t enjoy this too much as it seemed pointless. I think it could’ve helped me more to note down possible, deep meanings that some of the art could have had. It would have showed me what type of things give off what effects/connotations.

After the trips, we looked into mark making techniques. I found it very interesting to see how each of them looked and how they were created, although after this I had no other use for them as I didn’t feel they were necessary in any of my creations in the future, except for the 20 sketches of items we were asked to do. I didn’t like doing 20 of these, I felt that 10 would have been sufficient.

For our final projects we were expected to fill 6+ sketchbooks with research, experiments, or other artwork. We had a lot of freedom with this which I liked a lot, except the only downfall was the time limit. Despite others thinking it was long enough, I felt that I needed more time to reach my full capabilities, but I knew this wasn’t possible. I sometimes struggled with motivation and so it took me longer than most.

Whilst we were creating our final pieces, we had quite a lot of freedom which I both liked and didn’t like. I enjoyed it as my final piece idea was complete up to me/my choice. However I didn’t like the minimal amount of help I got as I struggled with what materials I could’ve used, and also it wasn’t ideal that I had to buy resources myself as I don’t have much money. I was left using scrap materials/items found at college, which may have prevented my finals grade from being any higher.

After completing our finals, we were put into groups, told to find out more about line art, find some artists that focussed on line art, and then come up with a final idea/piece to present to the class. This helped with my confidence as I was grouped with people I didn’t know well, and then we had to speak in front of everyone. Although I sadly found the project as a dead end (as I never looked further into line art after that), it was somewhat inspiring.

During another lesson, a 2^nd year student came to our class and showed us how to create stop motion videos using clay models. I found it quite educational and fun to learn but I thought it was a shame that we didn’t look into it further. I feel it would’ve helped me further my knowledge if we were able to take it in our own directions, because in groups you just have to go along with the majority vote.

For the remainder of the year, we looked into doing artwork using fabrics and threads. We tried experiments in mono-printing, collagraphy and embroidery. I quite enjoyed all of these especially collagraphy as it creates great effects. After these experiments and looking into textiles artists, we were told to create a meaningful final piece linking to/using fabrics.   The experiments and artist research definitely inspired the idea I came up with for my piece, and I am quite happy with it. Working with textiles was a fun change from our other lessons.

In the future I want to look further into 3D art, digital art and the recreational style. I love the idea of recycling old materials and combining them to create something new and meaningful.

Overall I am very proud of how I have improved in art as I am now more open to trying new things (more adventurous and willing) rather than sticking to what I know/think works best for me.

I am looking forward to taking my art further.