Overall, the Exploratory stage of the foundation course has been an eye-opener and enlightened me on several different areas of art & design. I had some common prejudices before starting this stage for instance the fact that I wouldn't enjoy fashion at all or be hopeless at 3D work. These I discovered were wrong as I ended up enjoying the fashion rotation creating my own garments and the 3D rotation made me think about my contribution in a team as a team member which was previously lacking from my characteristics.
The fashion rotation really challenged me to think differently about design and previously I would have struggled with this however now, I can appreciate fashion a lot more due to the fact I made my own garment and realise the hard work and effort that goes into designing and making garments. I was very pleased with my cardboard headpiece in the end.
The 3DD rotation was probably mentally the hardest week for me because I struggle to think in 3 dimensional terms and I have never been strong with sculpture or anything 3D based. For this reason it took a while for me to fully embrace the briefs and I started off slowly at the beginning of the week however with time, I immersed myself more and more in the 3DD week. Making spaghetti structures was at times frustrating but ultimately rewarding as it required patience and a delicate hand. I particularly enjoyed building the model bridges out of cardboard and bamboo, I learned to listen to others in our group and appreciate the teamwork aspect of it. Seeing the bridge support its own weight and then watch a remote controlled car go over it was the highlight of the rotation.
My preferred discipline, graphic design, was what I expected it to be and more. Focusing on words and faces effectively made us experiment and reconsider different aspects of our work before beginning our final piece. Making a poster about myself in the future was a challenging concept but I was quite pleased with my final outcome. Input from my peers was helpful and the end of the week display made me feel like I had truly created something aesthetically pleasing.
The lens based media rotation was educating, I now have a greater appreciation for filming and the artistic value behind film making which I was previously unaware of. Often we watch films and don't consider the work or the thought process behind it, the lens based week has allowed me look at film making differently from now on. The photography aspect was interesting specifically when we had to sum up a word such as 'happy' or 'sad' in a photo. In summary, the exploratory stage has given me food for thought and informed me more of the art & design spectrum as well as confirming my decision to pick the graphic design pathway.
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| The initial design process behind making my headpiece during the fashion rotation. |
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| My final headpiece creating using only cardboard |
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| The bridge our group created during the 3DD rotation using only bamboo, cardboard and some tape. I really enjoyed this activity because of the teamwork involved and the evolution of ideas that took place throughout the process. |
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| My alphabet created during the 'words' phase of the graphic rotation. This was a total experiment and the letter forms had no real direction, I was purely trying something new and different to what fonts we already have |
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| My final future A2 exhibition poster created on the final day of the graphics rotation. This is one of my favorite outcomes of the Exploratory Stage. |
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| An image I captured specifically for the lens based media rotation week, based on narratives and creating our own story lines |
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| An A1 drawing I completed on the first day of the lens based media rotation, we had only an hour to complete this therefore it was a bit rushed however I am still pleased with the outcome. This drawing consisted of a number of different elements taken from my photos. I combined a bus stop pole, my view from the upper deck of a bus and my headphones on top of a laptop. |
This is a successful round up of the rotation so far, the brief analysis is not too long and sums up the main points easily although potentially an extra sentence could further enhance the understanding of each topic. The inclusion of images is something I personally did not do in my summary and now looking at yours I wish I had included images. It flows and you have used some of your strongest images from the rotation so combined they make this a very strong page on your blog. Also I really like your new background- I think its London bridge but its a lot better then the previous dull grey. But any improvements may be made if you wrote just slightly more to explain exactly what it is that you struggled with/ learnt more precisely but don't overdo it (its not a necessary improvement, only if you have nothing else to do because its still a strong page).
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