Reflection

This unit has had its high points and low points for me. I felt the beginning of the unit started on a high; everyone in our group was really well motivated and we all shared the same ideas. The mix of different courses within our group also meant we had a variety of skills to bring to the table.

I found I discovered many new things whilst working as part of a group. For example, the help you can receive from the different workshops located around the art school. I also gained new skills in some machines such as learning to use the eyelet-er. These were both positive outcomes from this unit, as well as learning to fundamentally work as part of a team creatively; as this was something I was very new to.

I felt I was very involved this unit. In the past I have found it sometimes difficult working in the studio everyday, however this unit I felt I wanted to make the most of the excellent facilities on a project that would give me the opportunity to try different things; as well as being part of a group with meant I didn't want to be letting anyone down. The research part of the project was something I found I really got stuck into, and really enjoyed building an idea of what I personally had visualised. The beauty of working in a group meant we could all research and bring our ideas together each time we met. The breakdown of  the group I feel stemmed from the lack of communication once we started working in the workshops. Only being allowed a couple of people in the metal workshop at a time meant we spent a lot of time apart from the group, which resulted in decisions being made by a majority vote rather than as a collective. This in turn caused disagreements among us, as some felt things needed re-doing. Therefore, the eventual breakdown of the group was no real surprise when it came to it.

Discussing what could be improved upon; relating to the original group I feel would be our time management and communication. I have learnt that it is very important when working as part of a group for there to be constant communication in order for everyone to keep up to date with the development of ideas when the group is not together. This I felt we then displayed as a splinter group. We made it very clear with each other that this was one of the main causes of the breakdown previously. We were then determined to make sure it did not happen again. Referring to the splinter group in terms of what could be improved upon I am finding slightly more difficult. Having had much less time in which to research, design and produce, I felt we did extremely well and worked effectively together, and what we produced reflected this hard work.

Working as a smaller group, our motivations were primarily related to public interaction and experiences. These were the key themes that finally drove our ideas forward in the last week. Below is an image of the leaflet promoting our rooftop exhibition.

In the future I am aiming to be working in an industry that would be dealing with the public in terms of likes and dislikes through product buying. This project has had me working, thinking about how the public would be affected by our installation and I have found it very interesting. I am hoping to use this thought process through my future projects as I go into my third and final year.