The Ten Minute Session: The Development

The Ten Minute Sessions can now be found on ACL Essex social media sites.

Having the sessions shared on this blog was a great opportunity to reach a wider audience. However, it did mean some tweaking in regards to content. In keeping with my role at ACL, as an Art Tutor all the activities are now creative and the activities are also accompanied by a written blog post explaining the benefits and skills gained by completing each session.

Below are some of the session (past and future) which will feature on the blog.

• Intro to line drawing: Continuous Line
• Paper folding, make a secret teller
• Doodle these images
• Draw this
• Intro to line drawing: blind line drawing
• Paper folding, make a concertina
• Automatic writing
• Draw straight lines
• Instructional art
• Memory drawing
• Non dominant hand drawing
• Drawing circles
• Double writing
• Emotional mark making
• Object Tracing
• Nature mandala art
• Intro to line drawing: Contour drawing
• Make a cube

The Ten Minute Session: The Initial Idea

I wanted to create The Ten Minute Session to get us all doing something creative, to bring a little joy and to spark some conversation in the mist of the Coronavirus lock down. Given that there is no time frame on this situation I have just tried to come up with as many different activities as possible, in the first instance I have around four weeks worth. Going forward I will continue to try and come up with new activities, however I am also open to revising some if an adequate amount of time had passed.


The Ten Minute Sessions consist of fun quick 10 minute activities - some arty ones, some mindful ones and are hosted across social media, with those joining in encouraged to shared their results. 

Search: #TheTenMinuteSession

I had tried to do these as ‘live activities’ around 6pm every day, from Monday 23rd March 2020. However, if participants could not in live, they are encouraged to add their contribution whenever they could!

I also wanted to develop this idea as the more I develop my art practice the more I see how important it is to me, for it be socially engaging. Activities like those feature in The Ten Minute Session allow me to explore this.

There are parallels with instructional art here, it is very much art-come-teaching, with tasks being set and participants completing them. This perhaps is not too unexpected, given that a lot of the activities I have included have been adapted from classroom delivery (albeit in most cases shortened considerably!).

The similarities do not stop there, as when planning these sessions I also used a basic session plan to keep the information consistent; topic title, instructions, resources needed* and developed accompanying handouts too.

*Given these activities are being designed to be completed in peoples homes I wanted to ensure that the  minimum amount of items where needed for each task; most only need pen and paper. Hopefully meaning that the activities are as accessible (and complete-able) as possible. 

The Ten Minute Session Topics

Week One

Intro to line drawing: Continuous Line

Yesterday
Scavenger hunt
Paper folding, make a secret teller
One challenge I have overcome today and how 
Doodle these images
Weekly Goal Setting

Week Two

Draw this
Intro to line drawing: blind line drawing
Word association
Paper folding, make a concertina
What is your daily routine
Automatic writing
Did you achieve your goal set 29th

Week Three

One thing you want to make time for this week
Draw straight lines
What have you done for yourself today, what can you do for yourself tomorrow
Portraits guess who
Share your self-care ideas
Drawing circles
Build the tallest tower 

Week Four

Non dominant hand drawing
One thing that is going well now, one thing to look forward to
Instructional art
Design a character
Share your self-care ideas
Double writing
Share a manta quote that keeps you going

However,  my initial plans changed around week one, as another blog asked me to provide them with ten minute activities. This opportunity would mean that more people would be able to access them.

More on that later!

Inspiration: From Classroom to the Studio

It happens ever increasingly, that as well as (hopefully) inspiring my learners my session also push my own art practice forward.

In the first instance this was with the line drawing. This time round it is with pointillism. Within this session we were exploring different styles of art to create drawings in. 

Pointillism, or Neo-impressionism is usually used in painting, however within the session we used the style to draw with, this style allows you to create images by building up dots on a page. Within the session we worked with primary colours and dot placement to create outcomes which would then blend together when viewed. Pointillism is depended on the eye and mind to turn the dots viewed into a fuller ranger of tones.

Within all my session I like to provide a range of artist reference, this ensures that the learners have an awareness of what had come before them, as they cannot create art in vacuum (Melee and Cramerotti, 2013). This week we explored the work of artists such as; Roy Lichtenstein, Paul Klee, Georges Seurat and Damian Hirst. By exploring a numbering of artists learners are exposed to a range of ways in which the style has been, can be used.

L-R: Roy Lichtenstein: Modern Art (1996), Paul Klee: Seaside Resort in the South of France

(1927), Georges Seurat: Le Bec du Hoc, Grandcamp (1885), Damien Hirst, Damson Mousse (2016)

Within the session we also looked at the work of Bradley Hart, who expands the Pointillism style by utilising a very everyday item - bubble-wrap. He takes advantage of the pre-existing circles and injects each with paint. 

Bradley Hart, Insomnia, 2009

Within the session we took inspiration from Hart, albeit minus the injections, and used bubble-wrap as one of our materials. The technique we used was to paint directly onto the individual bubbles and then either leave it at this stage, or to then create a print from the painted bubbles. We also used cotton-buds and anything round we could get our hands on. 

In relation to my own practice I found the work of Hart particularly compelling due to the concepts behind the outcome. Our start points echo each other, both beginning with photographs, he with images from his own personal collection, mine with my personal collection of images of road signs. The issue of the mass produced also pops up for the both of us; bubble-wrap is mechanically mass produced, as are my source materials: road signs. This lowers the value of these items (Benjamin, 2015). However, his process tries to tackle this - as does mine - by turning these mass-produced items into originals of sorts. this is achieved by the outcomes being hand rendered and time consuming (Hart, 2019), allowing them to become the antithesis of the mass produced.

As such we are both also dealing with the issue of originals and copies, due to the subject matter and materials we are dealing with. Our works take the mass produced and turn them into originals of sorts (Judovitz, 1998), giving each their own authenticity an aura (Benjamin, 2015). We then both end on the audience’s individual reaction, or interpretations of the work. What does it mean for the viewer to experience each of these outcomes? 

Initial Outcomes

Within my sessions I always have the intention to also take part in the activities, as this allows me to model techniques and styles to learners - allowing them to learn through observation and imitation of behaviours (Bandura, 1977). This can also encourage them to partake in activities which may seem new or difficult.

Much of what I plan for sessions is removed from my own practice and the delivery of these is often the only time I use that skill set. This could be due to a number of reasons such as the activity being simplistic and one, I feel I have already accomplished, or as it is not relevant to what I am doing in the studio. Either way, there is a huge benefit to me here, as it reminds me of the important of, firstly practising skill sets and secondly the importance of play and experimentation. 

For example, while my bubble-wrap outcome let much to be desired I saw how it could be used to quickly create an interesting background and how with practice myself and learners found more successful ways of using the bubble-wrap. Such as cutting it into smaller shapes, rather than trying to achieve everything on one sheet.

In contrast I found myself at one with a cotton-bud fairly quickly - there was more control here, (the issue of the mass produced remains). Going forward this is something that I will continue to play with. I have a feeling that the bold, simple colouring of road signs with work well with this style and this tool.

Development

Pointillism meets The Road Sign Collection 

On reflection, and as with most things I do, I would like to see these bigger - with the

dots smaller but in larger quantities. The finish is too messy and that is I feel down to

the tip of the cotton-bud being too large for the scale I was working on (A5). 

The issue could also be in the viewing, as for Pointillism to take effect the eyes need some

distance from the page. These photos are quite focused in on the outcome. 

I find the blue circle containing the word 'end' to be the most effective and easiest to view.

Perhaps my love for text has something to do with this. 

References

Bandura, A. (1977) Social Learning Theory. Prentice Hall. Education. 

Benjamin, W. (2015) Illuminations. London: Penguin.

Gagosian, (2018) Damien Hirst: Colour Space Paintings. [online] Available at: https://gaosian.com/exhibitions/2018/damien-hirst-colour-space-paintings/. [accessed 28/01/20].

Hart, B. (2009) Insomnia. [online] Available at: https://www.bradleyhart.ca/Artist.asp?ArtistID=37166&Akey=5BDJN8BK&ajx=1#!Group1_Pf184646_im7. [accessed 28/01/20].

Judovitz, D. (1998) Unpacking Duchamp: Art in Transit. University of California Press.

Melee, L. and Cramerotti, A. (2013) Art and Revolution. Aesthetic Journalism. 

Tate. (2020a) Whats on: Hatton Gallery: Roy Lichtenstein. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/hatton-gallery/exhibition/roy-Lichtenstein. [accessed 28/01/20].

Tate. (2020b) Paul Klee: Seaside Resort in the South of France. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/klee-seaside-resort-in-the-south-of-france-t06795. [accessed 28/01/20].

Tate. (2020c) Georges Seurat: 1926. [online] Available at: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/georges-seurat-1926. [accessed 28/01/20].

The Westologist. (2020) Pointillism. [online] Available at: http://www.thewestologist.com/arts/of-paint-and-pixels. [accessed 28/01/20].

Developing a continuation course

I am very pleased to be back at ACL delivering a short Exploring Drawing and Illustration course. I am particularly looking forward to delivering this short course as it is a continuation course with learners who have previous attended.

Our last course finished in mid-November 2019, meaning that we have been away for some time! This has given me the perfect opportunity to come up with a challenging new connect activity, to link what we learnt previously with what we will be doing going forward.
At the centre of this course is line drawing and so I wanted to revisit these techniques as a cornerstone of the course. To do this I have re-invented the first activity that these learners would have participated in, in their very first session. 

The original activity saw the learners work together to match together title, descriptions and images of line drawing techniques. 

The updated activity asks learners to think/pair/share (Gunter, Estes, and Schwab, 1999) on a worksheet which asks them to name and describe the like drawing techniques (images of the techniques are provided). 

The intention of this re-imagined activity was twofold; to act as a new initial assessment and to see how much theoretical information has been retained and to build on the principles of Blooms (Anderson, Krathwohl and Bloom, 2001), working on the basis of learners being able to recall information in the first instance. 

The first incarnation of this activity was delivered as a group activity to work as a duel ice breaker-initial assessment activity. however as these learners know each other the need for an ice breaker will be limited. Instead, at the start of the session we will have time for this as we complete the mandatory start of course admin.

References 

Anderson, L.W., Krathwohl and Bloom, B.S. (2001) A taxonomy for learning, teaching, and assessing: a revision of Bloom's taxonomy of educational objectives. Longman.


Gunter, M. A., Estes, T. H., & Schwab, J. H. (1999) Instruction: A Models Approach, 3rd edition. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

Setting Aims: Art Practice Development

Setting aims/goals/deadlines is useful for everyone and there are what seems like an infinite amount of different strategies to help us reach them (I should know, I spend a lot of my time encouraging students to set them). I think this tool set is often overlooked and neglected - certainly by me, anyway. when in education it was so easy to make time to stick to as it was an expectation, however since leaving education this is the first time I have decided to set some goals for myself and my artistic practice.

I decided to do this as I wanted to see if it would help me achieve the aim, would having them written down motivate me - or simply remind me what it is I am suppose to be doing? I guess only time will tell.

SMART action plans (Doran, 1981) are widely peddled and while I see their value and use them with students often, as they allow us to really break things down, I have streamlined my aims and also added personal refection on why it is I am doing/planning on doing these things - back to the motivation. other than being specific, the most useful part of SMART is being accountable to a deadline, a time restraint. again this is something that feels simpler when in education, they give you a deadline. In the remit of being a practising artist, juggling a portfolio career, this seems harder as the deadlines become arbitrary. however it is shown that by setting realistic milestones you are more likely to be able to chart your progress and stay motivated (Cottrell, 2010), so I have given this ago. While I have called them deadline they are really more review dates as this development will be ongoing. 

#1

Aim:
I would like to develop my digital skills, this would help me to significantly develop my practice. Currently I only use basic digital software, however I feel that by developing in this area my practice will move forward. 

Action:
To achieve this, I would undertake a Photoshop course and invest in relevant software.

Outcome:
Once I gain these skills I hope to create and develop body of digital works which are of a higher quality. I have worked digitally for several years; however, I rarely exhibit these works as I am not pleased with the end aesthetic of these works. I would like to explore projection of these digital images into sites as a means of putting text into different sites.

Deadline:
By June 2020 I would like to have completed a digital-based course to give me the basic knowledge and understanding of what it is I am trying to develop. 

#2

Aim:
Going forward I plan to develop my work with The Road Sign Collection. With these I want to develop more site-specific installations to take place in and around Colchester. 

Action:
To achieve this i will explore through praxis the best materials to use and the scale in which to work with. Experimentation will also take place regarding the most suitable sites for installation; gallery space, public spaces. As the relationship between text and site is paramount to my practice, I want to explore how putting each sign in several different sites effects the reading of the sign.

Outcome:
A body of work will be created and showcased in a number of locations. These will be documented with video and photos.

Deadline:
There is an opportunity that I want to apply to which would allow me to display work in a public setting in March, so that is a good external deadline to aim for. I would also like to try to install and document art in public places at least once a month.

Regarding gallery space my next opportunity will be in the Secret Art Sale taking place at the end of February, which I have already donated to and then following that the Colchester Art Society Summer Exhibitions, which will be in June. 

#3

Aim:
To create a book-based outcome for The Road Sign Collection, which allows for audience participation in some way. 

Action:
I need to achieve, or at least part achieve aim #1 and #2 before I can fully invest in this and so this is a much more longer term goal. 

Outcome:
Existing and new road signs will be captured and digitally rendered. These will be sorted in some way; either into series or when they where captured, or possibly types of sign. They will be rendered in continuous line drawing. 

Deadline:
By July 2020 I would like to have re-drawn The Road Sign Collection (existing) with my newly acquired digital skills, to increase the DPI of the images and thus improve the print quality. 

I intend to take some time over this to ensure that it is successful, I will reevaluate in August, so much of this idea comes down to the notion of collections and as such I need time to build those collections. 

*I will confess that I did not decided to write these aims completely independent, aim #1 has been taken and edited from my success application to the Firstsite Collectors Group Bursary Application. As such this aim will need to be met, as there are now external expectations as well as my own regarding it. However, in writing this aim the other followed.


References

Cottrell, S. (2010) Skills for success: personal development and employability. 2nd edn. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. (Palgrave Study Skills). 

Doran, G. T. (1981) There's a S.M.A.R.T. way to write management's goals and objectives. Management Review. 70 (11): 35–36.

Portfolio Career

Since I completed my PGCE in 2017 it is safe to say that I have fallen into the category of someone with a portfolio career. I currently work in three different job roles; at a Higher Educational Institution three days a week, I teach art at ACL Colchester (seasonal) and I work freelance for SPACE Colchester developing and running the Creative Practitioner Support Programme. I also run the Colchester Art Society Social Media pages and edit their newsletter in a voluntary capacity and have am a practising (and exhibiting) artist. 

so, what is a portfolio career? 

“A portfolio career, simply put, is a working style where you have several strings to your career bow – multiple streams of income – often creating a mix of employment, freelancing, and / or consultancy”  

(Stanley, 2020)

Falling into the career category was not particularly a conscious choice. I was offered my first teaching job PGCE in 2017 at ACL the same month I finished the course. This was excited and unexpected. This was also a seasonal art tutor job, meaning the hours where not consistent. However, knowing that I wanted to go and complete my MA Fine Art the job was perfect, as at a maximum it would be one day a week, leaving me plenty of time for my full-time course. The upon finishing my MA in September 2018 I applied for my position at the Higher Educational Institution, advertised at three days a week, it was perfect as I knew I wanted to continue teaching at ACL as and when I could as I enjoy it so much there. Around the same time, I approached SPACE Colchester about running some kind of peer-feedback session for creative graduates (something I had been researching into during my MA) and that too came off the ground, with two sessions being held a month. Before I knew it, I had three different career paths running simultaneously.

That being said, there is a clear cross-over between the three. Teaching, tutoring, facilitating – whatever you want to call it. I enjoy working in these kinds of environments and being part of someone’s educational journey; whether it be accredited or otherwise. I get to meet lots of interesting people and have a lot of interesting conversations.

However, at the forefront of all these choices has been the consideration of them in conjunction with my art practice, would I still have time to have an art practice if I do this?

My weeks tend to vary. Here is what the rest of January looks like so far:

Monday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting, AP

Tuesday: CAS Newsletter development, Blog Writing, Catching up on emails 

Wednesday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting

Thursday: AP, ACL Planning

Friday: HEI, AP

Saturday: CAS Meeting, Art application writing

Sunday: AP, Research

Monday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting, AP

Tuesday: ACL Planning, Blog Writing 

Wednesday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting, Unfamiliars Event 

Thursday: Facilitate the Creative Practitioner Support Programme at SPACE Colchester

Friday: ACL Training 

Saturday: AP, Art application writing

Sunday: -

Monday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting, AP

Tuesday: ACL Teaching 

Wednesday: HEI, CAS Social Media Posting

Thursday: Blog Writing 

Friday: HEI

Saturday: Facilitate the Creative Practitioner Support Programme at SPACE Colchester

Sunday: Art application writing

*HEI = Higher Educational Institution

*CAS = Colchester Art Society

*ACL = Adult Community Learning 

*AP = Art Practice 

I am also currently in the process for writing my application to become an Associate Fellow of Higher Education, so I will need to factor this in at some point this month.

There are definite advantages to working in this way, there is the flexibility which comes with it meaning I can go to my weekly yoga class on a Tuesday morning and get work done in the evening or at the weekend.  

Interestingly, 'what do you do?' has become the most difficult question to answer since starting this portfolio career journey and usually my answer changes depending on who has asked the question. Though maybe I should just reply with ‘I have a portfolio career’ and answer any follow-up questions if they arise.

I do however think that this career option should not be romanticised, as it does come with its setbacks (mostly financial, only one of my jobs is permanent year-round work). Overall, this is something that I can tolerate at the moment. The other issue comes from clashing appointments and the need to prioritise, while I work in this way in order to have time for my art practice, it simultaneously seems to be the thing at the bottom of the pile and the first thing to get neglected when I am busy. Which I now realise is quite ironic.

Time management has become key, by identifying reoccurring events and plotting these throughout the year I am usually able to slot other things around them.

References

Stanley, N. (2020) What To Do When You Want To Do Everything: Is A Portfolio Career Right For You? [online] Available at: https://www.careershifters.org/expert-advice/what-to-do-when-you-want-to-do-everything-is-a-portfolio-career-right-for-you [accessed 07/01/20].