This has been a year of ups and
downs for me in regards to working. The
highs coming in my work experience with the Extended degree students, seeing
one of my images so large on the wall at Wolferstans and my exhibition in The West
End Gallery. The lows came from my work
experience with the Extended Diploma students, with the realisation of how
difficult it is to engage teenagers!
Also the frustration of trying to co-ordinate many different
personalities in the Been there, Seen it, Got the T-shirt exhibition.
With regards to my teaching
experience, it served to confirm to me that it is definitely the route for me after
my BA year. Although I am unsure as to
which route I want to take. I definitely
know i do not wish to work with very young children so the Primary and Early Years
PGCE is off the table. So that leaves
the PGCE certificate in education for 11-18 year olds or Adult education. I have spoken to Dave Kent and Jenna Bettey
who have been PGCE students during my time at PCA, and I plan to go to the next
Open Day at Plymouth University so that I can talk to the lecturers there to
help me decide. I have the prospectus
and have perused the website but I am still not sure, so I hope this will help
me decide which course will be best for me.
Working with the Extended Diploma students presented me with a challenge
but I did enjoy trying to engage with them, and I am definitely one for a
challenge! SO maybe this is the way
forward, every day would be a challenge!
Working in a collective has been
good and bad this year. The Day Gallery
exhibition was a group of people that were in it because they wanted to be and
as such it was easy and a pleasant experience overall. Apart from the problems with it actually
getting off the ground, it was my first experience of getting my art on the wall
of a gallery space and it was a massive ego boost!
Our project 204, the Been There,
Seen it, Got the T-shirt was infuriating and brilliant at the same time. I found the apathy of some members of the
group really negative and despite trying really hard not to take over, I found
that alot of the time I had to, or else we would not have had a successful
outcome at all. This has taught me a
valuable lesson, to make sure that I am working with people who are just as
enthusiastic as I am about the project that I am working on. This was difficult with project 204 as we
were put into groups by the staff, but i did get to work with at least one
person who I would love to work with again!
I networked well i think, making contacts with the City Centre manager,
The Mall manager, the art correspondant at The Herald, and several traders within
the city who were interested in getting involved in future projects.
Having submitted work for a commission
for Wolferstans solicitors last year, it finally came to fruition nearly a year
later! It was frustrating dealing with
the delays but it was confused by the fact Dave Kinney left and he was the
point of contact with the solicitors. It
did however get there eventually and I recived
£50 for my image, with credit given on any usage of it in further publications. I was so proud to see my picture on the wall
on such a grand scale, and I was told that it had been the centre of much
discussion since its installation, with people spending alot of time looking at
it and picking out things that are not immediately apparent.
Working with Camper Obscura has
been great too and without it I would not have had my exhibition at The West
End Gallery and had such a great summer touring festivals and events across the
west country. I have also made contact
with other artists that I would not have met and worked with without Camper
Obscura and FOTONOW.
SO in conclusion I have
thoroughly enjoyed my work experience, it has enable to decide a definite
course of action for after my BA year, and an intention for the rest of my
working life. I have enjoyed having my
worked exhibited, and imparting my small amount of knowledge to others. I have learnt that teenagers are hard to live
with and to teach!! And I have learnt if
you exhibit with others make sure they are as passionate as you or else you
will end up doing all the work! I hope
in the future that I will have more exhibitions and be able to persue my
personal practise and to be able to teach part-time, so I will still have time
to spend with my family and time to spend on producing good art. This is of course in a perfect world and
things rarely turn out that way but it is my dream and I intend to chase it.
